Should I apply this year?

[Howisbabbyformd]

Nontraditional applicant. All my volunteering/community service/clinical experience is from undergrad which ended in 2008. I just started volunteering again at a homeless shelter and a hospital in addition to my full time job of 2.5 years. I have a 3.39 cumulative/3.29 BCPM retaking the MCAT in July practice test average (n=3) is 33 (11PS/12BS/10VR). If I can pull that score off on the real thing, should I just apply this year or do I need to spend this year showing commitment to my newest volunteering experiences? I am particularly interested in answers from those who have experience with the admissions process at a medical school.

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[wish2bMD]

What do you do as a profession? Is it related to the field of medicine?
URM status?
Any shadowing or recent clinical exposure?

I think most people on sdn will advise that you take some more time off to build your resume. As you appear to understand, schools like students who demonstrate commitment to the medical field, activities, and community service. Research helps. If you aren't working in the medical field, you will have to gain some new clinical experiences and do them for a while. If you have no shadowing experience, you should definitely get some.
You could be successful next cycle if you apply early and broadly with your gpa and a 33 MCAT. If you are a URM, you should be set.
Consider DO schools as well!

 

[Howisbabbyformd]

What do you do as a profession? Is it related to the field of medicine?
URM status?
Any shadowing or recent clinical exposure?

I think most people on sdn will advise that you take some more time off to build your resume. As you appear to understand, schools like students who demonstrate commitment to the medical field, activities, and community service. Research helps. If you aren't working in the medical field, you will have to gain some new clinical experiences and do them for a while. If you have no shadowing experience, you should definitely get some.
You could be successful next cycle if you apply early and broadly with your gpa and a 33 MCAT. If you are a URM, you should be set.
Consider DO schools as well!

Thanks for your response! I am definitely not URM. I work full time so doing research is not really possible...how would I go about doing that anyway not being in school? I work in a pharmaceutical lab and have been promoted regularly throughout my employment and given more responsibility at a pretty fast rate etc. Should I also consider taking a few classes to get my GPAs above 3.4 cumulative/3.3 BCPM?

Hypothetically speaking, would it be risky to apply this year to have only a marginally better application the following year? Meaning if I just wait to apply till next year, and I have these new experiences and a new MCAT score that is much higher than my last attempt, that would be much more impressive (more improvement since my last application) than giving schools a glimpse at what I've done since undergrad till now (by applying this year) which would only be marginally better the following year (just more volunteer hours)? If you follow what I mean, am I correct in this thinking?

 

[wish2bMD]

You can definitely do research if you REALLY wanted to I'm not talking about finding a position where you create your own projects and get published. You could volunteer at a research lab and do some mindless lab work. Or you could be a data collector.
There are research volunteer positions out there where you only need to commit to a few hours a week. The hard part is finding them. You can try to email some professors or if you have a medical school nearby, try talking to some students to find out which professors are seeking volunteer assistants. Research isn't necessary though.

You should definitely volunteer at a hospital+shadow.
Are you able to rejoin any volunteer services you were doing in the past?

Since you work a full time job, it'll be tough to volunteer and go to school at the same time. Do you think your GPA would change significantly if you took some more classes? If you think you have time, you should take upper level science courses to give admission committees a recent indication of your ability to succeed in medical school.

Yes, it wouldn't be very impressive to adcoms if you applied this year to only have a marginally better application the following cycle. It would be much more impressive to see your accomplishments after a whole year. After volunteering for 1 year for medically and non-medically related organizations and shadowing physicians, you show adcoms that you are seriously interested in medicine. In addition, your activities show adcoms that you understand what the field of medicine is really like and that you have an interest in serving your community.

There really is no rush, and waiting for one more year can really boost your chances of success. With your GPA, an MCAT of 33, and your new extracurricular activities, I think you'll do very well the next cycle for DO schools. You might also have some success with MD schools (again, apply early and broadly). In the mean time, make some more money because you'll definitely need it for medical school. Take your time studying for the MCAT.

 

[Howisbabbyformd]

You can definitely do research if you REALLY wanted to I'm not talking about finding a position where you create your own projects and get published. You could volunteer at a research lab and do some mindless lab work. Or you could be a data collector.
There are research volunteer positions out there where you only need to commit to a few hours a week. The hard part is finding them. You can try to email some professors or if you have a medical school nearby, try talking to some students to find out which professors are seeking volunteer assistants. Research isn't necessary though.

You should definitely volunteer at a hospital+shadow.
Are you able to rejoin any volunteer services you were doing in the past?

Since you work a full time job, it'll be tough to volunteer and go to school at the same time. Do you think your GPA would change significantly if you took some more classes? If you think you have time, you should take upper level science courses to give admission committees a recent indication of your ability to succeed in medical school.

Yes, it wouldn't be very impressive to adcoms if you applied this year to only have a marginally better application the following cycle. It would be much more impressive to see your accomplishments after a whole year. After volunteering for 1 year for medically and non-medically related organizations and shadowing physicians, you show adcoms that you are seriously interested in medicine. In addition, your activities show adcoms that you understand what the field of medicine is really like and that you have an interest in serving your community.

There really is no rush, and waiting for one more year can really boost your chances of success. With your GPA, an MCAT of 33, and your new extracurricular activities, I think you'll do very well the next cycle for DO schools. You might also have some success with MD schools (again, apply early and broadly). In the mean time, make some more money because you'll definitely need it for medical school. Take your time studying for the MCAT.

Thank you very much! This is the kind of advice I was looking for on here. I do have 14K in car debt that I need to pay off anyway Also, I am a Michigan resident and I am pretty sure I can pull off a Wayne State acceptance with this added time.