Worried about chances?!

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Hello, I am a current undergraduate at Harvard and I am planning on applying to medical school in about two years. However, I am beginning to get worried about not being accepted into a medical school. Here are my stats:</p>

<p>General Info:
Junior at Harvard
Major = Economics while fulfilling pre-med requirements
Cumulative Harvard GPA = 3.45
Science Harvard GPA = 3.43
Cumulative GPA = 3.55
Science GPA = 3.5
**I took concurrent enrollment classes during high school and I took physics for my pre-med requirements at a state school. So, that's why I have another cumulative GPA.
MCAT = 32 (I haven't taken it but that's the average score on the practice tests I've taken)</p>

<p>*** My freshman year grades weren't that spectacular but I have dedicated myself to increasing my GPA after freshman year. I've heard med schools like this upward trend in student's GPA but I don't know if it's true; hopefully my freshmen grades don't hurt me in the end.</p>

<p>ECs:
Vice-president for two student organizations </p>

<p>Volunteer with two after school mentoring programs (By the time I graduate, I will have volunteered about 400+ hours)</p>

<p>Involved with one finance organization</p>

<p>Member of a cultural musical group at Harvard</p>

<p>Research with a Harvard professor for a semester</p>

<p>Member of a water purification project outside the U.S. (I did not travel but I was the grant director so I fund raised for the project. Also, while the rest of the group was implementing the project, I was the contact person in the U.S. incase we needed to contact NGO's, alumni etc.) </p>

<p>Applied and was selected for a competitive business leadership program</p>

<p>Summers:
Studied Abroad in Spain
Clinical/shadowing involvement (150+ hours)
Business internship (this coming summer)</p>

<p>Good letters of recommendation from doctor I volunteered with and professors.</p>

<p>Languages:
I can speak Spanish and English fluently and knowledge of Portuguese.</p>

<p>So, what do you guys think are my chances of getting into a med school? How about top 20?</p>

<p>Oh, I am a URM (Hispanic).</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Don’t concern yourself with what med schools just yet. </p>

<p>Kick butt from here on in. No excuses. Just get it done. You should consider the possibility of applying after your senior year to give you another good year to make up for freshman year and to beef up your EC’s, clinical experiences, and research. (You may not need it, but at least have that as a consideration.) A Hispanic Harvard grad from South Texas will get a few tenths help at any med school. Good luck.</p>

3

<p>+1 to curm’s post, the guy knows his stuff and gives solid advice. After 2 years it seems like you’re starting to make a name for yourself EC-wise, which can’t possibly be a bad thing. Just keep doing the things you’re doing and kick butt to raise your GPA–which seems to be the major blemish on your candidacy. </p>

<p>Keep med school in mind, but don’t let it consume you. Take it from someone “in the trenches” now, 2nd semester junior year is stressful (MCAT prep), summer is stressful (apps + doing meaningful things), senior year is stressful (apps and secondaries, + classes and ECs, etc)–first semester junior year’s important too, but you’ll have PLENTY of time to stress about med school come spring 2011! Good luck!</p>

4

<p>To make myself clear, my first sentence meant to convey the idea that “Top Twenty med school” should not be a concern right now. The effort that needs to happen to improve the GPA’s doesn’t vary for depending on the ranking of the med school. If your question is “Am I sunk for every Top Twenty school?” then the answer is …not yet.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the advice. I’m just worried I won’t have a shot at any medical school. I know getting into a top 20 medical school will be tough but I just don’t know if I have the credentials to get into ANY med school at this point :/</p>

6

<p>Med schools care about more than your numbers. Do what you can to improve them, but beyond that just keep doing the things you’re doing–focus on clinical exposure, volunteering, research, patient contact, leadership, employment, etc etc–and do your best. You can only improve numbers so much–make sure you’ll bring more to the table than just a great MCAT score, and write about that well so your future med schools will see that there’s a real person behind those stats. </p>

<p>What are you worried about?</p>

7

<p>I agree with the posters above me. </p>

<p>I think you are fine, for an M.D. school…Your pro’s: Your a Texas resident, your a URM, decent gpa (3.5+ is the cutoff for most medical schools) and expecting a 30+ mcat score, Your chances of getting into any 1 U.S. M.D. school don’t seem that bad.</p>

<p>But then again, my opinion isnt worth much, because I am only a college sophomore, lol…Good Luck.</p>

8

<p>I can’t see where OP says they are a Texas resident, am I missing something?</p>

9

<p>cur has been reading the OPs posting history.</p>

10

<p>^ gotcha…should have known better…</p>

<p>;)</p>

11

<p>lol. Come’on guys and gals. Gimme a break. He only had 5 previous posts. Even I can read 5 previous posts.</p>

12

<p>I think you’re worrying for nothing. As long as things go pretty well from here on out, you should be fine.</p>

13

<p>An additional thought: if you’re so concerned that you won’t get into ANY medical school, where specifically do you think you’re lacking? You have time to improve. </p>

<p>In the same light, what do you think you’re lacking that absolutely everyone else applying who is accepted (assuming worst case scenario you’re rejected everywhere) has? You seem to have hit the big ones–research, volunteering, clinical exposure, extracurriculars. If you really think all the premeds out there are so much better than you that you won’t get in but they will, it might be that you’re stressing yourself out by reading about all these students. I know it sure freaked me out, but taking a few weeks of a hiatus from the online college world worked great.</p>

14

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<p>^^ Rofl I just based it off of Curm’s post.</p>