What am I missing? I feel like I am doing so much but so little at the same time?

[benjaminsbaby]

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I am a URM with a 3.587 cGPA and a 3.30 sGPA with majors in Human Biology and History and minors in biotechnology and middle eastern studies. I am in the middle of my junior year and I will be taking the MCAT at the end of my spring semester.

The highlight of my application is my research which I have been doing for 2 years and a half now (summers included) with several presentations and one presentation award at a national conference for URM's in biomedical research. I have worked in plant biology and neurobiology laboratories and I will likely be published before I graduate. I only have about 20 hours of non-clinical volunteering and no shadowing experience. I was a biology tutor at my university for 1 semester and I am secretary of a charity organization on campus. I plan on starting a phlebotomy program this semester which will give me 132 clinical hours by the end of the semester before I start applying this summer. I also plan on doing a global health international research internship in Swaziland this summer since global health is my passion.

With all this, I feel like I have been SO busy and completely swamped my entire undergraduate career but looking at the whole package, I feel like I'm missing so much.

If I start applying this summer after my junior year, will I have a chance at either MD or DO schools? If not, what MCAT score will likely salvage my application?

Please help!

 

[Cotterpin]

Will the phlebotomy program give you direct contact with patients? Your app looks really good, but I worry that you won't have much to say about spending time around sick people or shadowing physicians. I think if you can get some great patient contact and shadowing in over the next six months, you will be in great shape for MD with an MCAT of 510 or higher. Applying this summer doesn't give you a lot of time, though, so if you're feeling swamped, don't be afraid to ease up a little and take a gap year.

 

[order66.exe]

You're over-committing yourself to too many things. 2 majors, 2 minors, 2 research labs on top of a phlebotomy program? Imagine if you took all of the energy you are spreading across multiple things and put them into ONE major ONE Minor and ONE research lab. Your GPA, research productivity and sanity would go way up. Not to mention you would have time to study for the MCAT/accrue clinical hours.

If not, what MCAT score will likely salvage my application?

How are you going to get a bomb MCAT score if you don't have enough time to study?

 

[Dr Tony T. Chopper]

The hurdles to MD and DO for you are shadowing, substantial clinical contact and physician networking for a strong, non-generic letter. These things tend to take a decent amount of prep work and soliciting so i recommend starting immediately. You have great credentials on the biomed research side, though.

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

I think, as others have pointed out, what you're missing is patient contact and some exposure to physicians in their daily work. It really does sound like you have a lot on your plate. The stuff you're doing (global health experience, research) sounds great! The 2 majors / 2 minors sounds like overkill, though, and it's no surprise to me that you've missed out on some EC's with a courseload that heavy. It's great to focus on studying what you love but med schools aren't going to cut you any slack for having bitten off more than you can chew.

Just my personal .02: I would consider taking a gap year. It'll allow you to decompress after the stress of undergrad and really focus on A) crushing the MCAT and B) Shadowing some docs / getting some patient contact through either volunteering or clinical work. It'll also give you the rest of undergrad to try to boost your science GPA, which isn't terrible but is perhaps a bit on the low side. It's worth considering whether your multiple majors/minors are detracting from your ability to really prepare for med school.

 

[Squamous Eddie]

I want to also chime in and stress how important clinical experience seems to be. If I could do one thing different about my undergrad, it would be maintaining a persistent clinical volunteer presence throughout my undergrad rather than taking increasingly higher level classes or spending more time in lab or TA'ing a bunch of classes. I'm numbers-heavy but low on clinical experience and I think it really showed with how few interviews I've ended up getting. Fortunately I've gotten an admittance, but at this point, it's definitely not too late to get some relevant volunteer experience in. Just try to scale back some of your other activities if you can. A double major and double minor are useless, IMO. You'll have a semester to get as much experience as you can, which you should maintain into senior year as well. If possible, try getting some shadowing in, as well.