College Freshman- what do I need to do in order to get accepted into med schools

Pre-Med & Medical School
1

Hello All,

I am currently a college freshmen at a state school. I have a 3.7 GPA (needs to go up I know), part of the Honors College, in two clubs (one is a pre-med club), volunteering at a hospital, and I am doing undergraduate research. I am double majoring in Biology/Public Health with a minor in French.

My questions is what do I need to do/improve on in order to get into a med school. Is my major okay? Should I be more involved in the school? I was thinking of taking an EMT class next semester, is it worth it? Any other suggestions are welcome! Also anything that would help me with the MCAT, especially from those who have taken it already (should I begin studying now?)

2

Also, I was thinking of graduating a semester or a year early. Would this hurt my application? In that year I would like to pursue a Masters

3

@STEM321

Your GPA is just fine. 3.7 was the median for matriculating students last cycle.

Now your questions–

Graduating early won’t hurt your application, but you will be compared (in terms of ECs, LORs, achievements, honors etc) against students who have spent the full 8 semesters in college.

For what purpose? If med school is your goal, having a Masters won’t help you at all. Grad degrees and grad GPAs are not considered when making admission decisions.

Frankly it would be more useful if you took your gap year and did something meaningful (and, if possible, healthcare-related) with it–work as medical scribe, work with the health corp at Americorp, do TFA in a underserved area, work or volunteer in a public service/public health job, etc.

Majors are largely irrelevant for med school admission; adcomms only care if you have fulfilled the admission requirements. If you’re happy with your major–it’s fine.

Only if you actually work or volunteer as an EMT; otherwise just taking the class is meaningless.

If you are thinking of looking for an EMT-B job, be aware that in many locations, there is an oversupply of EMT-Bs. Please check your local job market before pursuing EMT training. Part-time EMT-B jobs are hard to find.

Long term community service, particularly with at-risk populations. (Elderly adults, hospice patients, mentally ill, non-English speakers/recent immigrants, impoverished/disadvantaged, LGBT, etc) Adcomms value community service above research. Leadership is another area you can work on.

See p. 5 https://www.aamc.org/download/462316/data/mcatguide.pdf

Studying before you have completed all your pre-reqs is a giant waste of your time. Make sure you’ve taken stats or biostats before the MCAT. If you have the option of taking genetics as one your major electives–take it.

4

Keep doing what you’re doing. Do take the EMT class but then work or volunteer as one. See if you can reach a level of French that would allow you to get an independent study in Creole and see if you can volunteer at a clinic where many patients are Haitian. Check out the tumbler for afrenchie36, premed at an honors college and doing everything right.

5

Thank you for the detailed help! I will definitely be thinking about your advice as i move forward. I was planning on taking the MCAT next year (Spring 2019) but I think I’ll hold off until my junior/senior year.

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Thank you! I just checked out afrenchie36’s page and they are incredible! I’ll definitely think about doing health related work with those who are french speakers.

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I think taking it as a sophomore would probably put you at a disadvantage when you’re competing against people who have taken more advanced classes in the subjects being tested.

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The MCAT is not the SAT. You only take it once. Do NOT take it before Junior year at the earliest.