What's my shot?

[VeeTeeHokies]

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I'm a VA resident and I have two degrees, one in Bio and one in Psyc. My cGPA is 3.53 with a strong upward trend (didn't go premed until junior year), and my sGPA is a 3.45. I'm consistently scoring 29-31 on my practice MCATs and I still have over a month to study (aiming for 33+).

I have over two years of leadership at my local AMSA chapter, and am now a national leader in AMSA as Premedical Regional Director for DC, VA, WV, MD, and PA. I am very active in the premed community and put together a lot of programming, including an annual patient safety workshop. I'm also involved in several other organizations and honor societies.

I have research experience as an experimenter in social psyc, as well as over 2 years of experience in clinical psyc research, which was more like community service (I helped children in marginalized communities gain access to psychological help after traumatic events, amongst other things). I currently work in a molecular genetics lab. I have a lot of community service, mainly working with disabled children, tutoring, and mentoring.

I have my CNA certification and have a lot of shadowing hours. I will also be working as an ER scribe in my year off after applying, so I don't think clinical experience will be a problem. I also have great LORs.

Sorry this was so long, but I know my numbers are a bit low and I think my extracurriculars will be my saving grace.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[Catalystik]

Have you used the CNA certificate in a job or volunteer gig? You don't mention clinical experience (active interaction with sick people), except for what you've planned for the next year as a scribe. What clinical experience will you list on your application (assuming you plan to apply June-ish 2010). How much time did you spend personally talking to the traumatized kids?

The shadowing (passive observation) would be listed separately. How many docs and how many hours? Any primary care doc?

The leadership and research sound very solid. With an MCAT score of 32+, you should be in good shape to gain an acceptance if you apply early to the right schools.

 

[Insulinshock]

Only concern might be clinical. You say you'll be a scribe next year, but what you've done carries infinitely more weight than "what you'll do." I would try and find something, even something small, if you can before you apply. I have about 200 hours of shadowing, a year of hospital volunteering, and a spring break working with HIV patients, and I'm still uneasy with my clinical experience.

Also, with a 3.45 sGPA you're going to definitely want to score 30+. If it makes you feel better I started off scoring 28-29 and ended up with a 33 so just keep working.

 

[VeeTeeHokies]

I have 120 hours of CNA clinical experience and I plan on volunteering as a CNA or using the certificate at least once a week in hospitals. I wasn't allowed to personally speak to the children for confidentiality purposes, but I know that they got better as a direct result of the groundwork I did in order to get them to our psychological services center.

I have shadowed two docs so far, one ER MD and a primary care DO. I have roughly 50-60 hours in the ER and am still shadowing there once or twice a week. I have very few hours in primary care so far, as I just started shadowing there. I hope to have 30 hours there by the time that I apply though, as well as a letter from a DO so that I can apply osteopathic as well.

Thanks so much for the advice! It makes me very optimistic!