MD WAMC: 519/3.6(c)/3.7(s), FL Resident

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april5115

april5115

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I applied to all 7 FL MD schools, and while I comfortable with my MCAT and my GPAs, I'm a little concerned about my limited clinical experience. Looking for opinions of if my other EC and experience can hold me afloat.

Background:
White female, B.S. in Exercise Physiology. Graduated early, but currently taking a gap year.

Stats:
519: 128/129/130/132
cGPA: 3.6
sGPA: 3.7
Downward trends in both

Work Experience:
Employed 2 years, going on 3. Promoted to supervisor in January 2017. ~15-20hrs per week through college, now at ~30hrs.

EC:
-Sport club for 2 years, served as Vice President and now in alumni advisor role. Team won "Most Improved" during my leadership, and planned a full 5K. (1000+ hours)
-Volunteered at animal shelter for 3 years, going on 4. Have spent the last year working alongside their vet team, continuing through gap year. (~300 hours)

Research:
1.5 years in an organic polymer lab. Generally more of an assistant role, but took on small projects within the last year. Presented a poster at our undergrad symposium. (~300 hrs)

Clinical Experience
Volunteering as of April 2017 with local hospitals Animal Therapy team. Mostly an observation role, but heavy on patient interaction. 2-3x per week, continuing through gap year. (~40 hours, but adding more)

Schools in Order of Preference:
1. USF (interview offered)
2. UF
3. FSU
4. UCF
5. FAU
6. Miami
7. FIU

All advice welcome and appreciated.
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Your stats are almost identical to mine, and I'm research heavy, light on clinical experience too. Are you open to schools outside of FL? It's getting late in the game, but you could still add a few more schools and have secondaries in by mid September (coming from someone who doesn't have any of her secondaries in yet). I've been given Hofstra, Cincy, VA Commonwealth and Tulane as possible safeties. If you're not open to adding more schools, be aware that most people apply to more than 7 schools for a reason, and that reason is admissions can be a crapshoot sometimes.

HOWEVER, the Florida schools do cover a broad range and your stats are excellent. I know a guy at FSU whose only EC was checking himself out in the mirror (probably). I'm really worried about my app too but what helps me is to remember that we have everything going for us to get into our state schools.
 
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calmdownpremeds said:
Your stats are almost identical to mine, and I'm research heavy, light on clinical experience too. Are you open to schools outside of FL? It's getting late in the game, but you could still add a few more schools and have secondaries in by mid September (coming from someone who doesn't have any of her secondaries in yet). I've been given Hofstra, Cincy, VA Commonwealth and Tulane as possible safeties. If you're not open to adding more schools, be aware that most people apply to more than 7 schools for a reason, and that reason is admissions can be a crapshoot sometimes.

HOWEVER, the Florida schools do cover a broad range and your stats are excellent. I know a guy at FSU whose only EC was checking himself out in the mirror (probably). I'm really worried about my app too but what helps me is to remember that we have everything going for us to get into our state schools.
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Yeah, I am sticking soley with FL schools because of finances and family. Thanks for the encouragement, I'm just hoping my secondaries (and hopefully interviews) reflect that I know what I' m getting into since I don't have the clinic hours to back it up.
 
april5115 said:
I applied to all 7 FL MD schools, and while I comfortable with my MCAT and my GPAs, I'm a little concerned about my limited clinical experience. Looking for opinions of if my other EC and experience can hold me afloat.

Background:
White female, B.S. in Exercise Physiology. Graduated early, but currently taking a gap year.

Stats:
519: 128/129/130/132
cGPA: 3.6
sGPA: 3.7
Downward trends in both

Work Experience:
Employed 2 years, going on 3. Promoted to supervisor in January 2017. ~15-20hrs per week through college, now at ~30hrs.

EC:
-Sport club for 2 years, served as Vice President and now in alumni advisor role. Team won "Most Improved" during my leadership, and planned a full 5K. (1000+ hours)
-Volunteered at animal shelter for 3 years, going on 4. Have spent the last year working alongside their vet team, continuing through gap year. (~300 hours)

Research:
1.5 years in an organic polymer lab. Generally more of an assistant role, but took on small projects within the last year. Presented a poster at our undergrad symposium. (~300 hrs)

Clinical Experience
Volunteering as of April 2017 with local hospitals Animal Therapy team. Mostly an observation role, but heavy on patient interaction. 2-3x per week, continuing through gap year. (~40 hours, but adding more)

Schools in Order of Preference:
1. USF (interview offered)
2. UF
3. FSU
4. UCF
5. FAU
6. Miami
7. FIU

All advice welcome and appreciated.
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I think that your lack of clinical experience will be lethal. Did you decide upon a career in Medicine late? If not, the emphasis on the sports club tells where your priorities were.
 
Goro said:
I think that your lack of clinical experience will be lethal. Did you decide upon a career in Medicine late? If not, the emphasis on the sports club tells where your priorities were.
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I was between human medicine and vet med for a while, but officially commited to human med last year. In part, I had an overloaded schedule which led to neglecting clinical hours.

Sports club is one of my strengths because of my experiences strong leadership, teamwork, and team management. It was also one of the ways I relieved stress in college.
 
april5115 said:
I was between human medicine and vet med for a while, but officially commited to human med last year. In part, I had an overloaded schedule which led to neglecting clinical hours.

Sports club is one of my strengths because of my experiences strong leadership, teamwork, and team management. It was also one of the ways I relieved stress in college.
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You're going to need to get in volunteering with human patients, to show Adcoms that you know what you're getting into, and that you really want to be around sick people for the next 30-40 years. That, and you don't want to do vet anymore.
 
Goro said:
You're going to need to get in volunteering with human patients, to show Adcoms that you know what you're getting into, and that you really want to be around sick people for the next 30-40 years. That, and you don't want to do vet anymore.
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Well that's why I'm partially focusing my gap year on working with the animal therapy team. We visit lots of different patient centers: ERs, assisted living, memory care, and more. We visit with hospital staff as well.
 
april5115 said:
Well that's why I'm partially focusing my gap year on working with the animal therapy team. We visit lots of different patient centers: ERs, assisted living, memory care, and more. We visit with hospital staff as well.
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You'll be fine in that regard. How badly a downward GPA trend do you have? That's concerning.
 
Goro said:
You'll be fine in that regard. How badly a downward GPA trend do you have? That's concerning.
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sGPA: 3.81, 3.71, 3.53
cGPA: 3.91, 3.68, 3.29

If it makes a difference, my major doesn't have many BCPM for upper levels.
 
Goro said:
Not good. You might want to take some post-bac coursework and get some A's.
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Can I get some input on the fact I received on C+ my final year, which I think is a factor in my GPA drop? I spoke about it in any secondary that asked, and explained that I took on too many responsibilities and didn't take the class as seriously as I should have. I then brought up that I had a similar class the next semester which I changed my approach for and got an A in
 
Goro said:
One C did that much damage?????

Sometimes you have to apply with the app your have, warts and all, and see how the cycle shakes out.
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It was part of one poor semester (which I've discussed in my apps), and the C was just the nail in the coffin.

Thanks for the advice though. I figure I just have to do what I can to justify/own up to my weak spots and see where it takes me.
 
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