What do I do now?

[iCY]

Whatsup...I'm about to finish my 2nd year right now(60 credits) and I wanted to know what I should do to best improve my chances of getting in to a decent med school.

My GPA currently is 3.4, i'm getting a 4.0 this semester so thats going to go up to a 3.6. My science GPA is probably the same(do intro psych courses count in science GPA?). I havent done any research. I did a summer volunteer job at a hospital for like 300 hours.... like 2 years ago.

I just started working as a personal trainer. I wanted to get an extra certification from the National Academy of Sports Medicine to increase my income.......would this help my chances in applying for medschool at all? or should I focus my energy else where.

where do I go from here?? My plan was to continue working, start volunteering this summer and continue that for 1-2 years.

Oh and i'm taking the mcats next april. I've already taken bio/physics/chem, i just need to take orgo and i'll take the mcats my 2nd semester in orgo.

is there a list you guys follow from highest to lowest priority? I want to make sure i get everything down. thanks

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[schooltill30]

Sounds very similar to my situation, except for all the sciences (I started kinda late). I've been told by everyone who would talk to me to VOLUNTEER, VOLUNTEER, VOLUNTEER. Spend every moment that you aren't studying or relaxing in a health-care enviroment, absorbing and experiencing. Obviously, Physical Training is your hobby. Maybe try to get some kind of PT job/internship in a hospital? My thing is IT (it's also my major). I'm looking for a part-time job in hospital IT for next fall. This way I get experience in both fields. So, ya, if you're basically on track with your coursework/MCAT, just spend as much time as you can in a clinical setting, proving to ADCOM and to everyone else that you can do the personal part of the job, which is just as important as science.

 

[karmega5]

Sounds like you're pretty well on track.
Psych classes don't count for BCPM GPA, but they did let me count a neuroscience class for it, which was offered through the psych dept.

I've been told by everyone who would talk to me to VOLUNTEER, VOLUNTEER, VOLUNTEER. Spend every moment that you aren't studying or relaxing in a health-care enviroment, absorbing and experiencing.

Don't know how much I agree with this. GPA is number one, followed by MCAT, so studying should be your priority. Volunteering is important, but won't matter if your numbers are so low that they don't even look at your activities. A couple hours a week over a long period of time at one place you care about is way better than 300 hours in one semester at 10 different organizations.
I guess volunteering/shadowing are impt, but don't let studying slide, and don't get burnt out.

As far as a certification- if you want to do it, do it. It probably won't make or break your application, but it may make you more interesting.
Also, if you are interested in research, that may be an avenue to persue.

 

[schooltill30]

Don't know how much I agree with this. GPA is number one, followed by MCAT, so studying should be your priority. Volunteering is important, but won't matter if your numbers are so low that they don't even look at your activities.

Sorry if I wasn't clear on this point. I meant to say that if you are already on track with your grades (if they're good), then volunteering is more valuable than loading up on extra classes. Once again, this is all assuming that your grades are good (>3.5 BPCM). MCAT prep also comes before volunteering, btw. But volunteering is really important, esp. with the large amounts of gunners out there making your grades insignificant relatively.

 

[Robizzle]

I just started working as a personal trainer. I wanted to get an extra certification from the National Academy of Sports Medicine to increase my income.......would this help my chances in applying for medschool at all? or should I focus my energy else where.

Train because it's an easy source of income and because it's a fun thing to do, not because it makes you a better med school applicant. Will it make you stand out of the thousands of other applicants? Probably. Will it make you stand out of the hundreds of other personal trainer applicants? Probably not. If you're passionate about it, you can definitely talk about this on your essays and during interviews, though.

What's your current certification? Getting another one is a waste time and more importantly MONEY in my opinion. I don't know what kind of gym you belong to, but usually you 1) set your own rate and the gym takes a cut, or 2) the gym sets the rate and the gym takes a cut.

So getting an extra certification would either a) be pointless, or b) allow you to work in a better gym that pays better.

Just because it says "sports medicine" on it doesn't make you any more appealing of an applicant than say me, who got certified under ISSA, or Trainer Joe Shmoe who isn't even certified but still trains (these people really piss me off).

 

[iCY]

Train because it's an easy source of income and because it's a fun thing to do, not because it makes you a better med school applicant. Will it make you stand out of the thousands of other applicants? Probably. Will it make you stand out of the hundreds of other personal trainer applicants? Probably not. If you're passionate about it, you can definitely talk about this on your essays and during interviews, though.

What's your current certification? Getting another one is a waste time and more importantly MONEY in my opinion. I don't know what kind of gym you belong to, but usually you 1) set your own rate and the gym takes a cut, or 2) the gym sets the rate and the gym takes a cut.

So getting an extra certification would either a) be pointless, or b) allow you to work in a better gym that pays better.

Just because it says "sports medicine" on it doesn't make you any more appealing of an applicant than say me, who got certified under ISSA, or Trainer Joe Shmoe who isn't even certified but still trains (these people really piss me off).

i'm a at home trainer. the comapny i work for refers clients to me and i meet up with them in their homes to train. it saves me the hours you spend not training and getting paid minimum wage in a gym. the certification i have is through my employer. so i probably shouldnt bother with the other certification? i figured i could charge more if i had more certifications lol