Need Help Please

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Hello,

This is my first time posting on SDN, but after a few weeks of reading threads I am really impressed with how supportive and helpful people are. I am hoping for some constructive criticism.

I applied last year, and thus far I have been unsuccessful. I understand my biggest weakness was a lack of clinical exposure. I am currently planning on reapplying. I have listed my stats below for the current cycle. I applied to 20 schools ranging from top ten to unranked. It was a bit top heavy, but had a good number of unranked schools. I applied mainly in the northeast. I submitted my primary late July and finished my secondaries from late Sept to Nov.

~Top Ten Undergraduate University
~3.7 cGPA/3.8 sGPA (Dean's List)
~36 MCAT
~6 Months as a Lab Tech
~2 Years Research (no publications)
~1 Grant for Research
~4 Years Model UN
~1 Year Dorm Council
~1 Year Teaching some classes at a High School
~TA for Undergraduate Course for 1 Semester
~Study Abroad
~Good LORs (Told by one of the places where I interviewed.)


This past year I have continued working in the lab and my current project may yield a poster or a paper, but probably after I have to leave the lab. I have also been tutoring at a high school for a year and volunteering at a local hospital where I play with children in the nursing unit. I have also shadowed several times through the year for fun. I am redoing my personal statement and should be done with it soon.

Can anyone give me an idea of whether or not the stuff I did this past year would be good enough clinical experience. Also what is good turn around time for secondaries? I was told 2 weeks, but when I received them it was an avalanche. Also if you have any other suggestions I would be more than happy to read them.

Thanks a bunch.

Nantucket Nectar

Originally Posted by nantucketnectar

Hello,

This is my first time posting on SDN, but after a few weeks of reading threads I am really impressed with how supportive and helpful people are. I am hoping for some constructive criticism.

I applied last year, and thus far I have been unsuccessful. I understand my biggest weakness was a lack of clinical exposure. I am currently planning on reapplying. I have listed my stats below for the current cycle. I applied to 20 schools ranging from top ten to unranked. It was a bit top heavy, but had a good number of unranked schools. I applied mainly in the northeast. I submitted my primary late July and finished my secondaries from late Sept to Nov.

~Top Ten Undergraduate University
~3.7 cGPA/3.8 sGPA (Dean's List)
~36 MCAT
~6 Months as a Lab Tech
~2 Years Research (no publications)
~1 Grant for Research
~4 Years Model UN
~1 Year Dorm Council
~1 Year Teaching some classes at a High School
~TA for Undergraduate Course for 1 Semester
~Study Abroad
~Good LORs (Told by one of the places where I interviewed.)


This past year I have continued working in the lab and my current project may yield a poster or a paper, but probably after I have to leave the lab. I have also been tutoring at a high school for a year and volunteering at a local hospital where I play with children in the nursing unit. I have also shadowed several times through the year for fun. I am redoing my personal statement and should be done with it soon.

Can anyone give me an idea of whether or not the stuff I did this past year would be good enough clinical experience. Also what is good turn around time for secondaries? I was told 2 weeks, but when I received them it was an avalanche. Also if you have any other suggestions I would be more than happy to read them.

Thanks a bunch.

Nantucket Nectar

Can anyone give me an idea of whether or not the stuff I did this past year would be good enough clinical experience.

volunteering at a local hospital where I play with children in the nursing unit. I have also shadowed several times through the year for fun.

Your clinical experience is below average, given the description you provided. I would be very nervous about re-applying without having made much improvement in this area compared to last cycle.

Also what is good turn around time for secondaries?

2 weeks is reasonable if you are verified early (June). Submitting secondaries late September to November is very, very late.

Overall, you should apply early this cycle and continue to work on clinical stuff. Your GPA/MCAT are above average, but your EC's and your clinical experience is far below average. Where's the shadowing, clinical work, and volunteering?

I'd also like to add to have the personal statement readers look over your statement. It is important to have an unknown person or two read it...

from now until application, try to overload your volunteering and shadowing.

Thank you. I have been volunteering since October. I will have about 50 hours of clinical volunteering, 40 hours of shadowing, and about 50 hours of high school volunteering to add to my primary. Is that enough? I know its a hard question, but after going through the forum, I have seen a lot of people with like 300 hours of volunteering. Is that the norm or just the sample of people on SDN are good applicants?

The clinical volunteering is in the nursing unit. I talk to, feed, play with, and walk around with the patients. I get to see how the doctors and nurses interact with the patients as well. Just to clarify. The shadowing I did was with a few surgeons and clinicians at the university hospital.

Originally Posted by nantucketnectar

Thank you. I have been volunteering since October. I will have about 50 hours of clinical volunteering, 40 hours of shadowing, and about 50 hours of high school volunteering to add to my primary. Is that enough? I know its a hard question, but after going through the forum, I have seen a lot of people with like 300 hours of volunteering. Is that the norm or just the sample of people on SDN are good applicants?

300+ hours seems fairly standard to me. Looking at your stats, you're absolutely right that the clinical/shadowing/volunteering is where you are lacking. You should try to use every opportunity available to you before the next cycle starts to get more. Also, many great medical school PS's are composed of experiences had during one of these three things (clinical/shadowing/volunteering), so it's also possible that your PS is showing too much research, accomplishments, etc. and not enough empathy, why you want to serve as a medical doctor..

The lacking parts of your application are the fun parts!! Get out there and get some experience and you will be fine next cycle.

Hope this helps,

Nothing from HS counts unless you're currently doing it, FYI. If it was like 'candy striping' or something that you only did in HS, you cannot include it on your app...

Where exactly are you applying? Maybe you could try some less competitive schools. I know they are all competitive, but there are still tiers. Just because you don't get into Harvard or Mayo doesn't mean you can get into a great school.