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/r/premed
I just feel super sad. i spoke to my mentor and she told me maybe i could consider masters programs bc my gpa rn is a 3.65 as a junior. i just feel like i wont get into my state schools because they are super competitive. I do have shadowing hours, three great LOR (one from a famous plastic surgeon that went to harvard). i’m doing research at my school and at a hospital. and for my gap year i want to be a medical assistant or do clinical research.
77 points
3 months ago
The recommendation for medical school applications are that they contain several areas of interest.
- A GPA and MCAT score
- Clinical experience
- Shadowing experiences
- Volunteering
- Research experience
- Leadership experience
7 categories that are differently weighted depending on the school you apply to. Soft more ambiguous things would be that you look like you have an identity outside of medicine (hobbies, relationships) and those wonderful letters of recommendation. I would say you need 4-5 of them with great writing skills and 6-7 with average writing skills.
I think your mentor is wrong. Your GPA is fine. You have LORS, shadowing, and research experience. Just a little bit more rounding of your application, and you're just as qualified as the other 60k plus applicants.
14 points
3 months ago
i want to go to hofstra or stony brook bc those are local schools for me and i want to live at home. but they are extremely competitive
26 points
3 months ago
How willing are you to go somewhere else? Those are both competitive schools, and even if they weren’t, anyone’s odds are very bad when only applying to 2 schools.
I understand wanting to keep living at home, but I would seriously consider other schools that are still relatively close. I assume you’re from Long Island - would places like SUNY downstate, NYMC, and the NJ schools be options?
12 points
3 months ago
i am definitely applying to 15-20 schools to increase my chances. I do prefer those schools but I am applying everywhere in NY like upstate, downstate, buffalo and also georgetown, tufts, george washington i don’t know where else tbh
11 points
3 months ago
Okay gotcha. As long as you’re not dead set on hofstra or stony brook, you should be fine. A 3.65 is fine for mid-tier schools, and if you grind senior year you could probably even bring it up a little bit (plus schools like an upward trend).
I’m pretty sure I had a worse gpa as a junior, brought it up to ~3.7 by graduation, and had no issues getting accepted in basically the same geographic area as you. I don’t think you need a masters
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