working as CNA enough EC?

[rngrl12]

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I have ~400 hours working as a CNA before college as far as ECs go. I also worked in a medical device company, IDK if that counts.

I have started volunteering at a hospital, physician shadowing, and working with another volunteer organization to fix medical devices this semester. I'm looking to get in ~40 hours of physician shadowing and ~40 hours of volunteering by December. I'll have ~20 hours fixing medical equipment.

I have started talking to professors to get in research in the spring. I also plan on continuing the hospital volunteering (~40 hours) and the shadowing another ~40 hours.

If I'm looking to apply in June would this be enough? I'll have:
~400 CNA hours
-medical device company
~80 hours volunteering
~80 hours shadowing
~20 hours fixing medical devices

I am also looking to get into research and would like to do that ~20 hours/week in the spring if possible. I have a low GPA (3.3) and an unknown MCAT at the moment. I want to do everything else to keep my app from having obvious deficiencies.

 

[HCHopeful]

You're very one-sided with your EC's. Do you do anything outside of healthcare? Not that you necessarily need such activities, but it will help you stand out.

For instance, I started a performing band and also independently ran a karaoke business for four years while in college. Any hobbies at all that you could list?

You'll have enough clinical hours, so if you do volunteering, it doesn't necessarily need to be clinical.

Just looking at those hours, though, I don't think you have enough to make up for a below-average GPA. The general rules of thumb are (in my mind, anyway):

• 50 hours shadowing
• 200+ hours volunteering (either non-clinical/clinical)
• 100+ hours clinical experience (can be fulfilled through volunteering)
• Research as a bonus
• Other activities that make people know you're human
• Leadership is a bonus, but not necessary

You're on the right track, I think, but you need to beef up the non-medical portion of your application.

 

[after_the_flood]

If I read your post correctly, it seems like you'll have about a year of EC experiences under your belt by the time you apply, and you completed your CNA hours before college. Two things here- some people might interpret your late start of EC experiences as disingenuous. They could wonder "what was this person doing in his first two years??" The other thing is that medical schools might not consider activities completed before college, and so your CNA hours might not apply. It'd be worth getting further consultation on this matter.

As such I'm going to give you the highly cliched advice of wait another year to apply. Easier said than done. But if you do this you'd have a year and a half of research (hopefully resulting in a presentation/pub), and two years of volunteering and ECs. That would look amazing. It would also give you time to improve your GPA.

Other than that your shadowing hours are solid. As you're volunteering keep a journal of lessons you've learned so you can have talking points for your primary app / secondary / interviews. What you do matters, but what you learn matters a lot more.

 

[after_the_flood]

You're very one-sided with your EC's. Do you do anything outside of healthcare? Not that you necessarily need such activities, but it will help you stand out.

For instance, I started a performing band and also independently ran a karaoke business for four years while in college. Any hobbies at all that you could list?

You'll have enough clinical hours, so if you do volunteering, it doesn't necessarily need to be clinical.

Just looking at those hours, though, I don't think you have enough to make up for a below-average GPA. The general rules of thumb are (in my mind, anyway):

• 50 hours shadowing
• 200+ hours volunteering (either non-clinical/clinical)
• 100+ hours clinical experience (can be fulfilled through volunteering)
• Research as a bonus
• Other activities that make people know you're human
• Leadership is a bonus, but not necessary

You're on the right track, I think, but you need to beef up the non-medical portion of your application.

I can't emphasize the importance of having some interesting hobby/passion outside of medicine. Mine have been huge talking points in my interviews and application.

 

[rngrl12]

My undergrad program is year round full time 18 hours in spring/fall and 12 hours summer so I haven't had any significant breaks to do anything in. I do kick boxing and I guess that counts as a hobby. I've done small isolated volunteering things when I have had the chance (volunteered at a church, and a trunk or treat event) but with 18 hours of engineering I haven't had a ton of time during my undergrad.

I have a 3.3 science/cum gpa which I know isn't amazing. I've been debating applying for an SMP due to my lower gpa. To make a long story incredibly short I entered engineering school without physics or calculus or chemistry and jumped straight into 18 hours of engineering course work. I had a very rough first year. I've since gotten the hang of it and have a nice upward trend. I'm very strong in the biological sciences/chemistry just weaker in the engineering dynamics/thermodynamics etc

Idk if it counts as an EC but I did work as a process engineering co-op this past summer. Absolutely hated it.

 

[Donald Juan]

The GPA is a bigger worry than getting more ECs. You have more clinical experience than most and kickboxing is an awesome hobby to put down. Your CNA experience definitely counts whether it was before college or not, and your prior jobs should be things you also use to highlight yourself.

 

[LizzyM]

My undergrad program is year round full time 18 hours in spring/fall and 12 hours summer so I haven't had any significant breaks to do anything in. I do kick boxing and I guess that counts as a hobby. I've done small isolated volunteering things when I have had the chance (volunteered at a church, and a trunk or treat event) but with 18 hours of engineering I haven't had a ton of time during my undergrad.

I have a 3.3 science/cum gpa which I know isn't amazing. I've been debating applying for an SMP due to my lower gpa. To make a long story incredibly short I entered engineering school without physics or calculus or chemistry and jumped straight into 18 hours of engineering course work. I had a very rough first year. I've since gotten the hang of it and have a nice upward trend. I'm very strong in the biological sciences/chemistry just weaker in the engineering dynamics/thermodynamics etc

Idk if it counts as an EC but I did work as a process engineering co-op this past summer. Absolutely hated it.

Did you just decide to be pre-med or have you always wanted to be premed? Is there any way to change your major and still graduate in a reasonable time frame? Given your circumstances, your engineering major makes no sense.

 

[Holmwood]

Mm, no non-clinical volunteer experience is a bummer.

 

[rngrl12]

Did you just decide to be pre-med or have you always wanted to be premed? Is there any way to change your major and still graduate in a reasonable time frame? Given your circumstances, your engineering major makes no sense.

I'm a bioengineering major if that helps it make any more sense. To make a long story very short I changed my whole plan around a "significant other". Very dumb decision, I know. The "significant other" is out of the picture now so I'm left looking at what I actually want to do which is definitely not engineering. I understand I may have to do a gap year etc and take more time to prove myself. I wanted to do medicine before the SO but, basically, dropped it to support his plans and because I was majorly struggling in engineering and didn't know if I could pull it up.


I've been on the fence if an SMP is worth it for me or not or if I should just do an informal post bac. Granted I'll have ~150 credit hours by the time I get my engineering bachelor's degree so getting it to move will be hard. I do have a good upward trend for my last 2 semesters and should continue it for this final semester. I can take additional UG courses at a local 4 year college but moving my GPA up will take a long time due to how many hours I've accrued.

I have several professor's who will write my very good LOR. One of which has pretty significant ties to my state medical school. The program I'm in is known for sending students to my UG's med school and the kid's do well.

 

[rngrl12]

There's really no point changing my major this fall semester is my last semester of classes. The only traditional premed classes I'm missing are org 2 and the lab. Other than that I have them all covered. I have one internship left to do before I officially graduate. I was thinking of doing org 2/org 2 lab in the spring semester as well as retaking physics 1 because I got a C- in it. Bearing in mind the C- was when I hadn't ever taken physics or calculus and jumped into weed out engineering physics with calculus. Not my most solid plan.

I'm planning on taking the MCAT either April 1 or April 23. The debate I'm in is if I should apply to an SMP and try and do that for Fall 2016/Spring 2017 or if I should just do an informal post bac, volunteer, and try to work in a lab.