**opinions plz **what are my chances w/ 3.5gpa & much research?

[fpy]

Hi everyone, i would REALLY appreciate some opinions/advice on my chances of getting into medical school. I'm taking my last class as an undergrad this summer and I'm planning to apply to med school in June 2011, and here's what I have to offer:

Major: Biology
cGPA: 3.52
major GPA: 3.58
MCAT: taking it in Jan. for 1st time!
Member of Global Medical Brigades (went to Honduras) - 1 year
Cancer Research: Stanford Summer Research Program for 1 summer (leukemia)
Cancer Research #2: 1 yr of cancer research (melanoma)
Cancer Reserach #3: 1 month in one of my professor's labs researching on breast cancer -- I did this to spend more time w/ one of my professors for a future letter of rec.
Hospital volunteering: 6 months (however w/ very little patient interaction/shadowing)

During my time off before I apply, I plan to 1) STUDY for mcat 2) volunteer at a hospital w/ **patient interaction** 3) research again at Stanford University School of Medicine

PLEASE share your opinion about how strong of a candidate I am & what i can improve on -hospital work? MCAT? I'm very passionate about cancer and want to take that with me to medical school - but i feel that my gpa is a little on the low side.. what do you think?? THANK YOU!

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[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Continue on . Only thing I can say that would help is aim for a publishing while doing the mcat studying and the volunteering. Otherwise if you can score a good mcat you'll be pretty competitive.

Good luck

 

[Led Zep]

Looking good, keep it up, A good MCAT will make you look like a pretty decent applicant.

 

[Catalystik]

Your subpar cGPA will hurt you without a correspondingly higher MCAT score to compensate. For allopathic med school applications, I'd suggest a 32+, unless California is your home state, then a 33+ would be better. About a year of research is average for med school applicants and you have a bit more than that (with perhaps more by the time you apply), so you're good there. I'd say 1.5 years of clinical experience is typical, as is 50 hours of shadowing (60-80 hours is a good goal). Don't forget some regular nonmedical community service if you don't have that. Also, leadership and teaching experiences make your application stronger as well.