What Else Can I Do in the Next Five Months? Non-Trad, Allopathic

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

I am looking for suggestions on how to improve myself/my app between now and June. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read all this and offer constructive criticism!

I'm a non-trad with a humanities and social science BA who completed post-bacc pre-reqs piecemeal over two years while working full-time as a university admin. My post-bacc experience was a trainwreck grade-wise so I enrolled in a two-year grad program, not necessarily an SMP, which I recently completed with an MS.

GPA

-Cumulative undergrad - 3.52 with solid upward trend (my last two years - 3.8)
-Post-bacc < 3.0
-Grad - 3.87​

MCAT - awaiting score from 1/15
Clinical volunteer activities - unfortunately these are quite old

-Surgery center (110 hours)
-Maternity (40 hours)​

Physician shadowing

-Various surgeries (10 hours)
-Nephrology (70 hours)
-Pathologist (40 hours)
-Pediatric Intensivist (30 hours)​

Research - none, unless we count non-published 6-year-old undergrad research in theoretical syntax
Nonclinical volunteer activities (both recent and current)

-English tutor to newly resettled refugees (40 hours)
-Free clinic, counseling patients on available resources (40 hours)​

Employment

News editor (two years in undergrad - managed 6 copywriters per night to meet press deadline, wrote headlines, composed broadsheet, etc.)
Accounting job not worth mentioning (one year)
Administrator (three years coordinating lots of events and people and three graduate programs... basically anything the faculty/college threw at me)​

Other

Graduate teaching assistant (two years - TAed three undergraduate anatomy courses, one leading 40 students in full-body dissections; ran my own lab recitations; set up and graded lab practicals; etc.)​

In the Works...

I should have two case studies in anatomic pathology submitted for publication by the end of February.
I'm trying to follow my passions when deciding where to get involved so I've just signed up to volunteer with a local food advocacy group to teach nutrition and cooking skills to underserved kids in my neighborhood, since I really love cooking and baking.
Job hunting - I'm being considered for a Clinical Research Coordinator position in hemeonc or neurology (super excited about this one because I really want to do clinical research as a physician)
​

What do you think I should attack? Should I be looking for a different type of job? The more specific your suggestions the better. Thank you!!!

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[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

What am I worried about? That post-bacc gpa and whether I've shown enough leadership (+ quality of ECs in general). The way AMCAS has incorporated the post-bacc coursework gpa makes me look completely unfit from a raw numbers standpoint... I'm also afraid that not having done research despite a lot of coursework/school looks really bad.

 

[alpinism]

What are your grades in the pre-reqs?

If you have classes below a B- most people would generally advise retaking them. You want your prereq GPA to be above 3.0 to be competitive.

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

I was really looking more for feedback on my ECs, but thanks for the reply!

I understand that's the usual advice, but I went to grad school for a fresh start and to show adcoms I could handle courses even more rigorous than those I struggled with (and I did). I also worked full-time during my first year of grad school and managed coordination of my mother's care after a horrible car accident resulting in TBI (this is what ultimately ended up pushing back this year's application, MCAT, etc.)

Put simply, I don't think the return on that endeavor would be very high for someone in my situation (however if my top choice told me I would have a seat if only I retook GenChem...)

 

[gyngyn]

You graduate grades will not remediate your undergrad performance at MD schools.
The post bac grades are especially problematic, hopefully there are relatively few hours there.
Have you calculated your AMCAS gpa's?

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

I will take it under consideration. Thank you for your feedback.

What else can I do?

 

[gyngyn]

I will take it under consideration. Thank you for your feedback.

What else can I do?

Without an MCAT or gpa, it's hard to say.
More recent clinical experience?

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

I agree, looking over everything I think I definitely need to get back into the hospital to volunteer.

Would you mind explaining why it's difficult to say without my MCAT? We could do worst and best case scenarios. What can I do in the next five months if my MCAT is stellar, and what should I do (in addition to retaking) if it's 32 or below? Thank you!

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Also, can you speak to why many people on here recommend SMPs and graduate school after difficulties in undergrad if, from an adcom's perspective, it's not going to help make up for them?

 

[Goro]

An SMP is different from a MS in, say Molecular Genetics. After all, how do you gauge the rigor of courses like "DNA Techniques" or "Seminars in Neuroscience"?

An SMP is an audition for med school, because it mimics med school coursework.

What was the nature of your graduate work? DO programs will probably be more willing to look at you than MD programs.

The problem with not having an MCAT score is that when one asks: "What if I have a great MCAT score?" it's that words are easy, and doing is harder.

Also, can you speak to why many people on here recommend SMPs and graduate school after difficulties in undergrad if, from an adcom's perspective, it's not going to help make up for them?

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

The problem with not having an MCAT score is that when one asks: "What if I have a great MCAT score?" it's that words are easy, and doing is harder.

And yet I also offered the contrary, what if it's terrible? I know you're fond of advocating that not everyone is cut out for this profession - which is probably a valuable service in the end - but I don't see the danger of speaking in hypotheticals.

Point taken on SMP vs graduate work. My class was half PhD and half pre-professional. My program did not include biochem or molecular genetics, but it did overlap heavily with a lot of the first-year med and dent curriculum; where it did we went more in-depth. Some questions on my written comprehensive exam: Describe urogenital development in males including signaling pathways, draw or describe cerebellar afferents and efferents and include all relevant structures, vasculature of the lower limb and areas supplied, the main pathways of the basal ganglia and related diseases (so I drew out the direct and indirect pathways and described Huntington's, Parkinson's, and hemiballism with the associated neurotransmitters and affected structures), the gait cycle (phases, muscles of each phases, innervation and nerve damage clinical signs). This was done closed book and we were expected to go above and beyond in completeness, and in a short amount of time.

Questions from the oral: Tell me about follicle development. Looking at slides, ID [anterior and posterior commissures, subthalamic nucleus, genu of internal capsule, VPL thalamus, nucleus prepositus hypoglossi, mesenchyme, oxyphil and chief cells, corpora amylacea, and lots more!]. And the functions of all of those... What information crosses the anterior and posterior commissures? Function of VPL thalamus? and so on. Tell me about the shoulder (so I had to "teach" all muscles that act on or affect the shoulder, bones, tendons, ligaments, and other joints involved, rotation and angles of the scapula, anatomical variations that might affect motion or harm other structures, shoulder injuries, etc.) What happens to the radial nerve distal to the elbow? Tell me about heart development (so I started with mesodermal primary and secondary heart fields and went all the way through outflow tract differentiation). I also had to "defend" any incomplete answers from the written. The biggest shocker of the whole thing was that I spent a TON of time preparing for cranial nerves - nuclei, pathways, lesions, clinical signs, blood supply - and there wasn't a single question besides a basic one on Optic.

It's really different and a lot harder to be able to draw all of this out and teach from memory (plus getting grilled by four highly respected faculty members) than take a multiple choice test. Despite a few setbacks in the beginning of my pre-med journey, I know I'm ready for this and I can't describe how anxious and excited I am to start applying all of this to actual cases and start helping people

Going back and studying gen chem and physics for the MCAT with more perspective after all of that^ made it ridiculously simple. I know you don't really care unless I have a 95%ile score in hand, but I feel good about my MCAT, for the record.

 

[Goro]

I think that you already know the answer. If it's terrible, like < 25, then your chances at any MD school are gone, and ditto at most DO schools, except the newest ones.

And yet I also offered the contrary, what if it's terrible? I know you're fond of advocating that not everyone is cut out for this profession - which is probably a valuable service in the end - but I don't see the danger of speaking in hypotheticals.

MCAT and stats just get you to the door; ECs get you through. But let us know how you do.
Going back and studying gen chem and physics for the MCAT with more perspective after all of that^ made it ridiculously simple. I know you don't really care unless I have a 95%ile score in hand, but I feel good about my MCAT, for the record.

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Oh, well Gyngyn made it sound like she couldn't answer my original question, where are my ECs lacking, unless she had all of my stats.

MCAT and stats just get you to the door; ECs get you through.

So, let's say I start volunteering in a clinical setting again, what else can I do in the next 5 months in terms of ECs to get me through that door if I somehow miraculously get past the screen?

But let us know how you do.

Definitely!

 

[Goro]

I think that should be sufficient. You have a pretty extensive packet.


So, let's say I start volunteering in a clinical setting again, what else can I do in the next 5 months in terms of ECs to get me through that door if I somehow miraculously get past the screen?

 

[senzen]

Why would working in a free clinic be listed as a non-clinical volunteer activity?

It falls under @LizzyM's definition of "clinical experience" and I think @Goro would agree as well.

It's just I'm working in a free clinic soon and I was planning on considering it as a clinical volunteer experience...

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

I thought about that but wasn't sure (would you mind providing the link to LizzyM's criteria?). I'm technically a "social work volunteer", and all of my interaction with patients happens in the waiting room. We prepare individualized packets of information on free or reduced-cost health, job, food resources in the area and talk to them about it. Contrasted with my other volunteer experience where I was like, handing out juice and warm blankets to patients in recovery after surgery, it just seemed non-clinical.

 

[senzen]

I feel like that is clinical experience, no? We are not licensed to do anything behind provide actual clinical services like a doctor, nurse, medical assistant can.

This is LizzyM's criteria: "If you are close enough to smell patients then it is a clinical experience."

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Thanks! I'll keep this^ in mind when categorizing experiences on AMCAS!

 

[joe_schmoe_64]

Hello WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot,

First off, good on ya for all of the legwork you've already done, and I hope the MCAT turns out well for you. Aside from the postbacc work, we were in the same boat not long ago. In trying to figure out what to 'attack', I would spend some time looking backward, and choose something there. Long-term commitment to a few well-rounded causes shows BOATLOADS more about a person than a bunch of short-term 'shotgun' commitments. For me, that was going back into Boy Scouts of America, and to a camp I'd work at earlier on. I'd urge you to keep up what work you have been doing, whether paid, volunteer, shadowing, etc. In essence, the only bad direction to go in is none at all, and if it shows longitudinal commitment and growth, BONUS!!! In discussing your preparation in essay/personal comments/interviews, embrace what type of person your experiences have prompted you to become, and talk about that, because it's not about your numbers of hours (which are exceptional, btw). While the numbers are an indicator of your preparation, they DO NOT adequately predict performance in medical school, but things like work ethic, compassion, and personality DO. Keep up the struggle, and knock em' dead!! (in a hippocratically acceptable fashion).

UW Medical Student