Am I on the right track?

[kcirlu]

Hello,

Hopefully this is the right place to ask, as I just wanted to know if I'm still on track for my application. I'm not looking for school lists yet, as I just turned junior

Here's my info:

State: Virginia
Race: AA Male (Haitian, Dominican). Fluent in Spanish (ESL)
Class: Junior
Major/Minor: Computer Science / Chemistry
GPA: 3.15 (2.67 > 3.0 > 3.32 > 3.52)
MCAT: Not taken yet. Planning to take a gap year or two after I graduate

Resarch: After this summer I'll have 820 hours. No publications. Worked in a microbiology lab, and I'm currently in a physical chemistry lab. I'll be presenting at my university's symposiums and a couple of regional conferences throughout my remaining two years.

Shadowing: ~60 hours with a hem/onc. Haven't shadowed anything else

Voluteering: I was a translator at a local clinic for Spanish between patients and doctors. ~30 hours. I'll start working as an EMT next fall and throughout the next two years.

ECs: Resident Assistant for three years by the time I graduate (I oversee ~30 students at a time). Treasurer for an organization promoting STEM for Hispanic students. I'll also start tutoring undergrads starting fall as well. I cycle, exercise and play the violin as a hobby I guess.


What else should I be doing besides working on my GPA? Thanks for your help.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Wahkoon]

Your extracurriculars are looking good, just make sure you keep improving your GPA - that is much harder to fix than research/clinical experience. Make sure you know how you learn best since that will help you greatly with your GPA and MCAT, especially if you have a full-time job while studying.

Other things that come to mind:

• Shadowing hours are great, but having more than one speciality (esp. primary care) will be beneficial
• Start thinking about who you want to write your LOR, and start building relationships now. I feel like this is even more important when you are taking multiple gap years. I asked all my writers before I graduated and took 2 gap years. They kept a draft and uploaded to Interfolio early 2018, so all my letters were in before AMCAS even opened - huge relief.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

Keep improving your GPA..
What is your science GPA?

What will you be doing during gap year?

From your other post, it sounds like your home state is NY. Is that where your dad lives? Is your mom abroad? Sounds like you’re only in VA for education purposes.

 

[Nathan17182]

You gotta get that GPA up. You have an upward trend, but if you can manage a 3.7+ for the rest of college that will really help you out. I’m a bit concerned your grades will drop with tutoring, being an RA, and EMT. I would just make sure your academics are your number one priority.

That said, EMT will get you the clinical hours you need. If you take a gap year, you can do some volunteer work during it - just don’t get involved in too much during junior year. Besides that you’re looking pretty good. Just shadow a primary care doc and that’s all you need for shadowing. Good luck!

 

[kcirlu]

Keep improving your GPA..
What is your science GPA?

What will you be doing during gap year?

From your other post, it sounds like your home state is NY. Is that where your dad lives? Is your mom abroad? Sounds like you’re only in VA for education purposes.

Right now my sGPA is 3.26. During my gap year I'm hoping to do more clinical volunteering and do some research if possible. Yeah, my dad lives in NY, and my mom in the Dominican Republic. I've only lived in VA since I started college. I'm definitely going to get my gpa up these next two years.

 

[kcirlu]

You gotta get that GPA up. You have an upward trend, but if you can manage a 3.7+ for the rest of college that will really help you out. I’m a bit concerned your grades will drop with tutoring, being an RA, and EMT. I would just make sure your academics are your number one priority.

That said, EMT will get you the clinical hours you need. If you take a gap year, you can do some volunteer work during it - just don’t get involved in too much during junior year. Besides that you’re looking pretty good. Just shadow a primary care doc and that’s all you need for shadowing. Good luck!

Yeah, now I'm taking a look at it, it does seem to excessive. However, my thought was that I needed more extracurriculars to be competitive for my application. I'll probably won't tutor and just stick to being an RA since I've already done it for a year, and then add EMT once a week to complement clinical hours, since mines are lacking at the moment.

 

[Nathan17182]

Yeah, now I'm taking a look at it, it does seem to excessive. However, my thought was that I needed more extracurriculars to be competitive for my application. I'll probably won't tutor and just stick to being an RA since I've already done it for a year, and then add EMT once a week to complement clinical hours, since mines are lacking at the moment.

I would definitely look into being an EMT and if you can keep doing the translation work that will look good. I was an RA in college too and an exec member for a another club. Between those two my EC's were fine - so you're definitely involved in enough non-clinical, non-volunteer stuff. During your gap year you can tutor or even do Teach for America/Americorps and that would look amazing. Just focus on GPA then EMT/Translation. If you can get a poster or two done for research then your app will be golden. Just remember you need to turn your GPA around. A 4.0 is not out of reach if you manage your time and study consistently before a week or so before your exams roll around. A high GPA for junior and senior year will open a lot of doors for you. Good luck with everything!

 

[kcirlu]

I would definitely look into being an EMT and if you can keep doing the translation work that will look good. I was an RA in college too and an exec member for a another club. Between those two my EC's were fine - so you're definitely involved in enough non-clinical, non-volunteer stuff. During your gap year you can tutor or even do Teach for America/Americorps and that would look amazing. Just focus on GPA then EMT/Translation. If you can get a poster or two done for research then your app will be golden. Just remember you need to turn your GPA around. A 4.0 is not out of reach if you manage your time and study consistently before a week or so before your exams roll around. A high GPA for junior and senior year will open a lot of doors for you. Good luck with everything!

Thank you very much for your help! All of this is really informative

 

[PreMedMissteps]

Right now my sGPA is 3.26. During my gap year I'm hoping to do more clinical volunteering and do some research if possible. Yeah, my dad lives in NY, and my mom in the Dominican Republic. I've only lived in VA since I started college. I'm definitely going to get my gpa up these next two years.

Keep NY as your home state! There are more instate public meds there.

Can you do some volunteering in NY? Can you spend time in NY with dad?

 

[kcirlu]

Keep NY as your home state! There are more instate public meds there.

Can you do some volunteering in NY? Can you spend time in NY with dad?

After I graduate I'm hoping to stay in NY and volunteer as an EMT and hopefully work with translating for patients in clinics. I'll try and spend time with my dad, but he travels a lot (every two weeks)!

 

[bls18]

After I graduate I'm hoping to stay in NY and volunteer as an EMT and hopefully work with translating for patients in clinics. I'll try and spend time with my dad, but he travels a lot (every two weeks)!

I second keeping up with non medical/clinical extracurriculars. Med schools look at medical experience, but like someone who is well rounded.