Worried…and super stressed!

[believe <3]

,

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[johnnytest]

You seem to already have great quality experiences. Hours are not as important as is the significance of those experiences and how they helped you determine medicine is for you. Also, if you have been involved in shadowing and hospice over the span of a year or more that's better than banging out 100 hrs in 2 months, which you plan on doing soon. Med schools like to see long-term commitment instead of short-term activities simply to increase number of hours. My advice would be to focus on MCAT because a high MCAT will do wonders for you and make up for anything else you may lack. Academics are one of the most important factors. By now you should already know why medicine is for you and if you can articulate your reasoning well and back it up with support from your experiences then you're set. Quality >> Quantity.

 

[believe <3]

You seem to already have great quality experiences. Hours are not as important as is the significance of those experiences and how they helped you determine medicine is for you. Also, if you have been involved in shadowing and hospice over the span of a year or more that's better than banging out 100 hrs in 2 months, which you plan on doing soon. Med schools like to see long-term commitment instead of short-term activities simply to increase number of hours. My advice would be to focus on MCAT because a high MCAT will do wonders for you and make up for anything else you may lack. Academics are one of the most important factors. By now you should already know why medicine is for you and if you can articulate your reasoning well and back it up with support from your experiences then you're set. Quality >> Quantity.

I definitely learned significantly from each of these experiences and write week about them. However, I'm just worried that it is not enough since most medical schools like to see ~3 clinical volunteering activities and apparently, shadowing doesn't count Also, I started hospice at the beginning of this year so unfortunately, that wasn't long-term…

That 200 hrs for hospice is the amount I plan to have by app submission time.

 

[johnnytest]

I definitely learned significantly from each of these experiences and write week about them. However, I'm just worried that it is not enough since most medical schools like to see ~3 clinical volunteering activities and apparently, shadowing doesn't count Also, I started hospice at the beginning of this year so unfortunately, that wasn't long-term…

It's really difficult to say with certainty that medical schools want a minimum number of activities. I do agree that medical schools want shadowing + clinical volunteering w/ patient interaction. Even though you started this year you can state on your application you will continue until May 2016 or for however long you intend to conitnue. On my app, I stated I will continue my clinical volunteering activity until May 2015. So long as your academics and MCAT are solid, I think you're in good shape and not knee-deep in mud like you may think you are.. But, I'll defer to the adcoms on here who can provide better advice.

 

[Goro]

Time for a chill pill! Your experiences are perfect. I have a high opinion of anyone willing to work in hospice.

So, ease on back, and go rock the MCAT!

I am applying this cycle and plan to submit my primary app June 1st week. I will be taking the new MCAT in April/May. While I have a decent GPA, good research and non-clinical volunteer hours, I feel like I am severely lacking on the clinical side! I have decent shadowing hours (~200), hospice work (~200 hrs), and served as a translator at a rural international clinic (only for a week though) but that's about it!

Now, I'm a semester away from applying and don't know how I can improve my clinical activities in time for primary app submission. I do have great opportunities to volunteer scribe at a private clinic and work at a free clinic (which unfortunately doesn't start until March ), but the thing is, I want to do well on my MCAT too! I fear that volunteering for 5-10 hours per week to get ~100 clinical hours before app time will sink my MCAT score…especially when I'm already continuing my previous volunteer activities.

I want to ideally begin all these clinical opportunities (scribe, mission trips, more hospice, free clinic) starting in May after my MCAT and continue it throughout my gap year. However, I'm scared that adcoms won't give any weight to this, since the majority of my work will be after AMCAS has already been submitted. I don't think I would get any interviews either. What can I do at this point?!?! I'm feeling pretty hopeless so input is greatly appreciated!!!

@Goro @gyngyn @LizzyM @Ismet @Catalystik any suggestions?

 

[Ismet]

You're good!! I don't know where people come up with "med schools want to see X hours or Y number of Z experience" because it's really not that cut and dry. You have plenty of clinical exposure, and shadowing does count as clinical exposure. Not clinical volunteering obviously.
But when I look at an application I look for
1) clinical exposure (including shadowing, scribing, working as a PCT/EMT/etc, clinical volunteering)
2) volunteering (clinical OR non clinical, though usually people kill 2 birds with 1 stone and combine clinical exposure with volunteering)
3) research
4) leadership
5) other ECs/interesting hobbies, etc.

Definitely focus on your MCAT, but really taking 5 hours a week from studying is not going to tank your score. You should be taking breaks and studying healthily, so if you can volunteer as a scribe, I think that would be a great experience for your own growth and knowledge. But really not necessary for your application.

 

[Catalystik]

Also, I started hospice at the beginning of this year so unfortunately, that wasn't long-term… That 200 hrs for hospice is the amount I plan to have by app submission time.

If you started to acquire your active clinical experience in January 2015, regardless of the number of hours acquired, I'd encourage you to spend an additional year beefing up your activities rather than squeezing everything in over a 6 month period. Decompressing your timeframe will significantly decrease your stress, increase the chance of a higher MCAT score, and significantly increase your appeal to med schools as you add more quality ECs of reasonable duration.

Med schools like to see long-term commitment instead of short-term activities simply to increase number of hours.

I agree.

Even though you started this year you can state on your application you will continue until May 2016 or for however long you intend to conitnue.

It's true that you can express your future plan, but that doesn't mean the not-yet-acquired hours will be regarded in adcomm decision-making. All too often "life happens" and these plans get sidetracked.

 

[believe <3]

If you started to acquire your active clinical experience in January 2015, regardless of the number of hours acquired, I'd encourage you to spend an additional year beefing up your activities rather than squeezing everything in over a 6 month period. Decompressing your timeframe will significantly decrease your stress, increase the chance of a higher MCAT score, and significantly increase your appeal to med schools as you add more quality ECs of reasonable duration.
I agree.
It's true that you can express your future plan, but that doesn't mean the not-yet-acquired hours will be regarded in adcomm decision-making. All too often "life happens" and these plans get sidetracked.

Thanks for your input! However, I would very much prefer to matriculate in 2016 (for personal reasons) if I have a decent chance of getting in. I know the extra year will make me much more competitive for the top schools (because the rest of my app is great), but I'm okay with low-tier, mid-tier schools if I can begin in 2016. I just want to know if the amount of clinical volunteering (even if started this year) I will have will get me into any MD school. I think I will go ahead and accept the volunteer scribe position at the clinic as well, since I can start that immediately…I will still continue these activities throughout my gap year and maybe some schools will value any updates regarding my clinical positions.

Do you feel that with an above average GPA and good MCAT score, would I be okay for schools like VCU, Drexel, Jefferson, Rosalind Franklin, EVMS, Loyola, SLU, LSU, Penn State, etc. solely based on this clinical experience?

 

[believe <3]

.

 

[believe <3]

,

 

[Catalystik]

Do you feel that with a above average GPA and good MCAT score, I would be okay for schools like VCU, Drexel, Jefferson, Rosalind Franklin, EVMS, Loyola, SLU, LSU, Penn State, etc. solely based on this clinical experience?

When did you start the shadowing? How long ago was the 1 week of translation in the clinic (I'm presuming it was between doctor and patient, so correct me if this is wrong)?

 

[believe <3]

,

 

[Catalystik]

What if my gap year clinical activity is something that usually cannot be sidetracked? Like a medical assistant job, clinical volunteering leadership position, or one-year Doctors w/o Borders/Unite for Sight service commitment? If it's an activity I get accepted to, won't adcoms see that I will most definitely follow through with it (maybe I can get some sort of confirmation letter from the organization)? Would this carry weight in adcom decisions?

Any future plan can be sidetracked. I've heard applicants broke a leg, got mono, had a parent diagnosed with cancer, lost funding support unexpectedly, dropped out of TFA due to safety issues, left Peace Corps after personal violence, got fired from a job, etc.

The reason I ask is because if an applicant was signed up to do Teach for America or NIH IRTA program etc, I heard that adcoms are convinced that the applicant will do these things and hence, give decent consideration to such EC's (esp in interviews and secondaries)

Applicants often apply after the first year of a 2-year program, in which some of the commitment has already been completed. Perhaps there are adcomms somewhere that "are convinced that the applicant will do these things" when they sign up for them, but I haven't run into any of them. I hope that you do.

 

[believe <3]

Any future plan can be sidetracked. I've heard applicants broke a leg, got mono, had a parent diagnosed with cancer, lost funding support unexpectedly, dropped out of TFA due to safety issues, left Peace Corps after personal violence, got fired from a job, etc. Applicants often apply after the first year of a 2-year program, in which some of the commitment has already been completed. Perhaps there are adcomms somewhere that "are convinced that the applicant will do these things" when they sign up for them, but I haven't run into any of them. I hope that you do.

I see…thanks for the information. I guess at this point, I don't have much choice though if I want to apply this year So I will try to apply early, write thoughtful secondaries and elaborate about my gap year in interviews. Hopefully, this can get me in!

 

[Catalystik]

1) -I started the shadowing my freshman year and continued from there (have done Peds, IM, Cardiology, Sleep Medicine, Family Medicine; will do more this semester and summer).
-I actually began the hospice stuff last summer but am only beginning to get started volunteering now (due to a misunderstanding with patient locations).
-The 1 week translation clinic was summer after my freshman year and even though it was such a short time, I learned a lot. This was a defining moment for me and helped me confirm medicine is my path…I plan to go again to the same hospital for a longer duration this summer. Yes, it was btwn. doctor and patient. Also, this hospital is exclusively run for the underserved…when I volunteered there, doctors were seeing 100 patients/day (I am not kidding). That week gave me ~60 hrs of clinical service.

2) I also have regularly taken care of/entertained disabled children for two years now. However, I was told by SDN that this is not clinical volunteering since the children are not present in a hospital (although there are nurses present at the facility).

3) In addition, I have experience studying MRI images, patient records, identifying hypoxia-induced brain damage etc. in the ICU department of a major hospital, which I have been doing for a year and a half. But this is part of my clinical research work, so I don't know if it can also count as radiology shadowing/volunteering.

This semester I will do ~4 hrs of hospice and the volunteer scribing position until the day I apply and even after that.

1) Well, it's good that your application will give evidence of active and passive clinical experience over a prolonged period of time (showing that your decision for medicine isn't impulsive), so now that I have a better view of the larger picture, I think it is possible you will get consideration from schools like VCU, Drexel, Jefferson, Rosalind Franklin, EVMS, Loyola, SLU, LSU, Penn State, especially in light of your stats (which you say are decent, but without giving details).

2) That is arguable, depending on what you mean by "taken care of" and how the description reads, and possibly adcomm dependent in interpretation, but that is a conversation for another time.

3) If it was related to your research, it would be listed as Research, not volunteering. If you personally interacted with sick patients, it should be viewed as part of your active clinical experience. At the least, it sounds like you have some radiologist shadowing time (but you'd have to split out the time and not double count it, and you already seem to have more than enough shadowing).

 

[believe <3]

1) Well, it's good that your application will give evidence of active and passive clinical experience over a prolonged period of time (showing that your decision for medicine isn't impulsive), so now that I have a better view of the larger picture, I think it is likely you will get consideration from schools like VCU, Drexel, Jefferson, Rosalind Franklin, EVMS, Loyola, SLU, LSU, Penn State, especially in light of your stats.

2) That is arguable, depending on what you mean by "taken care of" and how the description reads, and possibly adcomm dependent in interpretation, but that is a conversation for another time.

3) If it was related to your research, it would be listed as Research, not volunteering. If you personally interacted with sick patients, it should be viewed as part of your active clinical experience. At the least, it sounds like you have some radiologist shadowing time (but you'd have to split out the time and not double count it, and you already seem to have more than enough shadowing).

Thanks so much for the advice! While the majority of my apps will be to mid-tier schools, do you think I can also apply to some top 20-50 schools? Suppose I received an above average MCAT score…can this be a good reason for me to apply? Or will it still be a waste of time considering my average clinical experiences?

 

[Catalystik]

While the majority of my apps will be to mid-tier schools, do you think I can also apply to some top 20-50 schools? Suppose I received an above average MCAT score…can this be a good reason for me to apply? Or will it still be a waste of time considering my average clinical experiences?

I think I would need to know more details of your leadership and research experiences to say. Do you have a WAMC thread with more activity details?

 

[believe <3]

I think I would need to know more details of your leadership and research experiences to say. Do you have a WAMC thread with more activity details?

I don't currently have one, but is it okay if I send you an inbox message with the details?

 

[Catalystik]

Sorry, my PM box is closed.

 

[believe <3]

Sorry, my PM box is closed.

Oh I see. I guess I will start a WAMC thread soon then…I was planning to wait until my MCAT score, so it would be more useful, but that's a long time from now

 

[senzen]

I don't currently have one, but is it okay if I send you an inbox message with the details?

If you're concerned about anonymity you could maybe round down .01-.02 in your GPA or give a general range. I found this thread super helpful so I'd be interested in hearing any insight @Catalystik has to offer.

 

[believe <3]

If you're concerned about anonymity you could maybe round down .01-.02 in your GPA or give a general range. I found this thread super helpful so I'd be interested in hearing any insight @Catalystik has to offer.

I'm actually concerned about giving all my EC details, because I believe that I will need to explain my activities in good detail for @Catalystik to give me an accurate estimate of which schools I have a decent chance at. I think this will definitely give me away

 

[senzen]

I'm actually concerned about giving all my EC details, because I believe that I will need to explain my activities in good detail for @Catalystik to give me an accurate estimate of which schools I have a decent chance at. I think this will definitely give me away

Oh that's understandable. I would give very, very general descriptions if that's the case. Haha. That's what I plan on doing!

I'm always terrified of the idea of an adcom here identifying me when I apply to their school!