Hey everybody,
I know it's a busy time of year, but I'm hoping that some fellow SDNers will be able to give me some advice.
Here are the basics: 34 MCAT (11B/11V/12P), 3.64 cgpa, 3.49 sgpa. Four years of research (1 year in a cancer research lab, 3 years in a nutrition lab) with 4 poster presentations (1 national conference) and an oral presentation at a national conference. My first publication should be coming along in a few months (fingers crossed). One semester of volunteering at the hospital, one month spent working 40+/week in a third-world clinic, and 3 semesters of volunteering as a public health counselor at a free clinic (but limited hours) + lots of other non-health related volunteering. Former president of two community volunteering/social justice clubs.
My worst grades are in my science classes and even worse, they're in the pre-reqs. I think I've only gotten an A/A- in 3 of them. Atrocious, I know :(
I'm planning on applying this cycle, but I'm feeling absolutely terrible about my chances at a good school (top 30ish). I know that's aiming really high, but the main reason why my GPA isn't better is because I spent the first few years of college dealing with insane family problems (i.e., suicides, repeat heart attacks, etc, etc) that were extremely crippling for me. I took a year off, straightened out my family issues, and came back much stronger, essentially getting straight As for the past three semesters (all overloading), including high level science classes (3 biochemistry-related classes). I know I have it in me to do well and excel at a great medical school, but unfortunately, my grades don't totally reflect that.
That being said, what should I do? Should I apply next cycle to give me a chance to further boost my GPA and get more clinical experience?
I've also been accepted to a couple of master's programs for public health (columbia, brown, duke, etc) - should I just do the master's program?
Should I apply this cycle? At this point, I'm honestly willing to do anything to get a shot at a good medical school.
Anyway, tl;dr my stats/experiences are good, just lacking in clinical experience. horrible sgpa esp in pre-reqs b/c of family problems that have since gotten better. strong upward trend. should i apply this year? or should i apply next year and take time to boost my science gpa to get into a middle-top tier school? thanks in advance for taking the time to give me feedback and help me out.
I know it's a busy time of year, but I'm hoping that some fellow SDNers will be able to give me some advice.
Here are the basics: 34 MCAT (11B/11V/12P), 3.64 cgpa, 3.49 sgpa. Four years of research (1 year in a cancer research lab, 3 years in a nutrition lab) with 4 poster presentations (1 national conference) and an oral presentation at a national conference. My first publication should be coming along in a few months (fingers crossed). One semester of volunteering at the hospital, one month spent working 40+/week in a third-world clinic, and 3 semesters of volunteering as a public health counselor at a free clinic (but limited hours) + lots of other non-health related volunteering. Former president of two community volunteering/social justice clubs.
My worst grades are in my science classes and even worse, they're in the pre-reqs. I think I've only gotten an A/A- in 3 of them. Atrocious, I know :(
I'm planning on applying this cycle, but I'm feeling absolutely terrible about my chances at a good school (top 30ish). I know that's aiming really high, but the main reason why my GPA isn't better is because I spent the first few years of college dealing with insane family problems (i.e., suicides, repeat heart attacks, etc, etc) that were extremely crippling for me. I took a year off, straightened out my family issues, and came back much stronger, essentially getting straight As for the past three semesters (all overloading), including high level science classes (3 biochemistry-related classes). I know I have it in me to do well and excel at a great medical school, but unfortunately, my grades don't totally reflect that.
That being said, what should I do? Should I apply next cycle to give me a chance to further boost my GPA and get more clinical experience?
I've also been accepted to a couple of master's programs for public health (columbia, brown, duke, etc) - should I just do the master's program?
Should I apply this cycle? At this point, I'm honestly willing to do anything to get a shot at a good medical school.
Anyway, tl;dr my stats/experiences are good, just lacking in clinical experience. horrible sgpa esp in pre-reqs b/c of family problems that have since gotten better. strong upward trend. should i apply this year? or should i apply next year and take time to boost my science gpa to get into a middle-top tier school? thanks in advance for taking the time to give me feedback and help me out.