Thank you for the reply! My GPA is around 3.95 so I think that is high enough. I have not taken the MCAT but I was planning on doing that next summer when I have more time to study. Could you elaborate more on Clinical experiences? I will no longer have academic scholarships once I graduate so I hope to do something that can pay for my living expenses,
first, congrats on that superb GPA in a diffficult major. you should know that GPA and MCAT are the most important factors in admissions, and your GPA is off the walls good. And given this GPA, i am confident that u'll smoke the MCAT as well. if you can get a 35 MCAT, your stats are high enough for the highest ranked schools. hell, given your GPA, the MCAT is not a major concern for you. if you aren't set on getting into the top 10s, a 30 MCAT is more than sufficient. so dont worry about the MCAT!
clinical experiences are things such as hospital volunteering and physician shadowings. these are incredibly important for your app because med schools want to know that you've had exposures to the medical field. and the most common way applicants get exposure to medicine is to volunteering at a hospital and shadow a doctor, activities you should be familiar with. If you don't have ANY of these clinical experiences during undergrad, it is important that they become your TOP priority during gap years.
you also mentioned something about working? now, another way to get clinical experience is to work in a health care setting as a nursing assistant, EMT, or whatever. however, these obviously require certifications/classes and can be difficult to obtain. do know that a majority of applicants get their clinical experiences through hospital volunteering and shadowing. there's no need to go out of your way finding a paid job in the clinical field.
lastly, you should know that many med schools expect to see some community service on your app, given that medicine is a service profession. it is preferably to stick with one organization for over a year and commit a good number of hours doing service for that organization. know that 200 community service hours over two years with ONE organization is probably better than 300 hours over one summer with multiple organizations. med schools want to see commitment over a long period of time.
so during your gap years, focus on clinical experiences and community service - do above the minimum and stay consistently engaged. then, just make sure you get a decent MCAT score, which shouldn't be an issue for you given your high GPA.
hopefully someone else can chime in as well.
