What are the weak points in my application?

[dhans]

I apologize for the long post, but I am hoping that someone will be able to take a look at my resume and tell me what I am missing for a medical school application. Going through this process as a pre-med student, I am extremely nervous about missing something important or getting off-track. I’d love advice on any gaps I should fill and what I should change going forward to increase my chances of acceptance to MD programs. Thanks!


Education:

• Honors student at a state school
  • Currently a second semester sophomore (planned graduation fall 2020)
  • cGPA 3.73, upward trend
    • I had several serious family issues and personal medical problems, including an extended hospital stay, that impacted my schoolwork my second semester freshman year; should I include that in my personal statement?
  • hopefully graduating with highest honors; currently on track to do so
• Aiming for graduation w/ two Bachelor’s degrees in 2020
  • Microbiology
  • Psychology
• Anatomy Lab SA for 2 semesters
  • Teaching a lab for human anatomy and physiology I 5 hours/week under the supervision of a graduate student
  • Giving lectures, writing exams, and providing individualized instruction to classes of approximately 26 students
  • Working with and caring for cadavers, cadaver parts, and microscopy slides and equipment

Volunteering:

• EMT and ski patrol
  • State and Nationally licensed EMT since 2018
  • Volunteer ski patrol, 268 hours/season
• Nonprofit co-founder (est. October 2018)
  • Vice President (Oct 2018- present)
  • 280 hours/ year
  • Drafting communications, organizing meetings, and facilitating outreach programs for a federally recognized 501 (c) 3 nonprofit
  • Currently partnered with 4 schools statewide providing free menstrual hygiene products
  • Numerous community outreach and education programs including talks, documentary screenings, and fundraisers.

Research and Lab Work:

• Research with a disease ecology lab since Spring 2019
  • 70 hours data entry and analysis, coding
  • 300 hours on an original diet analysis project which I recieved a grant for in 2019
  • NCUR 2020 presentation
    • Accepted for a poster presentation of diet analysis project
• Field Research Internship (4 week, full time)
  • Avian ecology research
  • Small room presentation of research findings
• 4 year biomedical sciences training program (2014-2018)
  • Extensive training in a variety of medical lab science techniques

Internships (other):

• Local nonprofit
  • 8 week internship April-June 2018
  • community organizer focused on registering young voters
  • student head of a widespread voter registration campaign (Over 400 new voters registered)

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[WaterFlow]

What's your sGPA?

 

[throwawayofcourse]

Did I read that right, you're planning to graduate 1.5 years early?

 

[WaterFlow]

Did I read that right, you're planning to graduate 1.5 years early?

And with a double major?

 

[walterwhite3556]

you're missing an MCAT score. Can't get accepted without one

 

[Cakepop514]

need shadowing hours. including primary care.

 

[dhans]

Did I read that right, you're planning to graduate 1.5 years early?

Oh sorry -- projected graduation 2022; my bad! Thanks for catching that!

 

[dhans]

What's your sGPA?

I've seen that term used on here a lot but I haven't been able to find what that is or how to calculate it. Is that just science GPA?

 

[WaterFlow]

I've seen that term used on here a lot but I haven't been able to find what that is or how to calculate it. Is that just science GPA?

Yes science GPA. It’s composed of classes the AAMC defines as science classes (BCPM courses- bio, chem, physics, math)

AMCAS® Course Classification Guide

The American Medical College Application Service® (AMCAS®) Course Classification Guide provides examples of how courses are often categorized.

students-residents.aamc.org

 

[Sky138]

You have no clinical experience, no experience with disadvantaged communities, and your research is all over the place. This isn’t hard to fix but it’ll take time

 

[dhans]

Yes science GPA. It’s composed of classes the AAMC defines as science classes (BCPM courses- bio, chem, physics, math)

AMCAS® Course Classification Guide

The American Medical College Application Service® (AMCAS®) Course Classification Guide provides examples of how courses are often categorized.

students-residents.aamc.org

3.55 (dropped significantly by a C+ in gen chem II my second semester freshman year)

 

[dhans]

You have no clinical experience, no experience with disadvantaged communities, and your research is all over the place. This isn’t hard to fix but it’ll take time

what would you recommend to fix those issues?

 

[Orangekiwi]

What is a 4 year biomedical training program? What did that entail? It seems to track with when you would have been in high school, if so I wouldn't include it on your app.

what would you recommend to fix those issues?

Clinical experience can come from actually working as an EMT (I'm not sure if you have or not, you didn't put any hours for it), scribing for doctors, volunteering in a hospital with patient contact, stuff like that. LizzyM would say that if you are close enough to smell the patients and what you're doing is related to the fact that they are patients, it counts as clinical experience. For disadvantaged communities, do you have a connection to any particular disadvantaged group? If so try to volunteer within that community, it can really be anything. Serving meals or providing other services through a homeless shelter, tutoring and or mentoring at risk youth, things like that.

One last thing I would mention, adcom members are people, and they want to be able to tell that you're a person too from your application. Find something that you enjoy doing with your time that's completely unrelated to box checking, and that you can talk about passionately when asked. It can be a sport at the club level, an on campus group like a poetry or stand up comedy group, or it can just be a hobby (you seem to have at least some experience with skiing, is that something you're passionate about and could talk about if asked?). The hardest part of the med school application in my mind is to make it tell a coherent story about you, what you're like, and why you're a good candidate. Things outside of traditional premed box checking can help humanize you during a process where that can be difficult.

Good Luck, and try to enjoy the rest of your college experience!

 

[masala58413]

You have no clinical experience, no experience with disadvantaged communities, and your research is all over the place. This isn’t hard to fix but it’ll take time

what would you recommend to fix those issues?

Agreed, but you're off to a good start. If you feel comfortable, I think your personal issues might help frame some of your motivations to go into medicine (this can't be all of your reasoning, but it might give a narrative hook to your PS). Sounds like a story of resilience and I'm sure adcoms will resonate with this.

It's actually a bit hard to gauge your competitiveness without any idea as to your school list. But speaking broadly, it helps to have some sort of narrative thread connecting your different clinical and volunteer experiences. Reading this assortment of experiences, it's all good stuff, but they're in completely different areas. I'm not able to get a sense of your passions. What makes you tick?

If possible, I'd put that EMT certification to use - even if it's just a volunteer position. Ski patrol is good, but that's a very niche experience that may not give you insight into how everyday clinical medicine is practiced. This might round out your experiences a little better.

I'm also unclear as to what your non-profit does. What's the overall mission? Does this tie back to anything in your personal life? How did you get interested in this issue and how does it connect to your other experiences?

Overall, when crafting an application, think laterally AND longitudinally. There's a story of growth and development (to be explored in your PS). But there's also a story of parallel passions that are reflected in research, volunteer, and clinical experiences.

 

[dhans]

What is a 4 year biomedical training program? What did that entail? It seems to track with when you would have been in high school, if so I wouldn't include it on your app.



Clinical experience can come from actually working as an EMT (I'm not sure if you have or not, you didn't put any hours for it), scribing for doctors, volunteering in a hospital with patient contact, stuff like that. LizzyM would say that if you are close enough to smell the patients and what you're doing is related to the fact that they are patients, it counts as clinical experience. For disadvantaged communities, do you have a connection to any particular disadvantaged group? If so try to volunteer within that community, it can really be anything. Serving meals or providing other services through a homeless shelter, tutoring and or mentoring at risk youth, things like that.

One last thing I would mention, adcom members are people, and they want to be able to tell that you're a person too from your application. Find something that you enjoy doing with your time that's completely unrelated to box checking, and that you can talk about passionately when asked. It can be a sport at the club level, an on campus group like a poetry or stand up comedy group, or it can just be a hobby (you seem to have at least some experience with skiing, is that something you're passionate about and could talk about if asked?). The hardest part of the med school application in my mind is to make it tell a coherent story about you, what you're like, and why you're a good candidate. Things outside of traditional premed box checking can help humanize you during a process where that can be difficult.

Good Luck, and try to enjoy the rest of your college experience!

Okay, thank you, that's really helpful!

 

[Jungkookie]

I apologize for the long post, but I am hoping that someone will be able to take a look at my resume and tell me what I am missing for a medical school application. Going through this process as a pre-med student, I am extremely nervous about missing something important or getting off-track. I’d love advice on any gaps I should fill and what I should change going forward to increase my chances of acceptance to MD programs. Thanks!


Education:

• Honors student at a state school
  • Currently a second semester sophomore (planned graduation fall 2020)
  • cGPA 3.73, upward trend
    • I had several serious family issues and personal medical problems, including an extended hospital stay, that impacted my schoolwork my second semester freshman year; should I include that in my personal statement?
  • hopefully graduating with highest honors; currently on track to do so
• Aiming for graduation w/ two Bachelor’s degrees in 2020
  • Microbiology
  • Psychology
• Anatomy Lab SA for 2 semesters
  • Teaching a lab for human anatomy and physiology I 5 hours/week under the supervision of a graduate student
  • Giving lectures, writing exams, and providing individualized instruction to classes of approximately 26 students
  • Working with and caring for cadavers, cadaver parts, and microscopy slides and equipment

Volunteering:

• EMT and ski patrol
  • State and Nationally licensed EMT since 2018
  • Volunteer ski patrol, 268 hours/season
• Nonprofit co-founder (est. October 2018)
  • Vice President (Oct 2018- present)
  • 280 hours/ year
  • Drafting communications, organizing meetings, and facilitating outreach programs for a federally recognized 501 (c) 3 nonprofit
  • Currently partnered with 4 schools statewide providing free menstrual hygiene products
  • Numerous community outreach and education programs including talks, documentary screenings, and fundraisers.

Research and Lab Work:

• Research with a disease ecology lab since Spring 2019
  • 70 hours data entry and analysis, coding
  • 300 hours on an original diet analysis project which I recieved a grant for in 2019
  • NCUR 2020 presentation
    • Accepted for a poster presentation of diet analysis project
• Field Research Internship (4 week, full time)
  • Avian ecology research
  • Small room presentation of research findings
• 4 year biomedical sciences training program (2014-2018)
  • Extensive training in a variety of medical lab science techniques

Internships (other):

• Local nonprofit
  • 8 week internship April-June 2018
  • community organizer focused on registering young voters
  • student head of a widespread voter registration campaign (Over 400 new voters registered)

You're off to a good start, but there are definitely some things you still need! Can't really give you an idea of chances without your MCAT, but you definitely do need some clinical volunteering for direct patient contact as well as volunteering with underserved or disadvantaged communities (think soup kitchens etc) This page has some good examples of volunteer activities you could consider also how many hours you should aim for.

good luck!

 

[OrbitalOverload]

what matters are GPA, MCAT, publications/abstracts, and leadership volunteering to a certain extent.
If you play college level sports, have other significant accomplishments, that matters to some degree.
The rest is kinda fluffy unfortunately and as a sophomore hard to speak to your chances.
GL keep grinding.