<p>I am currently a sophomore and I am certain that I am going to med school (I think lol). I am majoring in biochem and psychology with a minor in African American studies, and my science GPA is 3.72, non-science is 4.0, and cumulative is 3.82. I am wondering what I can do increase my likelihood of getting into a top medical school. I heard going to a top med school helps in getting into very competitive residencies (such as ped-prim at JHU or card at Mayo). I volunteer a lot helping 'urban youth' and 'children of color'. This is rewarding for me, but I feel as if it will be useless to med schools so I need some other experiences. I need clinical experience, any suggestion around the Minneapolis, MN area? Also, if I could do some volunteer work in another country that would be interesting. Does anyone know of any opportunities (where I dont have to pay anything)? What are the ideal GPA and MCAT? I will complete at least one research project in both biology and psychology by the end of my junior year which should help my app. Any topic suggestions?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Work hard, and get your gpa around a 3.75-3.8</p></li>
<li><p>Do well on the MCATs, get your mcat scores around a 35-36.</p></li>
<li><p>have a hook</p></li>
</ol>
<p>An example of a hook: (originally posted by Norcalguy)
Thread: How important is it for a premed to publish articles in science journals?</p>
<p>^3.75-3.8 science gpa? Or cumulative?..i see a hook will be hard to accomplish lol peace corp is like a two year program, I don’t even attend a D1 school, and I want to go straight to med school after ug. Any other suggestions on a hook? Would working in the bio lab at school for 4 years be considered a hook?</p>
<p>i wouldnt know for sure, but id say working in a lab for 4 years isn’t much of a hook, considering a fair amount of people end up doing it. the best i could say is stop worrying about what they want so much because it limits you from excelling at what you’re best at. certainly you need to keep them in mind in terms of clinical experience (i.e. volunteering in one way or another), but outside of that, a true “hook” can only come from your passions, and those passions can’t be found in the MSAR or on CC.</p>
<p>Just try excelling in something you know you’re naturally really good at. Everyone has something.</p>
<p>As far as GPA, your science GPA should be very similar to your cumulative GPA, so when the poster says keep a GPA around 3.75-3.8, he/she means both GPAs.</p>
<p>Ok I think I understand hook better. I like running and I run marathons (5ks and 10ks for now) for cures and such. I also do extensive work, as I said, helping african american youth excel. So I think those will be my hooks. I don’t think I will get published so I won’t really count on that (even though I know some who have at my school who worked with the professor I will work with :-)). So should I focus on increasing my science GPA to the 3.75 or is 3.72 good enough. My science GPA will always be behind my cumulative because my psychology GPA will always be a 4.0 and thats half my GPA. By the end of my junior year I think I will have a cumulative of 3.89 and a science of only 3.7-3.79 ish. Although if statistics for behavioral sciences counts towards my science than I have a 3.75.</p>
<p>What I was trying to get at is that you need to do something that an average person can’t or won’t do. Running a 10k isn’t really worthy of putting on an application. But, if you manage to raise $5000 from sponsors in a creative and interesting way for your race, then it’ll raise an eyebrow. </p>
<p>Likewise, spending 5 hours/wk working with African American youth is nice but nothing that’ll impress top med schools. Starting your own brand new mentoring program and getting two grants for it will impress top med schools. If I can do that as a first-year medical student (which is what I did), you can certainly have the time to do that as an undergrad.</p>
<p>Since you especially highlighted the fact you want to go to “top” med schools, I’m trying to elucidate what is an “average” EC and what is a “top med school” quality EC.</p>
<p>^^Really, How’d you do it? Any tips on how I can do it.</p>
<p>Oh and thanks for all the input everybody</p>
<p>If it were as easy as me listing a series of steps, it wouldn’t be a great EC. Look around your city and see what groups have money available for grants. Apply for them. Look for a community or school you want to work with, find out who the leaders or principal are, and request a meeting. These aren’t easy things to do. You have to come prepared and present yourself and your ideas well. </p>
<p>Nothing that is worth a damn to top med schools comes easy. Getting mommy and daddy to fork over $2000 so you can go to Nicaragua for a 2-week “medical mission” vacation is easy. Living in a remote African village as a Peace Corps member for 2 years is not. Helping local underpriviledged kids for 2 hours/week is easy. Being a teacher in a tough inner city high school as part of Teach for America is not. Doing research for 3 years is easy. Getting 3 publications in those 3 years is not.</p>
<p>Ok I get it…it must be something BIG…I know its not going to be easy and my work now is usually about 500 hours a year, so its not insignificant. I’m just a sophomore in college I wonder how hard it would be to get a grant. I thought of teach for america a while ago, but I don’t see how this will be possible unless I took a semester off. Guess finding a hook will be the hardest thing about getting into a top med school. I could easily get a hook during and after my senior year, but I would’ve already applied. I’ll figure something out hopefully</p>
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<p>If I am remembering correctly, you need to commit to at least 2 years for teach for america, its not something you can do in just one semester. If it were just a semester long thing it would be considered too easy, lol…</p>
<p>I am in the same boat as you, I don’t have a hook and I am a rising junior. I got to do something big and unique my junior year in health economics (since this field combines my interest in econ and medicine).</p>
<p>^Dang, i thought it was one year, I’m already ahead that’s why I said one semester. I wonder how much people on here who got into top med schools had a hook.</p>
<p>You’ll be a lot better off worrying about just getting into med school and stop worrying about a “top” med school.</p>
<p>The obsession with “top” med schools, especially from high schoolers who haven’t even gotten into college yet (not referring to the OP) is getting crazy…before long this forum will be like sdn if we’re not careful.</p>
<p>^^^ I don’t think this forum is going to get as bad as sdn. One of the reasons that I think sdn has gotten so bad is because the veteran posters themselves are neurotic. The veteran posters on this forum are not neurotic at all…</p>
<p>The atmosphere in a forum is a reflection of its veteran posters, since they are the most knowledgeable and they are the ones who post the most often.</p>
<p>I understand the problem with most but I don’t want to just for the kicks, I need to get into a competitive residency and I may even be considered over-qualified for lower schools based on post from here (that is if my MCAT is high when I take it), so I would like to increase my chances of getting into a top med school hence my post. It’s not harmful to get into a top school. I know even with extraordinary stats I still want be guaranteed to get into any school. So why I am trying, why not aim high? But once again my reason is to get into a highly competitive residency, not for the frills.
And this post helped because not only do I know that my GPA is up to par but I must maintain it, and that I will need a hook and I have some good tips for one as well.</p>
<p>"What are the ideal GPA and MCAT? "</p>
<p>-4.0/45. I believe that nobody so far got MCAT=45. However, there are plenty of 4.0. So, try your best. As far as EC’s, every single pre-med that I have heard about has impressive list of various medically related and non-medical EC’s. Unless you saved humanity from AIDS or malaria, you most likely will not stick out in area of EC’s. However, if you are involved in EC’s of your personal interest/passion it will come out positively during interview. My D. had unusual for pre-med but still medically related volunteering that required training and lasted for few years. She was asked about it a lot and seemed to be a positive point during interview. Most common conversation though was her Music minor, although having minor will NOT give you any advantages in Med. School acceptances.</p>
<p>^I believe I said why JHU or Mayo in my post, just reread it. Oh wait, you answered your own question lol. And yes you can get into one from any med school but competitive residencies do care about the college you come from. There are other reasons, but I’m not here to explain everything I am here to get tips
And since the majority of people don’t go to top med schools I am assuming you believe most doctors are bad. This is not true at all.</p>
<p>^They still care mostly about your boards (in MD’s opinions).</p>
<p>^^lol why are you so mad at me? I did not say good residency I said competitive. And your med schools plays a much bigger role in getting into a residency than ug plays in getting into med school. Look through this forum and you will quickly find that out. If I solely cared about name, I would mention harvard and yale not mayo. Plus, those were only names of residencies NOT MED SCHOOLS!!! You already admitted that its “sadly true” so why are we having this discussion? Your sarcasm was picked up on but asking a question that outright answering it is not sarcasm. dictionary.com may help you with that.</p>
<p>I believe that grades are important also. Borads and grades. I also heard that this is the reason why starting from some point, there are no pass/fail, they actually get grades. But we still need to see this. D. is starting at Med. School in few weeks. I will have more answers about residencies after she gets into one. As of now, just talking to people who know, like MD’s.</p>