Hello, all of my interweb friends,
I am needing some guidance and an extra set of eyes and opinions on my premed process.
A little bit about myself, I was a very good student in high school, and concepts came easy to me. Then transferring to college where my study habits did not work at all, and honestly, I am still developing my skills and reinventing myself. Due to my huge wake-up call in college, my first two years really damaged my GPA. Currently, I am a senior and have a cumulative GPA of 3.0; sGPA of 2.6.
Knowing I needed to make myself stand out and be more than my GPA, I found a job working at one of my local hospitals. In this position, I work in the OR and scrub into orthopedic cases every day. (I am an aspiring Orthopedic Surgeon) I love that I am able to shadow surgeons and get hands-on experience every day. I plan to work there all the way up until I matriculate into medical school.
I am preparing to take the MCAT in the new year and to apply for the 22’ application cycle. Even with my clinical experience and help from the physicians, I work with every day, I am feeling lost in this process. I have been looking at the MSAR over the last couple of months researching and coming up with my list of medical schools to apply to, and I feel very discouraged by school stats.
Due to family obligations and financial needs, it is difficult to pick up a volunteer research position, or even a volunteering position at my hospital that fits my schedule/their needs and requirements. I worry that due to my below-average stats and limited extracurriculars that I will not be in the running for a seat at a medical school.
Dr.Gray, and all my new pre-med friends, do you have any advice for me? Should I consider doing a post-bacc? Take a gap year to get more extracurriculars under my belt? I know I want to become a doctor, and I will do everything I can to make that dream become a reality. Any words of wisdom are greatly appreciated!
Thank you!