Undergrad Sophomore Stats! Thoughts?

[Penelopepie]

Alright here’s an update as I finished my undergrad fall semester of sophomore year. As mentioned in previous posts I was a pre med major my first year and it killed my gpa and I had a cumulative GPA of a 2.747. Well I worked really hard this semester and I got a 3.6 which brought my cumulative GPA to a 3.038!!! Here are my states and if anyone could give me advice on what would make me more competitive to make up for my GPA (other than doing amazing on the GRE) please please let me know!!

science gpa: around a 2.7 where I have four more science classes to go and will definitely bring that up

math gpa: around a 2.8 and I have two more classes that will definitely bring that up

csd gpa: 4.0 and I have a lot a lot of those classes left lol.

So aside from academics I am involved on campus. I am apart of Greek life and I have a leadership position within that organization. The organization I’m in also volunteers weekly at a local elementary school to tutor students. I am also a tour guide for my university and also hold a leadership position within that organization. I’m also in NSSLHA and I need to be more involved with that organization so spring semester I am going to focus on that. Also in spring semester I’m going to volunteer in the slp wing at a local hospital and also shadow some SLP’s and maybe some audiologists. Is there anything else I should look into and do to help make me more competitive? 

[Penelopepie]

Or is there something that someone else did that made them more competitive?

[Rezzy S.]

I would do all of those extracurriculars, but also do everything to get only A's from here on out (GEs as well as CSDs). A lot of schools have a GPA cut-off and won't look at any part of the application unless you hit that threshold. Also, by showing such a drastic turnaround, you can paint a really nice narrative in your statement of purpose. 

The big thing I would add to your extracurriculars is research. All of the applications ask about it and it is clearly important to them. Sounds like you're on the right track! ?

[Penelopepie]

3 hours ago, Rezzy S. said:

I would do all of those extracurriculars, but also do everything to get only A's from here on out (GEs as well as CSDs). A lot of schools have a GPA cut-off and won't look at any part of the application unless you hit that threshold. Also, by showing such a drastic turnaround, you can paint a really nice narrative in your statement of purpose. 

The big thing I would add to your extracurriculars is research. All of the applications ask about it and it is clearly important to them. Sounds like you're on the right track! ?

What kind of research should I be involved in and if you did research, how was your experience with it?

[Rezzy S.]

20 minutes ago, Penelopepie said:

What kind of research should I be involved in and if you did research, how was your experience with it?

I didn't do research and now I'm applying and see how frequently they ask about it. I definitely regret not doing it. I would get to know your faculty professors and see if there's anything you can get involved in. 

[Southwestspeechie]

26 minutes ago, Penelopepie said:

What kind of research should I be involved in and if you did research, how was your experience with it?

Look at the professors in your department and find one whose lab matches your interests (Aphasia, language acquisition, etc.). I was a research assistant in a Child Developmental lab in the psychology department and it was very rewarding. It gave me valuable experience giving standardized tests to children and helped me get to know a professor really well, which was great for an LOR.