- Joined
- Mar 19, 2020
- Messages
- 64
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Hello,
this is the first post that I've created. I have been reading SDN posts since my Junior year of high school, but as admissions deadlines near, I have decided to start using it more seriously. A little bit about myself:
I am 22 F, Caribbean black, bisexual
1st generation, bilingual with English as a second language
3.96 AO GPA
3.92 BPNA (I have only taken the pre-requisite science courses with two neuroscience courses, and biochemistry I, nothing very advanced)
Graduating ('2020) Psychology major, Neuroscience minor in the Honors program of a MA public state school, never retaken any courses or transferred schools
I have been tutoring for the past 3 years (Stats - 1 semester, College Algebra - 1 semester, Private tutoring - 2 years)
I have also been a volunteer peer mentor (1 year) and a paid peer mentor (2 years)
I only have real research in Psychology (since it's my major). I have about 1.5 years of for-credit research on disadvantaged populations (1 study about perceptions of mentally ill people, 1 study about perceptions of AA and Asians, and 1 interdisciplinary literature review (my honors thesis) about the science of Attraction. I am working to try to get the last two papers published. I know it is rare for undergraduates to get papers published, but my honors supervisor told that she thinks that I have a fair shot.
I will receive recommendations from my honors thesis supervisor who I have had for 2 Psychology courses, my calculus professor, my Physics 1 professor and my organic chemistry II professor. They will be put in a composite committee letter, which I have yet to receive. I don't think I astounded any of them too much during my time with them, but the letters should be pretty good.
By the time I submit my application, I hope to have 120 hours clinical volunteering (hospital (3 years) and hospice (1 year)), about 245 hours nonclinical (peer mentoring a freshman (1 year- 40 hours), delivering meals to homebound people during this pandemic (5 hours), Crisis hotline worker (200 hours), and making masks for hospitals), and will likely only have 60 hours of shadowing approximately because my shadowing visits have been canceled because of the pandemic. I actually was infected with tuberculosis last year during my volunteering with a hospital and was in the hospital for several weeks during the semester. My organic chemistry grade fell a bit because of this. I was sick for the whole year and was not able to volunteer or shadow, so that's why my hours aren't great. A plus side is that this experience with infectious diseases doctors piqued my interest in infectious diseases, and I think of it as informal shadowing. I am considering infectious diseases as a specialty now
I hope to achieve at least a 510 on the MCAT, and will be taking a course this summer for it, but I will push myself to see if I can get a 520. I have little experience with the MCAT and no contacts who could tell me much about it, so I cannot predict how I would do.
Basically, I am asking any people experienced in the medical school process 1. what my chances are of getting into Harvard medical (my top choice) 2. what can help improve my application 3. If my lack of clinical research will hurt me greatly 4. If my lack of advanced science courses will hurt me greatly 5. If getting my attraction paper published would help my application at all.
Thank you!
this is the first post that I've created. I have been reading SDN posts since my Junior year of high school, but as admissions deadlines near, I have decided to start using it more seriously. A little bit about myself:
I am 22 F, Caribbean black, bisexual
1st generation, bilingual with English as a second language
3.96 AO GPA
3.92 BPNA (I have only taken the pre-requisite science courses with two neuroscience courses, and biochemistry I, nothing very advanced)
Graduating ('2020) Psychology major, Neuroscience minor in the Honors program of a MA public state school, never retaken any courses or transferred schools
I have been tutoring for the past 3 years (Stats - 1 semester, College Algebra - 1 semester, Private tutoring - 2 years)
I have also been a volunteer peer mentor (1 year) and a paid peer mentor (2 years)
I only have real research in Psychology (since it's my major). I have about 1.5 years of for-credit research on disadvantaged populations (1 study about perceptions of mentally ill people, 1 study about perceptions of AA and Asians, and 1 interdisciplinary literature review (my honors thesis) about the science of Attraction. I am working to try to get the last two papers published. I know it is rare for undergraduates to get papers published, but my honors supervisor told that she thinks that I have a fair shot.
I will receive recommendations from my honors thesis supervisor who I have had for 2 Psychology courses, my calculus professor, my Physics 1 professor and my organic chemistry II professor. They will be put in a composite committee letter, which I have yet to receive. I don't think I astounded any of them too much during my time with them, but the letters should be pretty good.
By the time I submit my application, I hope to have 120 hours clinical volunteering (hospital (3 years) and hospice (1 year)), about 245 hours nonclinical (peer mentoring a freshman (1 year- 40 hours), delivering meals to homebound people during this pandemic (5 hours), Crisis hotline worker (200 hours), and making masks for hospitals), and will likely only have 60 hours of shadowing approximately because my shadowing visits have been canceled because of the pandemic. I actually was infected with tuberculosis last year during my volunteering with a hospital and was in the hospital for several weeks during the semester. My organic chemistry grade fell a bit because of this. I was sick for the whole year and was not able to volunteer or shadow, so that's why my hours aren't great. A plus side is that this experience with infectious diseases doctors piqued my interest in infectious diseases, and I think of it as informal shadowing. I am considering infectious diseases as a specialty now
I hope to achieve at least a 510 on the MCAT, and will be taking a course this summer for it, but I will push myself to see if I can get a 520. I have little experience with the MCAT and no contacts who could tell me much about it, so I cannot predict how I would do.
Basically, I am asking any people experienced in the medical school process 1. what my chances are of getting into Harvard medical (my top choice) 2. what can help improve my application 3. If my lack of clinical research will hurt me greatly 4. If my lack of advanced science courses will hurt me greatly 5. If getting my attraction paper published would help my application at all.
Thank you!