Took A Long Break After Pre-Med, Looking To Apply To Medical School

[Dinozzo]

Hi All,

I'm a 26 year old male looking to begin working on my application to medical school. I got a BA in Philosophy/Math (Great Books Program) and then completed a year long post-baccalaureate pre-med program in 2015. To save up for secondaries I was involved in a tech start-up business. When I was leaving it to make my first round of applications I was offered a great position with equity + benefits. I really needed the money and wanted to see if I could be in a field other than medicine...turns out I can't.

I did some work at a small-ish biotech lab called "FinaBio" during my pre-med program and directly after - I also shadowed 100+ hours during the pre-med program in the local emergency room (has always been my preferred specialty). Since 2016 though I have been completely involved in the tech field. I'm hesitant to consider this option due to the debt and long/arduous schooling, but I'm well aware that people older than me have made the switch...I just don't know if I could live with myself if I didn't at least take a shot at being an ER doctor.

I have a 3.61 sGPA and will start studying for the MCAT obviously, what else should I be doing to strengthen my application? I'd consider lab internships/work but I'm not sure how I re-enter considering my time away from school makes me ineligible for many programs.

Also, to be frank, does the time I took off make me uncompetitive now?

Thanks!
-----------------------
Oh, here are stats:

• Year in school: Graduated Post-Bac in 2015
• Country/state of residence: Virginia
• Schools to which you are applying: Undecided, probably alot since I have $
• Cumulative GPA: 3.65
• Science GPA: 3.61
• MCAT Scores: N/A
• Research – include any abstracts/posters/publications and how you were credited (eg. First author, senior author, etc): No institutional research, spent ~ a year working for a biotech corporation called FinaBio that produces conjugate vaccines.
• Volunteering (clinical) – include hours/sites: Haven't started this yet, I did help build an EMR though.
• Physician shadowing – include hours/specialties: 100+ ER
• Non-clinical volunteering: Teaching music to low-income/disadvantaged kids. In highschool and during the first year of college I was a volunteer reserve EMT-B, which is where my interest in Emergency medicine started.
• Extracurricular activities: Musician, build tech apps (built a chrome extension that converts your web-usage to CO2 emissions), political volunteering, perform improv comedy, rock-climbing.
• Employment history: In college I ran my own business and was contracted to help build the operations and technical support structure for an EMR. After my post-bac I worked as a paralegal in an immigration office shortly while running my own consulting business. For almost two years I've been an upper management marketing officer at a medium sized, very well funded (owned by a VC) startup that is about to launch. This is what is causing my move, now that the product is launching and my shares are vested I have the financial security to partake in medical school without crippling debt.
• Please include time span and weekly commitment for volunteering/research/shadowing/extracurriculars.: These are things I will need to start prior to the next round of applications.
• Immediate family members in medicine? (y/n): N
• Specialty of interest: Emergency Medicine
• Shadowing experience: The ER
• Graduate degrees: None
• Interest in rural health (y/n): Y

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[Staphylococcus Aureus]

I love the great books. Your time off for working improves your application, not hinders (and you are around the average age for incoming med students). Your app fine as it is, all that matters is your MCAT at this point.

 

[pastrynerd]

Hi All,

I'm a 26 year old male looking to begin working on my application to medical school. I got a BA in Philosophy/Math (Great Books Program) and then completed a year long post-baccalaureate pre-med program in 2015. To save up for secondaries I was involved in a tech start-up business. When I was leaving it to make my first round of applications I was offered a great position with equity + benefits. I really needed the money and wanted to see if I could be in a field other than medicine...turns out I can't.

I did some work at a small-ish biotech lab called "FinaBio" during my pre-med program and directly after - I also shadowed 100+ hours during the pre-med program in the local emergency room (has always been my preferred specialty). Since 2016 though I have been completely involved in the tech field. I'm hesitant to consider this option due to the debt and long/arduous schooling, but I'm well aware that people older than me have made the switch...I just don't know if I could live with myself if I didn't at least take a shot at being an ER doctor.

I have a 3.61 sGPA and will start studying for the MCAT obviously, what else should I be doing to strengthen my application? I'd consider lab internships/work but I'm not sure how I re-enter considering my time away from school makes me ineligible for many programs.

Also, to be frank, does the time I took off make me uncompetitive now?

Thanks!
-----------------------
Oh, here are stats:

• Year in school: Graduated Post-Bac in 2015
• Country/state of residence: Virginia
• Schools to which you are applying: Undecided, probably alot since I have $
• Cumulative GPA: 3.65
• Science GPA: 3.61
• MCAT Scores: N/A
• Research – include any abstracts/posters/publications and how you were credited (eg. First author, senior author, etc): No institutional research, spent ~ a year working for a biotech corporation called FinaBio that produces conjugate vaccines.
• Volunteering (clinical) – include hours/sites: Haven't started this yet, I did help build an EMR though.
• Physician shadowing – include hours/specialties: 100+ ER
• Non-clinical volunteering: Teaching music to low-income/disadvantaged kids. In highschool and during the first year of college I was a volunteer reserve EMT-B, which is where my interest in Emergency medicine started.
• Extracurricular activities: Musician, build tech apps (built a chrome extension that converts your web-usage to CO2 emissions), political volunteering, perform improv comedy, rock-climbing.
• Employment history: In college I ran my own business and was contracted to help build the operations and technical support structure for an EMR. After my post-bac I worked as a paralegal in an immigration office shortly while running my own consulting business. For almost two years I've been an upper management marketing officer at a medium sized, very well funded (owned by a VC) startup that is about to launch. This is what is causing my move, now that the product is launching and my shares are vested I have the financial security to partake in medical school without crippling debt.
• Please include time span and weekly commitment for volunteering/research/shadowing/extracurriculars.: These are things I will need to start prior to the next round of applications.
• Immediate family members in medicine? (y/n): N
• Specialty of interest: Emergency Medicine
• Shadowing experience: The ER
• Graduate degrees: None
• Interest in rural health (y/n): Y

I think taking time off is a very good thing to mature and pursue your passions which will make you a unique applicant. Unfortunately, your volunteering experience especially sustained clinical experience is lacking. What are your volunteering hours? I would highly suggest that you forget about lab/research activities and focus more on getting some clinical experience, it's probably the most important part of the application. If you say that you're interested in rural health you better be able to back that up with some kind of experience living/working in rural communities.

 

[Goro]

I think taking time off is a very good thing to mature and pursue your passions which will make you a unique applicant. Unfortunately, your volunteering experience especially sustained clinical experience is lacking. What are your volunteering hours? I would highly suggest that you forget about lab/research activities and focus more on getting some clinical experience, it's probably the most important part of the application. If you say that you're interested in rural health you better be able to back that up with some kind of experience living/working in rural communities.

THIS!!!