<p>I agree with everyone else about the misconception, but here’s some info anyway. I’m a double major and pre-med at Johns Hopkins, and we have an 85-90 percent admit rate at med schools, including the top ones (Hopkins, similar tier). Take a look at all these types of people:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>A guy I know who did research since freshman year, started shadowing in soph, and volunteers for no credit in clinic. Super high GPA.</p></li>
<li><p>A transferee from Montgomery College, a community college. Did well here, no super ECs, and there you go.</p></li>
<li><p>Not such a good writer, but ~40 on MCAT and good grades. Cookie cutter type, but not as nuts as #1.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>A general note on the top kids here, including gf lol–very high GPA, lots of volunteering and clinical xp. Research is not so relatively important, incidentally. High MCAT for sure. And, volunteering, volunteering. AED, the pre-med honor society, focuses on that especially. However, like undergrad prep, way better to do 1-2 things than tons of stuff, and be good. I don’t even do that much med school stuff, rather help the city and meet people like the district people, mayor, city council etc. to weigh in on helping. </p>
<p>Finally, a feather in your hat is humanities (and diverse courses, even engineering). Med schools want diverse people. Think of how many bio majors come from JHU–thats why i double in anthro, beside the fact that I love it.</p>
<p>Very lastly, study abroad doesn’t hurt at all. By some miracle I and a friend get the chance to hit Oxford and LSE, and preprof says it puts you above the rest. I guess we’ll see.</p>
<p>Hope this helps</p>