25 y/o nontrad seeking advice

[atarayo_stan]

Hey there SDN,

Seeking some advice for applying to medical school. I intend to apply in summer of 2024. My stats are as follows:

cGPA - 3.75/sGPA 3.7
MCAT
First one was in 2019 which was a 510 (127/129/126/128)
Second one is at the end of summer this coming summer. Most recent practice FL was two weeks ago. 509 (127/126/129/127). I intend on increasing this to a 515 with the remaining 3 months of studying.
NV resident, USA. ORM Vietnamese American.
BS in Biology from my state school.

Clinical experience:
Paid:
2 years ED scribe while in college (~2000 hours)
2 years scribing at a neurosurgery clinic (~3000 hours)
2 years CLA at my local hospital laboratory (~3000 hours)

Unpaid
General hospital volunteer (~100 hours)
2x Medical missions to Cambodia (3 weeks each, probably ~200 hours per mission)

Research:
None

Shadowing:
~300 hours spread across different specialties. Emergency medicine, physiatry, neurosurgery, cardiology, pediatrics, family medicine.

Non clinical volunteering:
~400 hours spread across 3 years of food pantry volunteering
~200 hours of general food bank volunteering over 2 years

I finished my undergraduate degree in 2018 at the age of 19. Feeling like I was not ready to commit to medical school at the time and also going through some mental health issues, I decided to take some time off before applying. This break ended up significantly longer than what I had imagined, but I am doing a lot better now and feel like I am ready to apply to medical school. During my gap years, I worked as a self taught software engineer for a tech startup in the retail automation space. Although interesting and lucrative, I feel as though becoming a physician better aligns with what I'd like to do in the future. I've contacted many physicians that I used to work with and they are all still fine with writing me letters of recommendation and maybe starting some shadowing again.

My concerns for the upcoming cycle (and why I am posting to the nontrad forums) are as follows:
Given that I have been out of school for so long, I am concerned whether or not I should retake some classes for the upcoming cycle.
Additionally, since I've been out of school for so long, I don't feel like I have many professors to ask for letters of recommendation as many of them have since retired.

I am also concerned about a "gap" in my application. Although I've been employed in a healthcare adjacent role for the duration of my gap years, my current job offers little patient contact as I work in the laboratory. I was wondering if this would be a concern when applying. Also, there has been little volunteering since COVID happened.

Also, apologies if this is in the wrong forum. Given the time off, I feel more like a nontraditional applicant than a regular one.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

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[iLLegaLElephant]

since I've been out of school for so long, I don't feel like I have many professors to ask for letters of recommendation as many of them have since retired.

When I was applying, some schools stated on their admissions pages that they would accept alternative LORs (from supervisors, volunteer coordinators, or the like) in lieu of LORs from professors for non-trad applicants. A couple of my friends applied to schools that didn't have this explicitly stated on their websites, but they were able to get confirmation from admissions directors that alternative LORs were acceptable.

 

[wook]

My concerns for the upcoming cycle (and why I am posting to the nontrad forums) are as follows:
Given that I have been out of school for so long, I am concerned whether or not I should retake some classes for the upcoming cycle.
Additionally, since I've been out of school for so long, I don't feel like I have many professors to ask for letters of recommendation as many of them have since retired.

My application to med school was quite a few years ago, but I would suggest not retaking classes as in my case it would not provide any benefit and would have had a financial cost. I received my undergraduate degree 15 years prior to applying to medical school, and the schools accepted my prior classes. Also, because of the 15 years gap between undergrad and medical school, several of my professors had died and retired, or one of the two. I was able to get a retired professor to write a letter of recommendation, and it was accepted.

I cannot speak to whether this still happens, perhaps @Goro or one of my other esteemed colleagues has more recent insight?



Wook

 

[Mad Jack]

Don't retake classes. Your MCAT demonstrates your mastery well enough.

 

[Goro]

Hey there SDN,

Seeking some advice for applying to medical school. I intend to apply in summer of 2024. My stats are as follows:

cGPA - 3.75/sGPA 3.7
MCAT
First one was in 2019 which was a 510 (127/129/126/128)
Second one is at the end of summer this coming summer. Most recent practice FL was two weeks ago. 509 (127/126/129/127). I intend on increasing this to a 515 with the remaining 3 months of studying.
NV resident, USA. ORM Vietnamese American.
BS in Biology from my state school.

Clinical experience:
Paid:
2 years ED scribe while in college (~2000 hours)
2 years scribing at a neurosurgery clinic (~3000 hours)
2 years CLA at my local hospital laboratory (~3000 hours)

Unpaid
General hospital volunteer (~100 hours)
2x Medical missions to Cambodia (3 weeks each, probably ~200 hours per mission)

Research:
None

Shadowing:
~300 hours spread across different specialties. Emergency medicine, physiatry, neurosurgery, cardiology, pediatrics, family medicine.

Non clinical volunteering:
~400 hours spread across 3 years of food pantry volunteering
~200 hours of general food bank volunteering over 2 years

I finished my undergraduate degree in 2018 at the age of 19. Feeling like I was not ready to commit to medical school at the time and also going through some mental health issues, I decided to take some time off before applying. This break ended up significantly longer than what I had imagined, but I am doing a lot better now and feel like I am ready to apply to medical school. During my gap years, I worked as a self taught software engineer for a tech startup in the retail automation space. Although interesting and lucrative, I feel as though becoming a physician better aligns with what I'd like to do in the future. I've contacted many physicians that I used to work with and they are all still fine with writing me letters of recommendation and maybe starting some shadowing again.

My concerns for the upcoming cycle (and why I am posting to the nontrad forums) are as follows:
Given that I have been out of school for so long, I am concerned whether or not I should retake some classes for the upcoming cycle.
Additionally, since I've been out of school for so long, I don't feel like I have many professors to ask for letters of recommendation as many of them have since retired.

I am also concerned about a "gap" in my application. Although I've been employed in a healthcare adjacent role for the duration of my gap years, my current job offers little patient contact as I work in the laboratory. I was wondering if this would be a concern when applying. Also, there has been little volunteering since COVID happened.

Also, apologies if this is in the wrong forum. Given the time off, I feel more like a nontraditional applicant than a regular one.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

I don't foresee a need to retake, or take classes to "get back in the groove" for studying.

If anything, brand new MS1s, even those only 2-3 months out of school have to adapt not to being back in school, but dealing with the sheer volume of med school info.

So, you'll be OK because you'll still be at the same level of up to 1/3rd if your peers.