Overview/ Need Advice Medical school (starting my college career)

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Hi I am planning on applying to medical school in the next 2/3 years. I as of now trying to gauge my chances given my circumstances on the conditions I came from, and my overall stats in college (so far). This post is not trying to flex my “minority card” I really just some opinions.

Hispanic, first gen college, grew Up in very LOW area (sub 30k income average), had a close friend shot & killed in front of my during high school (partly why I want to become a doctor, have a whole store detailing exactly why. Worked 40 hours a week for most of high school and watched brothers and sisters, also volunteered 100+ hours per school year.

Grades Freshman First Semester College

Bio 411 : -A
Greek History Class: -A
Spanish: -A
Psychology: -A

Little more info: I am pursuing a minor in Spanish, Major in Bio(premed) (have meaningful story on why I want to do Spanish minor, want to do Peace Corp in Spanish speaking country)

Extracurricular:

Spanish Club
Club for men of color to discuss current issues
United Asian Coalition
Program for people of minority to become familiar with the school ( Going to be a mentor for it)
Play for the schools professional counter strike team
Do research with a post doc, in lab

Classes for Next Semester

Bio 412
Spanish (next part)
English (Freshman, should be an easy dub)
Calc for life sciences (Ez dub)

Honestly Medical school at the moment isn’t my ultimate goal and I realize that it is unlikely that I will ever apply or even get in, I dont mind doing industry stuff if it comes down to it. Just want a general consensus of where I stand if I remain strong and keep to a schedule and activities such as these.

Thanks for any input :slight_smile:

2

Any grammar mistakes are because I didn’t proofread

3

What exactly are you asking?

It’s way too soon to say if you’ll be competitive for medical school. You need a near-final GPA plus MCAT score for that. You haven’t even taken any of the main weeder classes for pre-med yet.

It’s also unclear from your post what exactly your current ECs are vs your anticipated ECs. Plans are all well and good but they often don’t get followed up on.

BTW, computer gaming (including at the professional/competitive level) is seen as as a HUGE negative by med school adcomms and is likely something you won’t want to mention on a med school application.

Med school adcomms don’t care what you did during high school (although you can certainly include some of that info in your PS on “why medicine?”). Med school admission is all about what have you done lately.

Your lower SES background may allow you to possibly check the “disadvantaged” box in AMCAS (if you received state or federal benefits like section 9 housing/food stamps/medicaid before age 16), but that won’t offer you any grace if you don’t meet the standards of achievement & excellence expected in med school applicants.

URM status (since you brought it up) depends on what community/group you represent. Some Latinx groups are URM; others are ORM.

RE: Peace Corp–
You don’t need to speak Spanish to work in Spanish-speaking country with the Peace Corp. The Peace Corps gives you several months of intensive language training for the area you will be working in. Also just because you speak Spanish doesn’t mean you’ll be assigned to Spanish-speaking country for your mission. (There are plenty native Spanish speakers in the Peace Corp already.) The Peace Corp will decide where to place you that will best use your skills & talents. Only a minority of Peace Corp volunteers serve in Central or South America; most are assigned to African or Asian missions.

4

I was mainly asking whether or not I am on the right track grade wise and priority wise, seemingly the gaming isnt the best so I’ll make sure not to mention that sort of stuff. I wasnt trying to use the minority card as a grade boost, but for diversity when applying as only a small percent of graduates & applicants are Hispanic. I would be representing the Afro-Carribean (Dominican), and although I did emphasize I want to do Peace Corp and its one reason why I am currently taking Spanish there would be other reasons of course, having to do with family or personal goals etc…

I appreciate your input though

5

To be competitive for med school–

1 Academics--your GPA and science GPA (any and all bio, chem, physics and math classes)

2 standardized test scores (MCAT)

See this GPA/MCAT grid for acceptance percentages: https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf

These are the first discriminators/ first screen that all applicants face. You don’t make this cut and nothing else matters. A great MCAT does not offset a poor GPA and great GPA does not offset a poor MCAT score.

Once you meet those criteria, your ECs, personal statement, secondary essays, letters of recommendation all come into consideration. You will also be judged on your interview performance and your behavior during the entire interview day.

Pre-med ECs-- long-term community service with the disadvantaged, long-term clinical volunteering where you have direct patient contact (close enough to smell the patient), physician shadowing, esp w/ primary care physicians, leadership roles within your activities, These are considered to be of “highest importance” by adcomms. Unless you are gunning for a top med school, focus the bulk of your energies there.

If at all possible, get off campus and into your home or local community for your service activities.

Basic lab or clinical research are ranked as being of “medium importance” by adcoms. About 85% of all med school applicants have at least 1 years of lab research experience.

Some research intensive medical schools (think USNews top 30 research ranking) expect significant research experience from applicants that includes in-depth and hands on experience where you have primary responsibility for the success or failure of an independent project (like a senior research thesis), which is beyond merely lab volunteer status.

See p. 14: https://www.aamc.org/download/462316/data/mcatguide.pdf

If your Spanish approaches some level of fluency by the time you’re applying to medical school, keep the Puerto Rican medical schools in mind. Your Caribbean heritage will be highly valued there. The 3 PR med school are all LCME accredited and although most of the instruction is in English, your patient interactions/clinical rotations will be in Spanish.

6

Trust me I’ve been looking at those charts since early senior year of high-school, I’ve been told by many advisers that they look at is whether the student overall is well rounded with actual stuff they have done, run(clubs) , and a cumulative gpa of 3.4 at the very least. I am planning on working at a low income clinic possibly over the summer or next summer, and my physician has offered to have me shadow her, and possibly some of her colleagues. Also I am unsure if those results are really accurate as the MCAT has recently been restructured so the scores could be a little different now.

7

@datB0i

The GPA/MCAT grid linked is current through the 2018-19 application cycle.

The MCAT revision occurred in 2015; no further changes to the MCAT are planned at this time. So the MCAT scores on the grid are reflective of actual current data.

A 3.4 GPA is quite low for allopathic med schools, even for UiM applicants. It’s even on the low side for osteopathic med schools where the median GPA for matriculants is 3.5+.

Adcomms are holistic when they consider applicants, but many (most?) med schools use a computer screening algorithm as a first qualifier. (Some med schools receive on the order of 12,000-15,000+ applications each year. It’s impossible to review that many manually.) You have to get through the screen first before human eyes will review your application.

8

I can’t comment on your medical school chances because frankly it’s too soon and not enough relevant info is available.

But I can comment on Peace Corps.

My kid is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer. At the time of her application (and she believes this is still the case) those fluent in Spanish are assigned to Spanish speaking countries. This reduces significantly the language training needed for these volunteers. So…if you aren’t fluent in Spanish, you very likely won’t get assigned to a Spanish speaking country. BUT if you are fluent…you are not guaranteed a position on a Spanish speaking country either. When you apply to the Peace Corps…the Peace Corps determines your assignment…the type of program, and the country.

My kid really wanted to be a health volunteer in a Spanish speaking country. She was assigned as an education volunteer in an African country with a native Bantu language…not Spanish.

These assignments are given…and you either accept and go…or you are done. No second chances for another assignment.

9

I’ve read the academics med students face as being akin to having a fire hose hooked up to one’s mouth and then turned on full blast. In addition, students are faced with many standardized tests, some career defining (eg Step 1). Med schools want some certainty that an applicant can handle the academics with one’s GPAs/MCAT addressing this concern. They do not want students failing academically and dropping out carrying boat loads of debt. Considering not only that med schools can have thousands and thousands of applicants, some receive more than 10k, all applying for perhaps 1-200 spots, and considering med school staffs tend to be very small in number, they need some way to thin out the herd of applicants with GPAs/MCAT a good starting point.

In last cycle, over 52K applied with over 21k starting (60% not starting anywhere). There were not that many slots available. So sadly I suspect that there were many applicants who would otherwise make a good MD, got screened out right off the bat due to GPAs/MCAT.
https://www.aamc.org/download/321442/data/factstablea1.pdf

As to cumulative GPA of 3.4, it’s my understanding that sGPA is more heavily weighted.

As to applying in 2 years:
Keep in mind that med school application process takes a year. For example if you had applied to start in fall 2019, you should have applied in summer 2018. So as to applying in two years: you should have completed all premed courses, prepped and taken MCAT, have ECs, etc. As you still have two years of chem ahead of you, one year of physics, semester of bio chem, etc and not counting any GE/minor courses you’ll be taking, you may want to consider applying after you graduate in 3 years, meaning you’ll have to take a gap year. It’s important to apply one time with strongest app possible. Good luck.

10

Thank you and I appreciate your advice. Honestly I wouldnt mind waiting a year as I would like to live with my parents for a year or two and pay off some college debt, and have some money If I do go to medical school.

11

I am actually fluent so this may strengthen my chances after all.

12

@datb0i

When do you plan to apply for the Peace Corps? That application process can take up to a year from your initial application to receiving your assignment. You will need to complete your bachelors degree as well, as most PC assignments are given to college grads.

How do you plan to interface your Peace Corps appointment (should you get one) with your applications to medical school…which also will take about a year from the start of your application process to your actual enrollment.

Peace Corps assignments are 27 months in length.

Food for thought.

13

Just to be clear—

being fluent in Spanish may improve the odds of being assigned to a Central or South American mission through the Peace Corps, but it will not improve your chances of being accepted to med school.

On AMCAS you can indicate your level of fluency in languages other than English. (Options are: Basic, Fair, Good, Advanced, or Native/Functionally Native) If list your fluency as good or above, you should be prepared for part of your interview to be conducted in the language listed.

14

Does your university expect you to take 4 courses per semester in order to graduate in 4 years, or 5 courses per semester? Are you taking courses that are 4 credits each rather than 3 credits each? I have heard that medical schools expect applicants to have completed their undergrad in 4 years (or less), and to not have taken extra semesters.

The other thing that comes to mind is medical related activities. I have heard of premed students having rather long lists of volunteer positions that are medical related.

As others have mentioned you should be aiming for a GPA higher than 3.4, but my impression is that getting all A- grades is indeed higher than 3.4, at least so far. Of course, you still are a long way away from medical school or peace corps or other post-graduation activities.

15

Not really related to your question exactly but you remind me a lot of a young woman I know who ended up switching from premed to psych - you have the same academic profile and she is first gen Dominican, too. The pressure became extreme for her doing premed with a lot of that pressure coming from the amount of debt she was accruing for undergrad. It all hit her later towards her junior year as the amounts ballooned and family pressures intruded.
Anyway, I am only mentioning it because it would be great if you can spend some time developing some cocooning strategies to guard against intrusions and worries as you go along in your studies and as your classes get harder. Right around junior year a lot of students start to get more and more stressed about launching into adulthood and it’s even worse for first gens who’ve taken on family and financial responsibilities like you did in HS and are suddenly not in college. You might lose heart as you realize that premed keeps you from participating in responsibilities you find natural. Find ways to anticipate that and develop strategies that can help you cope. The last thing to worry about is MCAT right now. Focus on doing what you need to do with get through your coursework, tune out the noise and develop strategies for coping with stress, especially financial.

16

I’m very confused about your timeline.

You say…

  1. You wouldn’t mind waiting a year to apply to medical school (after undergrad) because you would like to have time to live at home, pay off some loans, etc.
  2. You want to be in the Peace Corps at some point.
  3. You want to apply to medical school in 2-3 years.

These things just can’t all happen at the same time.

17

Those are just options depending on how well I do later on down the road. They each are their own options depending on what I do or how I feel during college.

18

Honestly if the stress really does take me , I’ll just go to graduate school and work in industry. Like I had said previously I know that it is unlikely I will achieve my goal so I’ve come up with backup plans that I I would be satisfied with.

19

We are expected to take 4 courses each semester, but I have looked into takeing a few summer courses so I could maybe have the chance to study abroad if I wanted to.