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[deleted645092]

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[mehc012]

For anyone familiar with the process, I have a question regarding how much lower than average shadowing hours would hurt me while I apply this year. I haven't had much of a chance to shadow outside of observing specialists during my shifts as a scribe in the ED and a few other medical professions due to outside circumstances; while taking my full class load each semester I had to work an average of PRECISELY 43.6 hours/ week to support myself during undergrad. My final stats are;

cGPA; 3.31 (Low because I had a pretty tough freshman year for another discussion)
sGPA; 3.7
MCAT; 28.

Obviously with all of those hours I didn't exactly have the time to shadow very often.

I am going to be applying this year and plan on rotating through all of the specialties at the hospital I work at while ramping up my volunteering at the same time. If I mention this in my applications would they still extend an interview if the rest of my stats seem good enough to them, and discuss what else I got out of shadowing and increased volunteering during this gap year?

If you have clinical experience from other places (e.g. the scribing you mention), this will not hurt you nearly as much as that 3.3 cGPA or the lowish MCAT.

Honestly, I don't think that the timeline of your clinical experience will be an issue at all...you had some hours over a long time period while extremely busy, and now that your schedule has opened up you are taking a lot more opportunities to see doctors at work.

 

[mehc012]

Thanks for the reply, I understand that my GPA was relatively low but it's because of a really tough freshman year where I also had some disciplinary issues, nothing since though. No excuse for the MCAT other than the really difficult work schedule, I didn't exactly have months to dedicate to studying and couldn't afford to take off work.

Hey I get ya...I also have a low (notably lower than your own) gpa for similar reasons. I'm also trying to overcome a low gpa and some long-ago IAs due to a rocky freshman (and sophomore) year. Just make sure that you take the time in your app to really strongly demonstrate that you have matured and have distanced yourself from those concerns.
I really do not think that the timeline of your clinical exposure will be an issue, though, since it sounds as if you do have SOME long-term stuff, and then also a high volume planned for this gap year.

Good luck! May the med schools look kindly on reinvention this year

 

[Enginerd2016]

A huge positive for you is your sGPA though! Don't forget that!