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- Apr 26, 2011
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Hey everyone, I posted on here a while back about whether or not someone with my "stats" might be competitive for medical school. Everyone who replied was very helpful (thank-you!), so after awhile, and with applications coming up in June, I'd like to post again with updated "stats", hoping the gurus on here might raise (or lower 🙁) my confidence with advice on my competitiveness.
Anyway, in "short":
GPA: ~3.50 cum, but with a strong upward trend. My whole senior year I have had 4.0's, and dean's list for 8 consecutive quarters before that, averaging above a 3.6 every quarter. I'm a biochemistry major at RIT, so I've taken a lot of challenging courses in biology, chemistry (physical/organic/biochemistry), full range of calculus up to multivariable, and a minor in psychology with a lot of social psychology classes. All pre-req's have been met, along with most recommended courses, besides A&P (no time).
MCAT: I take it this weekend! Practice tests indicate I should get around a 30, but I'm hoping for a 32!! Looking like I will do best on Verbal, then biological sciences, and physical sciences in last place.
Clinical experience/shadowing: I have over 100 hours of direct patient care contact in an emergency room, and will be transitioning to full time Patient Care Technician in June for all of next year (I graduate in May and thus have a "gap year"). I've also shadowed 9 physicians, 4 infectious disease doctors (I want to go into ID, 1 in an AIDS clinic, 2 in hospital inpatient rounds, and 1 who does AIDS research), 1 family practice doctor, 1 emergency medicine doctor, 1 pain management/interventionist doctor, 1 pediatrician, and 1 surgeon. I would estimate I have about 25-30 hours of shadowing in between all of them.
Community service: I have a lot of this, I read and tutor at a local inner city school, as well as at the Boys and Girls Clubs, I also run a STEM robotics program at the club. I've hosted and run a charity banquet which raised $3,000 for the club, and served on the planning committee for a charity tug-of-war that raised over $12,000 for a youth center and also broke a world record for the largest game of tug-of-war. I've done many other smaller things: soup kitchens, garbage cleanup, child care, science museum teaching, etc. I've won several awards for my work from my school and from community organizations that not only recognize my service but also my leadership in getting others to serve. Finally I'm very active in my social fraternity, having held over 6 positions most recently serving as it's vice president, who's responsibility it is to manage 15 other committee chairmen.
Research: I've done protein biochemistry research for over 2 years, have a superb LoR coming from my research advisor, I've been recognized for my research by being inducted into my school's research scholar's program, and I've presented at two national meetings (ACS and ASBMB), and have a publication hopefully coming out sometime next fall (after I graduate, sadly).
There are other odds and ends all over the place, I've served on faculty search committees, award committees, student and academic conduct committees, etc., but most were short term but none-the-less provide a great breadth of involvement complementing the depth of involvement I have in other areas.
My top choice is probably Umass, since I am from Worcester and very interested in primary care and being close to home and family. I love Massachusetts (born and raised there), and Umass just seems like a very good place to be. I'm also looking into DO schools as I'm very interested in primary care, and a few (MSU, DMU, PCOM, NYIT), I think I would enjoy quite a bit, actually. I've shadowed a primary care DO (it was great!), and am visiting him again, hoping I can build a good relationship in time for a potential LoR.
Anyway, I know that's a lot of info, but as I said I really appreciate the experience and insight people on this board can give to pre-med applicants, as I'm looking for people who will point out my weak points as well as my strong points, so I can build my confidence and better anticipate challenges in the application cycle and beyond.
Many thanks!
Anyway, in "short":
GPA: ~3.50 cum, but with a strong upward trend. My whole senior year I have had 4.0's, and dean's list for 8 consecutive quarters before that, averaging above a 3.6 every quarter. I'm a biochemistry major at RIT, so I've taken a lot of challenging courses in biology, chemistry (physical/organic/biochemistry), full range of calculus up to multivariable, and a minor in psychology with a lot of social psychology classes. All pre-req's have been met, along with most recommended courses, besides A&P (no time).
MCAT: I take it this weekend! Practice tests indicate I should get around a 30, but I'm hoping for a 32!! Looking like I will do best on Verbal, then biological sciences, and physical sciences in last place.
Clinical experience/shadowing: I have over 100 hours of direct patient care contact in an emergency room, and will be transitioning to full time Patient Care Technician in June for all of next year (I graduate in May and thus have a "gap year"). I've also shadowed 9 physicians, 4 infectious disease doctors (I want to go into ID, 1 in an AIDS clinic, 2 in hospital inpatient rounds, and 1 who does AIDS research), 1 family practice doctor, 1 emergency medicine doctor, 1 pain management/interventionist doctor, 1 pediatrician, and 1 surgeon. I would estimate I have about 25-30 hours of shadowing in between all of them.
Community service: I have a lot of this, I read and tutor at a local inner city school, as well as at the Boys and Girls Clubs, I also run a STEM robotics program at the club. I've hosted and run a charity banquet which raised $3,000 for the club, and served on the planning committee for a charity tug-of-war that raised over $12,000 for a youth center and also broke a world record for the largest game of tug-of-war. I've done many other smaller things: soup kitchens, garbage cleanup, child care, science museum teaching, etc. I've won several awards for my work from my school and from community organizations that not only recognize my service but also my leadership in getting others to serve. Finally I'm very active in my social fraternity, having held over 6 positions most recently serving as it's vice president, who's responsibility it is to manage 15 other committee chairmen.
Research: I've done protein biochemistry research for over 2 years, have a superb LoR coming from my research advisor, I've been recognized for my research by being inducted into my school's research scholar's program, and I've presented at two national meetings (ACS and ASBMB), and have a publication hopefully coming out sometime next fall (after I graduate, sadly).
There are other odds and ends all over the place, I've served on faculty search committees, award committees, student and academic conduct committees, etc., but most were short term but none-the-less provide a great breadth of involvement complementing the depth of involvement I have in other areas.
My top choice is probably Umass, since I am from Worcester and very interested in primary care and being close to home and family. I love Massachusetts (born and raised there), and Umass just seems like a very good place to be. I'm also looking into DO schools as I'm very interested in primary care, and a few (MSU, DMU, PCOM, NYIT), I think I would enjoy quite a bit, actually. I've shadowed a primary care DO (it was great!), and am visiting him again, hoping I can build a good relationship in time for a potential LoR.
Anyway, I know that's a lot of info, but as I said I really appreciate the experience and insight people on this board can give to pre-med applicants, as I'm looking for people who will point out my weak points as well as my strong points, so I can build my confidence and better anticipate challenges in the application cycle and beyond.
Many thanks!
