Computer science masters graduate with almost no volunteer experience

[bbuser]

I am a Computer science masters graduate with almost no volunteer experience, and no Biology related courses. My GPA has been pretty good though

What are my chances of Med school, if I ace the MCAT? Will they accept with no volunteer exp?

[Meridian]

The degree does not matter. Your undergrad GPA does -- what is it ?   Some schools have science prerequisites - many do not.   Most schools require MCAT (or atleast the CARS section).   You may have difficulty with some of the MCAT sections if you have had no University level sciences (chem/phys/Orgo).   Maybe try a few practice exams to benchmark where you are.   You can self learn alot of the science once you focus in on the content being tested.  CARS is a different beast.

ECs --  you must have done something interesting in your life ?  ECs are important once you get to the interview stage.  ECs do not have to be of volunteer. They could be sports or music or research or leadership or ??.    They are looking for your leadership, dedication, and being well-rounded.   Google CanMED as well to understand what is being looked for in candidates.

 

[frenchpress]

On 7/26/2017 at 11:50 AM, Meridian said:

The degree does not matter. Your undergrad GPA does -- what is it ?  

Depending on the school, the graduate GPA may also factor in. It made a 2% difference on my aGPA for UBC applications. 

OP - I also have a background in Computer Science. I agree that the degree doesn't really seem to matter at all, and I felt like being from CS actually helped me in some regards.

[ballsortahard]

1 hour ago, frenchpress said:

Depending on the school, the graduate GPA may also factor in. It made a 2% difference on my aGPA for UBC applications. 

OP - I was just accepted to a med program, and I also completed an undergrad and MSc in Computer Science. I agree that the degree doesn't really seem to matter at all, and I felt like being from CS actually helped me in some regards.

 do you have any tips for approaching the MCAT with no science background (I'm going into my final year of mech eng)

[frenchpress]

27 minutes ago, ballsortahard said:

 do you have any tips for approaching the MCAT with no science background (I'm going into my final year of mech eng)

I ended up taking several of the standard science courses (before UBC got rid of their prereqs), so that helped quite a bit with the MCAT. The one benefit of taking extra time before I applied was that I had time to work and build my ECs (volunteering and hobbies).

But I didn't take all of them. And regardless of whether you've taken any courses or not, my biggest piece of advice is to start doing practice exams early. I mean really early, as in before you've even started reviewing content.

This is because when you first start reviewing the content, all the things you don't know seem so overwhelming! But after awhile you start to realize that there are only certain things you really have to know and spend a lot of time on; a lot of the details in the review books (like Kaplan) help you understand the content, but you don't really need to memorize it. So practice exams will help you focus your study time more efficiently. They'll also help you learn and practice the type of problem solving the exam wants, and learn how to answer questions efficiently (time is a big factor).

I also found downloading the PDF on the aamc website with the list of all the topics in every exam section really helpful. I printed it off (its over 100 pages o_O) and checked off things as I reviewed them. After I had been studying for awhile I also started going through it after each practice test and making marks next to things I was still getting wrong, and then used the most frequently marked off topics as a guide for what I needed to review more