3.74/519, Gap Year Decisions

[imaginarynews]

Hi Y`All!

Can you give me feedback on my school list and gap year plans?

• cGPA: 3.74 sGPA 3.62
• MCAT: 519 (even distribution)
• State: Maine
• Non-URM
• My undergrad is in the Top 75
• Clinical Volunteering: 220 hours spanning two years
• Research Hours: 2.5 years, 2 abstracts, 1 pub, and 2 posters
• 20 Hours of Shadowing, primary care (I plan to do about 10-20 more hours if I can.)
• Nonclinical volunteering: 200 hours, combination of different things
• Leadership: I did student government for my dorms

I am a senior right now. What would be a good gap year activity? I am bouncing around three different scenarios: (1) full-time research assistant at the NIH/IRTA (I like research but not enough for an MD-PhD) while doing nonclinical volunteering (2) getting a regular job (or a job in a biotech company) while doing nonclinical volunteering (3) Full-time nonclinical volunteering.

Does my application lack anything that I would require (3)? If I were to prioritize (2) over (1) and prioritize (1) over (3), to what extent would that hurt my application? I`d prefer (2) or (1).

I plan on applying here (tell me if it seems too top-heavy or I`m missing a school that might be good):
Harvard, Hopkins, Duke, WashU, UPenn, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Pitt, Mt. Sinai, UVA, UNC, UMass, Einstein, Hofstra, Dartmouth, Keck, Tufts, BU, Ohio State, Columbia, Vermont, Rochester, Case Western

tl;dr: What should I do for my gap year? Is anything missing in my application that I can do between now and June (any blind spots)? How is my school list?

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[Banco]

Option 1 or 2 are 1000% better than 3. Do whichever one of those you like more. I don't think "full time nonclinical volunteering" is a feasible option and has diminishing "returns."

Your school list is pretty good. You could consider: Cornell, Emory, Stony Brook, Jefferson, Temple, Miami, Cincinnati.

 

[Faha]

UNC accepts few non residents with no connection to the state. Consider adding these schools:
Jefferson
Miami
Tulane
Cincinnati
Western Michigan