Hello everyone,
I'm new to this website. I am currently a senior in college. I am also a reservist (medical tech) in the military. I would like to have some advice about getting into usuhs. My gpa is a 3.4. However, I am planning to do a post bacc before I start applying. I am currently doing research in ecology and evolution at my school. I have alot of volunteer experience both medical and non medical related. What can I do to better my chances at this point? I would like some feedback please. Especially if you got into usuhs or any other medical school. Thanks !
Hi!
You are basically where I was 4 years ago-- reservist, reseach in evo devo. Though, my gpa was much lower. I had all the same questions as you do now, but looking back, there wasn't really any actionable advice people were giving me that wasn't the standard given to all premeds.
these include:
Do well on MCAT
Maintain high grad GPA; take upper div courses
stay involved in community--preferably clinical activities
Apply early and broadly
The most useful advice, i think, was to seek out opportunities to reach out to other human beings. With this in mind, I volunteered for a lot of outreach programs for grade-school kids; I taught undergraduate level courses as a grad student; I went to lots of conferences to talk about my research as well as those of others and made lots of connections in a broad array of research fields. The point, I think, is to get used to sharing ideas and listening to people. Inevitably, you run into people who want to help. In my case, I found my way into a collaboration with scientists in regenerative medicine at a teaching hospital. I wiggled my way into other people's business and they allowed me to tag along. Eventually, I talked someone into letting me shadow pediatric OR.
Try not to treat advice to get into certain activities as checking a box for your application. Think of it as collecting experiences to, first, inform your decision to take on medicine; and second, build a library of insights and experiences that allow you to have interesting things to say in essays and interviews.
It's a super long road. Some people will be difficult/discouraging/dismissive. Remember that you can learn something from just about anything. When you have lots of stories, you get to have opinions people can relate to and care about and that's a big part of convincing people they want you in their school.
USUHS c/o 2020
edit: please don't commission and get deployed-- adcoms like people who do things for good reasons.
