WAMC 3.9c/3.85s 523 MCAT (Low to mid ECs)

[InstantCoffee]

.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Faha]

You would benefit from another 100 hours of non clinical volunteering (not teaching).
I suggest these schools with your stats:
UCLA
UCSF
UCSD
UC Irvine
UC Davis
USC Keck
Stanford
Kaiser
California University
Mayo
Washington University (in St. Louis)
Vanderbilt
USF Morsani
Duke
U Virginia
Jefferson
U Penn
Johns Hopkins
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Yale
Brown
Tufts
Cincinnati
Ohio State
U Michigan
Western Michigan
Northwestern

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You need to catch up with your non-clinical volunteering, and the less health-associated the activity, the better.

EDIT: Can you tell me more about your reasons why you feel medicine is your calling? I'm not picking this up from what you disclosed, and I want to be sure you give yourself the best chance with holistic review.

 

[InstantCoffee]

You would benefit from another 100 hours of non clinical volunteering (not teaching).
I suggest these schools with your stats:
UCLA
UCSF
UCSD
UC Irvine
UC Davis
USC Keck
Stanford
Kaiser
California University
Mayo
Washington University (in St. Louis)
Vanderbilt
USF Morsani
Duke
U Virginia
Jefferson
U Penn
Johns Hopkins
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Yale
Brown
Tufts
Cincinnati
Ohio State
U Michigan
Western Michigan
Northwestern

Thank you so much for the response! I did consider trying to find more non-clinical volunteering, but I'm worried that at this point it's so close to the application that it would look like I was front-loading my application/cramming, especially since the externship is relatively new and I'll be doing shadowing right before I submit as well.

Do you think it'd be worth it applying to MDs this cycle, or should I push off applying until after a gap year so I can get more nonclinical hours?

 

[InstantCoffee]

You need to catch up with your non-clinical volunteering, and the less health-associated the activity, the better.

EDIT: Can you tell me more about your reasons why you feel medicine is your calling? I'm not picking this up from what you disclosed, and I want to be sure you give yourself the best chance with holistic review.

I appreciate your reply and honesty. I do recognize that a lot of what I've said sounds very generic.

A lot of my interests lie in the sociology (my major). Not exactly an 'experience', but I have had the opportunity to do a lot of literature reviews about the American healthcare system through my classes, and I have found it really interesting (perhaps not in a good way) to be able to explore that side of medicine and then see how it manifests in actual clinical settings.

I had also considered doing research for a while, but the type of research I'm interested in, including in the lab I'm in right now, is animal research and I have struggled with the idea of having to be the one to personally euthanize them. I talked to one of my mentors in lab pretty early on, and they said that I already have a very medical mindset, and I think that's stuck with me as well.

(Those are not all my reasons, but I do feel like everything from the last few years has pushed me more and more in the direction of medicine.)

 

[Faha]

Thank you so much for the response! I did consider trying to find more non-clinical volunteering, but I'm worried that at this point it's so close to the application that it would look like I was front-loading my application/cramming, especially since the externship is relatively new and I'll be doing shadowing right before I submit as well.

Do you think it'd be worth it applying to MDs this cycle, or should I push off applying until after a gap year so I can get more nonclinical hours?

There is no issue with accumulating more non clinical volunteering in the next 2 months before you apply. You are fine to apply in June and your stats will attract interest at some schools. You need those shadowing hours too.