DIY post bacc timeline help

[IsTheSceneSafe]

Hello,

I’ll try and lay everything out, so you can get a good idea of where I’m at.
I got my bachelors in a science field which only included the basic prereqs. GenChem, GenPhys1, biology1&2 etc. I got around a 3.0 for cGPA and sGPA. Did good freshman year did bad sophomore and junior, then did good senior year. I struggled during those years not from having hard classes, but from my lack of motivation and being unsure of my career path. There are quite a few Ws and Cs in my transcript.
During my senior year I realized the mistakes I made, and the path I wanted to go down. (Medical school).
However, I knew that I needed to confirm this before I spent tens of thousands of dollars on a post-bacc with no extra degree at the end of it. So I worked in the medical field for around a year after graduation. During that time it became clear this is what I wanted to do regardless of the money and time required.
I am now 1 semester into my 3 semester post bacc, where I am taking all missing prereqs and a few extra hard science classes. It is around 35 credits total. Assuming I get between a 3.8-4.0 in my post bacc, my last 70ish credits will be in that same range. This however would not make my cGPA and sGPA more than 3.15-3.2.
Clinical hours will be likely around 2000. I have leadership / hobbies / shadowing / non clinical to put down.
No research or volunteering yet though.
I have always been very good at standardized tests, so I’m hoping this translates well on the MCAT eventually.
My main questions for you are about my timeline, and my school choice.
I can finish the post bacc this fall if I take my 2nd and 3rd semesters during summer and fall with a full courseload. This however would be a very intensive courseload and afterwards I would only have 5 months to study and complete the MCAT and complete my application related items. (Personal statement etc).
Or I can take a lighter course load per semester and spread out the classes over this summer, fall, and spring. Leaving myself an entire year to do MCAT and applications related items. This would likely set myself up for success more in my classes / MCAT / application, but it would add another year onto my timeline. I am not in a rush, but adding a whole year seems like a lot.
Secondly, my other question is regardless of my timeline. Does my GPA make it worth applying to aim for MD? I would be fine with DO, but my preference is highly MD because I am considering quite a few competitive specialty’s. Obviously you can still do them with DO, just harder to do it. Would a high enough MCAT be enough for MD schools if I succeed in my post bacc?

Thanks you for your help.

Let me know if I can give any other clarifying information.

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[ablanco]

Paradoxically, you save more time by taking enough time to do really well on the MCAT the first time. Careful as performance doesn't always align with prediction. With that many hours of post-bacc with good grades in advanced classes, I'm fairly sure you can show a high level of academic improvement that will allow you to be able to apply to state MD and broadly to other schools that reward reinvention. Include a decent amount of DO schools as well, you're not going to want to repeat this hard work and you'd be better to spend your effort working hard in med school. My big concern is your lack of volunteering. By rushing your app you run the risk of not putting in enough hours to really have an impactful experience with it. I would the lighter course load to give yourself enough time to get everything squared away.

 

[IsTheSceneSafe]

Paradoxically, you save more time by taking enough time to do really well on the MCAT the first time. Careful as performance doesn't always align with prediction. With that many hours of post-bacc with good grades in advanced classes, I'm fairly sure you can show a high level of academic improvement that will allow you to be able to apply to state MD and broadly to other schools that reward reinvention. Include a decent amount of DO schools as well, you're not going to want to repeat this hard work and you'd be better to spend your effort working hard in med school. My big concern is your lack of volunteering. By rushing your app you run the risk of not putting in enough hours to really have an impactful experience with it. I would the lighter course load to give yourself enough time to get everything squared away.

I plan on doing volunteering before both applications cycles. However research wise, it would be nice to get research done during the first option. Although it seems more likely that I would only get any substantial research experience if I took the longer route and had more free time from the lighter course load.

 

[Coffee-Bean-Counter]

I plan on doing volunteering before both applications cycles. However research wise, it would be nice to get research done during the first option. Although it seems more likely that I would only get any substantial research experience if I took the longer route and had more free time from the lighter course load.

I just want to mention my experience so far with volunteering and shadowing. I will finish my bachelor's this winter and start my DIY post-bac in January. I have been trying to volunteer with a physician for seven months and still have not been able to shadow one doctor. I live in a small town roughly 45 minutes away from any other hospital/healthcare system. At my hospital, when I have asked doctors, they have told me don't have a lot of control over their schedules, and the volunteer coordinator schedules all that. I've already been volunteering at the hospital for a little over a year and have a good relationship with the volunteer coordinator, but no doctors are responding to her emails. My lack of control in this situation has been extremely frustrating. My point is that I followed the advice on here and started extremely early which is going to be my saving grace. I now know I will most likely need to travel to gain shadowing experience.

Additionally, there have been very few assignments for hospice because in my area there are already a lot of volunteers. Not a bad issue, but once again it is going to take quite a bit of time to accumulate hours. When I was in the process of signing up for Hospice it took about two months before I could even be allowed to volunteer. Even if you reached out to the places where you want to volunteer, you could finish your background check, vaccines, etc now and start volunteering over the summer or whenever. Good luck with everything!

 

[IsTheSceneSafe]

I just want to mention my experience so far with volunteering and shadowing. I will finish my bachelor's this winter and start my DIY post-bac in January. I have been trying to volunteer with a physician for seven months and still have not been able to shadow one doctor. I live in a small town roughly 45 minutes away from any other hospital/healthcare system. At my hospital, when I have asked doctors, they have told me don't have a lot of control over their schedules, and the volunteer coordinator schedules all that. I've already been volunteering at the hospital for a little over a year and have a good relationship with the volunteer coordinator, but no doctors are responding to her emails. My lack of control in this situation has been extremely frustrating. My point is that I followed the advice on here and started extremely early which is going to be my saving grace. I now know I will most likely need to travel to gain shadowing experience.

Additionally, there have been very few assignments for hospice because in my area there are already a lot of volunteers. Not a bad issue, but once again it is going to take quite a bit of time to accumulate hours. When I was in the process of signing up for Hospice it took about two months before I could even be allowed to volunteer. Even if you reached out to the places where you want to volunteer, you could finish your background check, vaccines, etc now and start volunteering over the summer or whenever. Good luck with everything!

I appreciate the advice. My plan was to volunteer at the local food pantry/kitchen or cat animal shelter. Tbh I already have lots of clinical experience, and those two things I would be more interested in getting involved in. I know the local places, and I love cats! Right now I’m just short on time, so I was hoping to start during a different semester.