Hello everyone,
I graduated in May of 2021 and applied while doing a gap year working in both a hospital and a lab. I planned to apply to more schools, but due to my financial situation and my own idiocy I only ended up completing 6 applications. I received 2 interviews, one from the school associated with the hospital I worked at and the other from my alma mater. I ended up with one R and one WL, and have not been called off the waitlist.
My MCAT score (shown below) was unbalanced and the 124 in C/P certainly hurt me, along with a C in my freshman year Gen Chem 1 course. That combined with my poor application distribution and other deficiencies certainly led to my demise this cycle.
I have been gearing up to reapply and looking for a gap year job in the clinical field. I applied for and have interviewed for an interesting Scribe/MA position that also has an associated Pre-Health program. However, they require a two-year commitment for the program. Essentially I would be brought on as a scribe, and receive training and certification to become a MA for a dermatology clinic. Then after a year, they would give me advisement, writing help, and a letter of recommendation (from the MD I would be working under) for the application cycle in 2023. I would then continue working there until 2024 and leave for school (hopefully).
I am torn on whether to reapply more broadly (including shadowing a DO and adding lots of DO schools for this cycle) or possibly pursue this program and potentially retake my MCAT with the added time I would have. Any advice would be helpful.
My stats:
23, ORM, cGPA- 3.7 sGPA- 3.5 MCAT: 1st try in 2020- 503, 2nd try in 2021- 510 (124,130,129,127).
1000 patient care hours as a Patient Attendant (Sitter) in a hospital, 580 hours as a data entry lab tech in a State Public Health Laboratory.
187 non-clinical volunteering hours from various sources, but mainly 50 hours as an ESL tutor, and 52 as a tutor at an after-school program for elementary-aged children from the local disadvantaged community.
30 hours of clinical volunteering on a pediatric floor.
Leadership: President of the Pre-Medical club at my school, which had 500 members.
Shadowing: 37 hours, 8 with an anesthesiologist, 29 with two different kinds of orthopedic surgeons.
No research, which could be a potential gap year option for this cycle.
My school list (*for schools I completed):
Rosalind Franklin*
Wake Forest*
Arizona Tuscon* (pre II waitlist--soft R)
Creighton* (II--> Waitlist)
UNMC* (II-->R)
University of Iowa
University of Colorado*(my state school)
OUWB
Medical College of Wisconsin
Rush
Loyola
DO schools:
Rocky Vista (thought they didn't require a letter from an MD/DO, but they just wanted a letter from a licensed health care provider which I did not have, so the application was not completed)
Midwestern (AZ)
Touro (CA)
Noorda
I graduated in May of 2021 and applied while doing a gap year working in both a hospital and a lab. I planned to apply to more schools, but due to my financial situation and my own idiocy I only ended up completing 6 applications. I received 2 interviews, one from the school associated with the hospital I worked at and the other from my alma mater. I ended up with one R and one WL, and have not been called off the waitlist.
My MCAT score (shown below) was unbalanced and the 124 in C/P certainly hurt me, along with a C in my freshman year Gen Chem 1 course. That combined with my poor application distribution and other deficiencies certainly led to my demise this cycle.
I have been gearing up to reapply and looking for a gap year job in the clinical field. I applied for and have interviewed for an interesting Scribe/MA position that also has an associated Pre-Health program. However, they require a two-year commitment for the program. Essentially I would be brought on as a scribe, and receive training and certification to become a MA for a dermatology clinic. Then after a year, they would give me advisement, writing help, and a letter of recommendation (from the MD I would be working under) for the application cycle in 2023. I would then continue working there until 2024 and leave for school (hopefully).
I am torn on whether to reapply more broadly (including shadowing a DO and adding lots of DO schools for this cycle) or possibly pursue this program and potentially retake my MCAT with the added time I would have. Any advice would be helpful.
My stats:
23, ORM, cGPA- 3.7 sGPA- 3.5 MCAT: 1st try in 2020- 503, 2nd try in 2021- 510 (124,130,129,127).
1000 patient care hours as a Patient Attendant (Sitter) in a hospital, 580 hours as a data entry lab tech in a State Public Health Laboratory.
187 non-clinical volunteering hours from various sources, but mainly 50 hours as an ESL tutor, and 52 as a tutor at an after-school program for elementary-aged children from the local disadvantaged community.
30 hours of clinical volunteering on a pediatric floor.
Leadership: President of the Pre-Medical club at my school, which had 500 members.
Shadowing: 37 hours, 8 with an anesthesiologist, 29 with two different kinds of orthopedic surgeons.
No research, which could be a potential gap year option for this cycle.
My school list (*for schools I completed):
Rosalind Franklin*
Wake Forest*
Arizona Tuscon* (pre II waitlist--soft R)
Creighton* (II--> Waitlist)
UNMC* (II-->R)
University of Iowa
University of Colorado*(my state school)
OUWB
Medical College of Wisconsin
Rush
Loyola
DO schools:
Rocky Vista (thought they didn't require a letter from an MD/DO, but they just wanted a letter from a licensed health care provider which I did not have, so the application was not completed)
Midwestern (AZ)
Touro (CA)
Noorda