Good Afternoon,
I would first like to apologize for the lengthy background that I am about to subject you to, but I feel it is important in understanding my nontraditional path.
I graduated from the University of Florida in 2010 with a 3.0 GPA and sGPA of 2.67. I commissioned as an Officer in the Navy and spent 6.5 years on active duty. Becoming a physician was my goal during undergrad, but I fell extremely short of living up to the standards of a premed student. During my time in the Navy, I got married and my wife was a huge proponent of me following my dreams. I knew that in order to pursue matriculation into medical school I needed to get my GPA up, so I started taking some online classes at a local state college (all science based classes) to see if I still had the academic ability and ended up doing well. This boosted my confidence and I decided to resign my commission and pursue admittance into medical school full time. I was accepted into the University of South Florida where I recently received a second BS in Cell and Molecular Biology. Since the completion of my first BS at UF, I have completed 51 additional credit hours (all science based), received a 4.0 in all classes and have increased both my GPA and sGPA to a 3.22.
My extracurriculars are as follows:
Active Duty Naval Officer: Aug 2010-Oct2016
Navy Reserve Officer: Oct 2016-Present
Physician Shadowing: Roughly 100 hours in 2009
Clinical Volunteering: 298 hours Jun-Oct 2016
Substitute Teacher in a rural county in Florida: Nov 2016-Present
Take Stock in Children Mentor in a rural Florida county: May 2017-Present
Research Lab Assistant: May 2017-Present
In knowing the majority of my background information, my question deals with consistency. In listening to Dr. Gray’s podcasts, I know he preaches (and have heard this from other sources as well) that consistency is key. In regards to Med School Admissions committees, are they looking simply for consistency, because it shows that you are able to commit, or is it more specifically consistency in medical extracurriculars? For example, all of my shadowing and clinical experiences has proven to me that medicine is where I want to be although they have been “brief”. I have shown consistency in several other areas, but not in shadowing or clinical volunteering. Unfortunately I live in a very rural area in Florida, and finding shadowing opportunities has been extremely difficult. Thank you for all feedback in advance!
Kindly,
Tradd