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Health Careers/HCEC
Premed Profiles and Pressure Points
Many students wonder how they compare to other students who have applied to medical
schools in the past. The following profiles may be helpful to you in thinking
about your situation.
Along with the "reality check" presented in the pressure points, we suggest some
resources for dealing with some of these situations.
Michael, Bill, and Marilyn are stories based on composites and/or actual students.
In each case, however, some details have been changed and real names were not
used.
Michael: Weak Freshman and Sophomore yearsA discouraging beginningMichael came to Cornell with an excellent high school record. At Cornell he dove into activities, joining two student organizations and an intramural team. He was taken aback when his first semester GPA at Cornell was a 3.0 and his spring semester GPA was 2.4. As he headed off for the summer after the end of his freshman year, he was very discouraged and seriously believed that his goal of becoming a doctor would not be realized because of his poor academic record. Over the summer he worked in a camp for children with cerebral palsy, a familiar setting where he had experienced past success, having worked there previous summers. His summer job reconfirmed his desire to become a doctor. A new resolveWhen he returned to Cornell in the fall he had a new sense of determination and felt he was better prepared to balance his academic and extracurricular activities. His prelim grade in Chemistry 207 soon had him back to a near hopeless feeling about his chances of going to medical school. At the suggestion of his advisor he took the Chemistry 007 course and began going to the instructor's office hours. This helped him salvage his chemistry course and go on to Chemistry 208. Nonetheless his grades: 3.2 for fall semester and 3.1 for spring semester, made medical school still seem impossible to him. He attended the Premed Sophomore Orientation spring semester of his sophomore year. After the Orientation he decided he wanted to find some ways to further check out if being a doctor was what he really wanted and what his Plan B might be if he didn't attend medical school. That summer he worked in a hometown business and volunteered evenings and Saturdays at a nearby nursing home, which he enjoyed immensely. He also decided to resume playing the saxophone, an interest he had set aside after high school. Things begin to improveHe returned for his junior year thinking this was the year he was "supposed to" begin the process of applying to medical school. At the Students Applying Orientation (for juniors and seniors) he learned that about a third of Cornell students apply to medical school at the end of their senior year, not as juniors. This was not an option that he was willing to consider for himself. He also felt more determined than ever to become a doctor. A hard decision pays offThings seemed to "click" his junior year. He earned a 3.5 GPA fall semester. He continued with his extracurricular interests and also began playing saxophone with a small group. He arranged "concerts" for the group at local after school programs, scout programs, day care centers, and nursing homes. Spring of his junior year he registered with the Health Careers Evaluation Committee (HCEC). His cumulative GPA was 3.04. When he approached his advisor for a letter of recommendation, she said she was willing to write for him, but she expressed concern about Michael's being able to be accepted to medical school. A friend mentioned a premed briefing he'd attended, "Applying: Am I a Competive Applicant?" that discussed different options. Michael went to the Career Library in 103 Barnes Hall to listen to the audio of the briefing. He followed up with a premed advising appointment. His spring semester was going well. He learned if he waited to apply until the end of his senior year, he stood the chance of having a higher, more competitive cumulative GPA. He would also have four semesters of an upward trend, and this would improve his chance of acceptance. Though it was very disappointing to him, he concluded he should wait to apply at the end of his senior year. Spring semester of his junior year he earned at 3.7. He had 3.8 GPAs both semesters of his senior year, giving him a 3.31 with which to apply to medical school. This was considerably more competitive that the 3.04 he had at the end of his junior year. Michael applied to medical school after graduation and was successful in being admitted to medical school for the following year. Bill: Weak MCAT scoresWeak MCAT scoresBill felt confident about reaching his goal of becoming a doctor. At the end of five semesters at Cornell he had a 3.5 GPA. He had also been active in research. The spring semester of his junior year he registered with the Health Careers Evaluation Committee (HCEC) and prepared to take the MCAT. When he received his scores in June he was very disappointed. His total score was 23, one point below the national average. Verbal Reasoning was 5, Physical Sciences was 9, Biological Sciences was 9 and the Writing Sample was N. He thought he would go ahead and apply anyway and re-take the MCATs in August. A friend told him taking the August MCAT could make him a "late" applicant at some medical schools, as the schools would not have his scores until October, and that at schools with rolling admissions this would put him at a disadvantage. Evaluating his situation with an advisorUndecided about what he should do, he spoke with a health careers advisor. Bill told her that English was his second language and that he had avoided classes that required a lot of reading and writing because he was a somewhat slow reader and was concerned about not getting good grades in those classes. Therefore, early on, he had taken as few courses as possible outside of the natural sciences, which were his main strength and also the area that interested him the most. To further avoid humanities and social science classes he had used courses in his native language when possible to fulfill distribution requirements. He also admitted that he rarely read materials outside of the sciences, and those that he did read were generally not challenging or complex in content or style. The advisor told him that these tactics, while they let him build on his strengths and attain his competitive GPA, had worked against him when it came to taking the MCAT. The MCAT is designed to not only test scientific knowledge but also breadth of education and verbal reasoning skills developed over a period of years. Applying a year "late"Based on the discussion with the advisor he decided to postpone applying until the end of his senior year. During his senior year he planned to take humanities and social science courses to build his verbal reasoning skills and add breadth to his academic profile. He also decided to consult with a reading specialist to find ways to increase his reading speed and other verbal reasoning skills. Additionally, he saw waiting to apply as giving him a chance to get more clinical experience; his last such experience had been in high school. New MCAT scoresBill followed through with his plans and retook the MCAT in April of his senior year. This time his score was 29: Verbal Reasoning 9, Physical Sciences 10, Biological Sciences 10, and Writing Sample O. He had significantly improved his scores. To his surprise his senior coursework outside the sciences did not cause a drop in his GPA. He applied after graduation and was successful in gaining admission to medical school. Marilyn: Pursuing a Post Bac ProgramOff to a strong startMarilyn came to Cornell sure of her career goal to be a doctor. She quickly settled in at college, joined a student health related organization, and pursued her interests in ballroom dance and community service projects such as Habitat for Humanity. During her sophomore year she began doing research and became involved in student government. At the end of her sophomore year she had a 3.5 grade point average and was ready to take the MCAT. She volunteered at a local hospice over the summer and did well on her MCAT which she took in August shortly before returning for her junior year. A setbackFall semester of her junior year her mother had back surgery, and Marilyn decided she would spend as much time as possible at home helping her mother and her family. Every weekend was spent at home, a two-hour drive from campus. Frequently her weekend trips home stretched into three or four day stays. This resulted in missed classes, and she dropped the extracurricular activities she had always found time for in the past. She earned at 2.7 GPA fall semester, after making up work for incompletes. Spring semester she registered with the Health Careers Evaluation Committee (HCEC). She was still going home many weekends. She finished the semester with a 3.0 and had a 3.28 cum for six semesters. Given the demands of her family because of her mother's long convalescence, the downward trend in her grades, and her feeling that she was too distracted to pursue application in the way she wanted, she had considered not applying at the end of her junior year. She had always assumed, however, she would be in medical school the fall after college graduation, and she felt she should not give up on this goal. Her parents also strongly encouraged her to apply, so she did. She received four interviews and got on one wait list but did not end up being accepted to medical school. She earned at 3.0 fall semester of her senior year and 2.4 her final semester, graduating with a 3.1 cumulative grade point and a downward trend in her academic record. To re-apply or not to re-apply?At the end of her senior year she realized she had done nothing to improve her application. If anything she was now a weaker applicant, so she did not reapply. Instead she took a research job at a prestigious medical center. This was work she knew she would enjoy, and she believed this experience would help her when she reapplied. After working a year, she reapplied very widely, but on her second try she did not receive any interviews. Post bacAs she made plans to re-take the MCAT to replace outdated scores and update her HCEC file to apply for a third time, she contacted the health careers advisor. The advisor told her she would probably need to present recent, strong science grades to make herself competitive as an applicant and advised her to complete advanced science courses before applying again. Marilyn decided to enroll in an enhancement post bac program. Since leaving college she had continued her community involvement and health care related work. Once in the post bac program she realized, with hindsight, how much she had neglected her studies in her last two years of college, in large part because of the many responsibilities she had taken on in her family during her mother's long convalescence. In the post bac program she earned a 3.7 GPA each semester. With a new, strong academic record and continued experience that demonstrated her devotion to medicine, she applied for the third time and was accepted. She had never anticipated that her road to medical school would be so long, but she did not regret that she had persevered in working toward her hard-won goal.
Pressure Points for Premeds
"I had a terrible time in orgo, does that mean I should forget medical school?" "I heard you need to get at least a 30 on the MCAT or you don't even get an interview." "I'd be happy to go to any medical school, but my parents think only certain ones are 'OK'." "I've been on wait lists since February, but nothing is happening. I hate this waiting." "Medicine isn't my goal; it's my parents' goal for me, and it's driving me crazy." |
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103 Barnes Hall
Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 607/255-5221 |
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