This is the thread for it..right?

[albitk05]

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Everyone wants to know their chances and I am not saying I am any different however I am more looking for improvement as I feel I've worked hard to achieve my lifelong goal of becoming a physician.

So here are my stats:
-I am in my 2nd year of college except credit wise I am 3 credits short of being a senior. (most gen eds were done in high school through a program. very nice program!)
-cGPA around 3.9, sGPA ?( all A's so far except one B+)
-I have physics2 and biochem left for my premed requirements.
-I am a psych major chem minor.
-Play for the tennis team here.
-Volunteer in the ER 4hrs weekly. plus other local volunteer events
-hoping to do some psych research next year
-I am also considered hispanic.
-taking the MCAT this january 2012. (never been good with standardized tests so anxiety attack!!)

My biggest concern after the MCAT is my personal statement. I know im not supposed to basically write a whole big cliche, and I havent had any life changing experiences either.

Anyway those are things I feel are most imprtant about me and I wanna know what can be improved and what may be needed in addition.

Thank you everyone! I appreciate you taking your time to read and giving any input. 🙂

 

[cal1516]

Everyone wants to know their chances and I am not saying I am any different however I am more looking for improvement as I feel I've worked hard to achieve my lifelong goal of becoming a physician.

So here are my stats:
-I am in my 2nd year of college except credit wise I am 3 credits short of being a senior. (most gen eds were done in high school through a program. very nice program!)
-cGPA around 3.9, sGPA ?( all A's so far except one B+)
-I have physics2 and biochem left for my premed requirements.
-I am a psych major chem minor.
-Play for the tennis team here.
-Volunteer in the ER 4hrs weekly. plus other local volunteer events
-hoping to do some psych research next year
-I am also considered hispanic.
-taking the MCAT this january 2012. (never been good with standardized tests so anxiety attack!!)

My biggest concern after the MCAT is my personal statement. I know im not supposed to basically write a whole big cliche, and I havent had any life changing experiences either.

Anyway those are things I feel are most imprtant about me and I wanna know what can be improved and what may be needed in addition.

Thank you everyone! I appreciate you taking your time to read and giving any input. 🙂

So you're technically a sophomore? And are you planning to apply for Fall 2014? Assuming both those answers are yes, you seem to be on the same track as I was. Your GPA is great, and I'm not sure if you're leaning more towards DO/MD but if you get 30++ on your MCAT you'll be competitive for MD schools...but those are only numbers. Are you currently taking physics 2 or is that in your spring semester? You'll want to take that before the MCAT, and I highly recommend taking biochem first too. I took it for the first time in August right before going into my junior year, but ended up retaking it end of my junior year after taking biochem and did much better on the science sections. I'm terrible with standardized tests too but I think you may want to wait until the summer since it's still very early for you (unless of course you're planning on graduating a whole year early). I highly recommend doing some type of research if you can get involved, and if you like volunteering in the ER keep it up because they like to see commitment. I'm not sure what type of involvement you have but I also did 4 hours/wk in the ER for two years and had a lot of patient interaction, so that came up a lot at interviews.

 

[albitk05]

Thanks for the post cal1516.

I am actually a sophomore. I graduated high school in 2010, but i am hoping to graduate a year early meaning I would apply this coming summer and start the fall of 2013.

thanks for the info. I was worried that i should have taken those two classes before taking the mcat but I figure id have enough time to retake if i wasnt pleased with my score.

 

[sector9]

A few things:

• Get some shadowing in. About 50 hours total is about normal in a few specialties. Definitely pick at least one primary care doc
• You're EC's look really sparse so far. That's the big drawback from applying so early-- it looks like the only regular thing you've done is hospital volunteering. Most premeds have hospital volunteering, non-medical volunteering, and research on a regular, weekly basis.
• Are your GPA's calculated including your GPA from college classes taken while in high school? That part is a little unclear

 

[albitk05]

Thanks Sector9 for your input!!
I forgot about shadowing! still need some more.
As for the ECs, what are some recommendations? Since I am on the tennis team that is a year long commitment. it shouldnt be an excuse but ive found difficulty in this.
And yes sorry for the lack of clarification... the GPA are all the college classes together. I am at the same college at which I took those college classes in high school. So the classes i took in high schoo were actually taken at the college for college credit. My college transcript makes it look like i started in 2009.

 

[cal1516]

Thanks for the post cal1516.

I am actually a sophomore. I graduated high school in 2010, but i am hoping to graduate a year early meaning I would apply this coming summer and start the fall of 2013.

thanks for the info. I was worried that i should have taken those two classes before taking the mcat but I figure id have enough time to retake if i wasnt pleased with my score.

That's great that you're so ahead of the game and can apply early, but then if you don't start research until next year you won't really be able to put it on your application. It's totally up to you and what you want to do but you don't want to apply too prematurely when you can build up your app with that extra year that most other applicants have. Also, it goes without say but try to do your best the first time on the MCAT. Looks better to schools and the second time around is much more stressful (at least it was for me and others I know who hate standardized tests).

 

[sector9]

Thanks Sector9 for your input!!
I forgot about shadowing! still need some more.
As for the ECs, what are some recommendations? Since I am on the tennis team that is a year long commitment. it shouldnt be an excuse but ive found difficulty in this.
And yes sorry for the lack of clarification... the GPA are all the college classes together. I am at the same college at which I took those college classes in high school. So the classes i took in high schoo were actually taken at the college for college credit. My college transcript makes it look like i started in 2009.

It doesn't really matter that much.
Research: any field that interests you
Clinical volunteering: you're already doing fine with that, just keep it up. The average is 1.5 years
Non-clinical volunteering: Also doesn't matter much. Some common things include a soup kitchen, Habitat for Humanity, Big Brothers Big Sisters, etc. It would be cool if you could do some outreach with your tennis stuff like coach a middle school team or something. Not sure how feasible that is in your situation

Ideally, you'd find something where you can take a leadership role over your peers as well.

The tennis thing will make you stand out but unfortunately won't make up for too many holes in your app

One final thing: If you're forced to pick between activities due to time constraints, it might be helpful to know which activity to prioritize. Of the big three activities (clinical volunteering, non-clinical volunteering, and research), the order of importance based on % of accepted students with them is clinical volunteering is most important followed by research followed by non-clinical volunteering.