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Hi everyone -- I was hoping some of you could look at my 'stats' and let me know what you think I could improve upon. I'd really appreciate an objective viewpoint. This post is kind of long, so please bear with me. Here's what I have under my belt so far:
UG GPA (after post-bacc classes): 3.51 BCPM, 3.55 Overall (this is assuming I calculated my GPA correctly using AMCAS Grade conversion guide.. was kind of difficult since my classes were taken at about 6 different schools all with different grading systems.. going to go over it again, but I really hope it's correct). Planning on taking an English composition and a Chemistry night class still so the GPA may go up just another smidgen.
Pharmacy school GPA (currently still attending so this could change): 3.82, am in the top 15% of my class at the moment.
MCAT: N/A (registered to take it this summer *crosses fingers*)
Research:
- Humane society for about 1.5 years now
- Worked with a patient education committee in pharmacy school where I went to underserved communities to educate them about diabetes - 1 year
- Tutor for abused children - 1 year
- Going to Costa Rica this coming December for about 2 weeks (already scheduled). Will be able to work in rural areas in a team of 8 directly trained/supervised by an MD to triage patients, recommend treatment, change bandages, etc.
- Shadowing: so far only about 30 hours of recent shadowing time completed with an anesthesiologist. I've been accepted into a volunteer program that starts in September where I can obtain an additional 200 hours of shadowing experience over the course of a year.
- About 100 hours of general hospital volunteering, you know the usual: helping the nurses, answering phones, running around delivering meds to different departments, etc. This was also completed in undergrad, so about 6 years ago.
- Other misc volunteering for health fairs where I screened patients for diabetes, HTN, hyperlipidemia, etc. and counseled them on use of medications
Other random stuff:
- Play piano for about 10 years
- Taught beginning improv acting classes for about 1 year in between UG and pharm school. I was heavily involved in acting in UG.
- Taking beginning horseback riding lessons for the last 3 months now (something I've always wanted to do)
- Dance choreographer for my old high school -- not something I do on a regular basis but I get called in maybe once or twice a year to help the cheerleading team prepare for competitions.
Work experience:
- I currently work about 15 hours/week in an outpatient hospital pharmacy. Have been there about a year now and am planning on continuing to work there until I graduate from pharm school. Not sure if this would count as "patient contact" experience? Although I have to say I get plenty of face-to-face time with patients (unfortunately) -- mostly involves patients screaming at me.
I think only people that have worked at a pharmacy can understand this.. but my work there consists of consulting patients on the use of their meds as well as calling doctors, making rx compounds, etc.
I have about one more year before applying to med schools next summer. What would be the best use of my time until then? The PI on my HTN research case may have another project for me to work on this summer (here's hoping) so the research part of my application may be bolstered a bit. But I feel like I have my hands in a lot of different places trying to grab a bit of experience here, take an extra class there, and I might be stretched too thin since this is all going on while I'm trying to keep my pharmacy grades up -- what weaknesses in my application should I really focus on? Most of my hospital volunteering experience is going to come purely from time shadowing doctors. Should I do something else, like hospice or would purely shadowing be enough?
Thanks for any advice anyone can give.
UG GPA (after post-bacc classes): 3.51 BCPM, 3.55 Overall (this is assuming I calculated my GPA correctly using AMCAS Grade conversion guide.. was kind of difficult since my classes were taken at about 6 different schools all with different grading systems.. going to go over it again, but I really hope it's correct). Planning on taking an English composition and a Chemistry night class still so the GPA may go up just another smidgen.
Pharmacy school GPA (currently still attending so this could change): 3.82, am in the top 15% of my class at the moment.
MCAT: N/A (registered to take it this summer *crosses fingers*)
Research:
- one clinical research project on HTN in ICU patients -- most of my work consisted of interviewing patients at the hospital to obtain data over a 3 month period of time.
- Also did about 7 months of lab work (mainly tissue dissections) for research in undergrad.. but undergrad was about 6 years ago.
- Humane society for about 1.5 years now
- Worked with a patient education committee in pharmacy school where I went to underserved communities to educate them about diabetes - 1 year
- Tutor for abused children - 1 year
- Going to Costa Rica this coming December for about 2 weeks (already scheduled). Will be able to work in rural areas in a team of 8 directly trained/supervised by an MD to triage patients, recommend treatment, change bandages, etc.
- Shadowing: so far only about 30 hours of recent shadowing time completed with an anesthesiologist. I've been accepted into a volunteer program that starts in September where I can obtain an additional 200 hours of shadowing experience over the course of a year.
- About 100 hours of general hospital volunteering, you know the usual: helping the nurses, answering phones, running around delivering meds to different departments, etc. This was also completed in undergrad, so about 6 years ago.
- Other misc volunteering for health fairs where I screened patients for diabetes, HTN, hyperlipidemia, etc. and counseled them on use of medications
Other random stuff:
- Play piano for about 10 years
- Taught beginning improv acting classes for about 1 year in between UG and pharm school. I was heavily involved in acting in UG.
- Taking beginning horseback riding lessons for the last 3 months now (something I've always wanted to do)
- Dance choreographer for my old high school -- not something I do on a regular basis but I get called in maybe once or twice a year to help the cheerleading team prepare for competitions.
Work experience:
- I currently work about 15 hours/week in an outpatient hospital pharmacy. Have been there about a year now and am planning on continuing to work there until I graduate from pharm school. Not sure if this would count as "patient contact" experience? Although I have to say I get plenty of face-to-face time with patients (unfortunately) -- mostly involves patients screaming at me.
I think only people that have worked at a pharmacy can understand this.. but my work there consists of consulting patients on the use of their meds as well as calling doctors, making rx compounds, etc.I have about one more year before applying to med schools next summer. What would be the best use of my time until then? The PI on my HTN research case may have another project for me to work on this summer (here's hoping) so the research part of my application may be bolstered a bit. But I feel like I have my hands in a lot of different places trying to grab a bit of experience here, take an extra class there, and I might be stretched too thin since this is all going on while I'm trying to keep my pharmacy grades up -- what weaknesses in my application should I really focus on? Most of my hospital volunteering experience is going to come purely from time shadowing doctors. Should I do something else, like hospice or would purely shadowing be enough?
Thanks for any advice anyone can give.
