WayOutWestMom

Nutrition comes under "Allied Health" courses and isn't included in the BCPM. (See link in Post #8.)

greenfire

Will those 2 C's basically hinder me from applying to Broady SOM (ECU) or UNCH SOM? Will they see the C's and will they even consider my application? Even if I bring up my GPA and BCPM GPA will my application be less competitive than someone else who got B's and A's and no C's?

katwkittens

Hinder you? yes, stop you from applying, no.

If you take an upper level chem course, or upper level biochem and get better than a C that would help.

Your competition will have A's and B's in O-chem and physics. More than likely A's. However, if your second semester of O-chem you can pull higher than a C that would obviously help gpa-wise and showing an upward trend.

I am assuming your mom is the original poster?

So it looks like you transfered in a bunch of APs to state and skipped the bio, chem and calc.

As a pre-med I would have advised strongly against that since the med schools want to see grades for the required pre-requisite coursework. I would have only advised to keep those credits and take the higher level courses if you KNEW FOR SURE you would get A's in those courses (which in physics and chem you didn't), especially if attending NCSU.

ECU won't be AS picky but UNC will be. They have applicants that are NC residents that not only graduate from the state schools including Carolina and Duke but students that went to school out of state and come back home to apply. This is what my son did, he graduated from an ivy, took a gap year and completed another degree during that year at NCSU with the above posted majors. So his first degree was from an ivy in econ, and the others were in STEM.

There are currently 6 Harvard grads in his class, several from Yale, Penn, Columbia, many from Duke, Davidson, Swat, Amherst, and many from CA (UCLA, UCB, Stanford and some LACs from the west coast). This does not include people who have moved here from out of state, worked and then apply as NC residents.

Those will all be your competition. ECU only takes NC residents so that will help. Son's new roomie graduated from ECU with a 4.00, both overall GPA and BCPM. He actually does not have many classmates from NCSU, the most from Carolina and others from around the state.

With tuition last year at $14,000 UNC can afford to be very picky. They have applicants that have applied 5-6 times. And some do get in. So your competition isn't just this year's grads but those from several years previous from other states and newly minted NC residents.

Raleigh/Durham is one of the fastest growing cities. RTP is a hub for the bio industry. And keep in mind all those pre-vet students who don't get into NCSU, often apply to med school the following year. Son has a few of those in his class.

You already have the grades you have. It is time for re-evaluating your courses. It is not impossible, but you need to bring up your GPA. The more science classes that count for BCPM the more your first set of grades are diluted. Hence my suggestion for a biochem or micro major, the guy in charge of micro is a good guy and is often looking for TA's and researchers. That will help as well.

Good luck.

Kat

greenfire

Thanks for the quick reply. My mom was the original poster.

If I go back and take the general chem after organic chemistry then will that look even worse if I got a B in a higher level chemistry? Ex. I placed out of CH 101 and 201. If I go back and take those two courses and get an A, will it look worse than if I take CH 431 and CH 433 and get B's? (CH 431 and 433 are physical chemistry)

As far as my EC's go, what would you recommend I do to boost my service and social parts of my portfolio.

Switching my major to Biochemistry would only mean switching my major to biochemistry. As far as the number of BCPM classes I would take - the number would change from the major I am in now - human biology. In fact, if I move my schedule around and take all my required genetics classes for my genetics double major in my junior year then I would have almost 14~15 BCPM classes until my junior year ends. What would you suggest then?

Thank you all for your time and I look forward to reading your responses.

katwkittens

So you have 8 units of bio? 183 and ?
And the 2 semesters of general chem? Ch 431 and 433 aren't easy. And using AP chem as the base for taking 431 and 433 would worry me. It will have been years since you had the classes in high school to leap into PChem.

To be safe you might take the gen chem even if you have credit, the credit on your transcript will just disappear for the AP exams once you take the classes. Jumping into orgo at state as a freshman is just a nightmare. Its not the curriculm but rather the zoo-like atmosphere and learning to be a college student not a good recommendation.

Did you take any classes this summer? Not pre-med pre-reqs but GE's or getting the 2 unit PE out of the way? Or maybe one of the genetics classes? or biochem or micro?

Also imbedded in the biochem/micro/genetics major/minor is also the minor in biotechnology. Which could be helpful if you need to take a glide year or get a job for a short period of time.

Look to TA's, research within the microbiology department/genetics/biochem....also the botany department is looking but at the cellular level. That is why I mentioned the guy in the micro dept.

Son stayed away from the human bio major in favor of the more chem/bio/genetics.....served him better for the schools he was looking at.

Also NCSU has the learning/living environments labs....the equine unit, dairy, small ruminant, beef, poultry, swine where you can live on-site free of charge in return for 10 hours weekly for work. Work can be mucking stalls, running equipment, working on the breeding programs (genetics) or conducting research. Makes for an interesting EC, you get paid, do research, work with the public and it can turn into something else down the road. And no rent/dorm and access to a full kitchen.

NCSU offers so many opportunities.....you just need to start looking, really looking. And be mindful of your GPA.

Kat

it will look better if you get A's in gen chem and then A's in PChem.

greenfire

Thanks for the response. I am not taking any summer classes but I think I will start so I can load up on BCPM classes. After taking my Microbiology and Biochemistry class I will ask my teachers if they need TA's because I haven't taken the class yet.

Also, after I take my general chemistry's I can TA in those classes as well.

I enrolled in General Chemistry and will decide about switching majors after I talk to my adviser but will keep biochemistry in mind. Thanks for your help.

greenfire

Hey, I am planning to get EMT basic certified through my school - NCSU. I already have extensive clinical hours (shadowing, internships at hospital). When I say extensive I mean like over 100 hours. I was wondering if volunteering or working as an EMT would count as clinical hours in medical school admission officers eyes.

WayOutWestMom

Do an EMT-B only if you want to do it for your own sake. Don't do it to impress the adcoms. EMT-Bs are a dime a dozen on med school applications.

And 100 hours isn't "extensive". 1000 hours is extensive. (D2 had 1000+ clinical hours at graduation; she'll have close to 3 times that when she applies to med school next year.)

RE: does it count? Some of it will.

Training--doesn't count. Practicing your skills on your fellow students--doesn't count. On call time/waiting around for something to happen--doesn't count. Dealing with an actual patient/being on a call out---that counts.

son1mom

Does the volunteering and shadowing during High school count in med application?

WayOutWestMom

Generally anything does in high school does not count on one's AMCAS application.

Exceptions might be an major national or international award (like Intel Science winner) achieved during high school or some medically related activity that was begun during high school and was continued on thru college. (Example: doing volunteer work in a particular clinic with particular doctor while in high school then continuing to work with that doc during college.)

son1mom

Thanks for all the advises we got. My son's sophomore year courses are as follows:

- Gen Chem Molecular science I + lab
- Org Chem II + lab
- Bio - anatomy + lab
- EMT - prereq
- PE

Total 16 credits. He says that he can handle 3 sciences as the gen chem is going to be easy. Planning to take genetics and biochem courses for spring along with gen chem II.

He also started internship with the genetics professor. Thanks for your advises.