4.0 GPA and now senior year but no meaningful experience nor extracurriculars

[ThyFutureDoc]

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Hello everyone,

I am currently attending to a STEM school that has very demanding coursework. Honestly, some peers were able to gain some meaningful experiences, but their GPA seems kind of off (~3.8 ish). I know that these GPA have no huge difference, but I learned during high school that GPA matters more than what I think it should be. For context, I had 3.6 GPA, so I was not accepted into current institution I am attending at first (I had to transfer). However, I keep having a thought whether I should have gained meaningful experiences beginning of freshman year of college. My only experience I have right now is research (about 500+ hours and possibly publication (second or third author possibly)).

I am planning to take gap years and I am planning to get clinical experience, but I can't be certain whether I will be able to get that clinical experience especially I applied to few hospitals for spot but got rejected to all.

I am also planning to get involved into clinical research (my current research experience is on natural science). I am planning to take maximum of 3 gap years (but two out of three years, I will be serving in military as medic, but the military itself is mandatory and not in US; however, I believe it will give me some good narrative for essay and maybe be part of EC(?))

I take any feedback by heart, so feel free to comment, thanks!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

First, undergraduate admissions relies on much more than just a high GPA to gain acceptance, but you at least got in through the transfer admissions process. This is much more common than you think, so med schools know this (or at least the admissions professionals do).

Gaining meaningful clinical experience is different for everyone depending on your circumstances. Many pipeline programs exist where high school students get a few hours of shadowing or other experience. Does this mean you are behind them? I suppose so, but not everyone attended a "magnet" school or a pipeline program focused on health professions and STEMM careers. In short, you must get started.

The difficulties you may have with getting a hospital position/job is your lack of certification. You may also be overqualified if you attended an undergrad program. Maybe you can get this if you become a military medic (non-US), but you should check if this experience counts once you are done with your compulsory military service.

 

[ThyFutureDoc]

First, undergraduate admissions relies on much more than just a high GPA to gain acceptance, but you at least got in through the transfer admissions process. This is much more common than you think, so med schools know this (or at least the admissions professionals do).

Gaining meaningful clinical experience is different for everyone depending on your circumstances. Many pipeline programs exist where high school students get a few hours of shadowing or other experience. Does this mean you are behind them? I suppose so, but not everyone attended a "magnet" school or a pipeline program focused on health professions and STEMM careers. In short, you must get started.

The difficulties you may have with getting a hospital position/job is your lack of certification. You may also be overqualified if you attended an undergrad program. Maybe you can get this if you become a military medic (non-US), but you should check if this experience counts once you are done with your compulsory military service.

If I start building up my resume, it will be at most only 2 years of experience. Do you think the term is not long enough for medical school admission? I was particularly in a mindset of "quality over quantity" and here I am now 🙃.

 

[Goro]

Take a gap year or two. Med schools aren't going anywhere

 

[chilly_md]

If you are not a citizen or do not have a green card, addressing that would help your chances. International applicants have a very difficult time getting into US MD schools.

 

[ThyFutureDoc]

If you are not a citizen or do not have a green card, addressing that would help your chances. International applicants have a very difficult time getting into US MD schools.

Just for better context, I am permanent resident in US, but I want to hold citizenship in my native country.

 

[LizzyM]

Serving as a medic will be clinical experience but if the experience is outside of the US healthcare system, it might not be counted as strongly as it will still leave you without an understanding of how that system works.

The other bad news is that "clinical research" is often neither fish nor fowl, as the saying goes. It is often not counted as research if you are not involved in study design and data analysis (very common if you are at a site for a study run by a pharmaceutical company or a consortium) and it isn't always considered clinical care if the people involved are "participants" or "subjects" and not patients. This is particularly true if the study involves people not seeking medical care concurrently with their participation in the study (e.g. fMRIs of people with a medical condition but for which the fMRI is not related to their medical care).

Have you been involved with any volunteerism while in college?

Frankly, I think you should figure on at least one, if not two, years after you complete your service abroad, before you make your AMCAS application. During that time you should shadow in the US, do clinical volunteering or get a clinical job, and do community based volunteering.

 

[ThyFutureDoc]

Serving as a medic will be clinical experience but if the experience is outside of the US healthcare system, it might not be counted as strongly as it will still leave you without an understanding of how that system works.

The other bad news is that "clinical research" is often neither fish nor fowl, as the saying goes. It is often not counted as research if you are not involved in study design and data analysis (very common if you are at a site for a study run by a pharmaceutical company or a consortium) and it isn't always considered clinical care if the people involved are "participants" or "subjects" and not patients. This is particularly true if the study involves people not seeking medical care concurrently with their participation in the study (e.g. fMRIs of people with a medical condition but for which the fMRI is not related to their medical care).

Have you been involved with any volunteerism while in college?

Frankly, I think you should figure on at least one, if not two, years after you complete your service abroad, before you make your AMCAS application. During that time you should shadow in the US, do clinical volunteering or get a clinical job, and do community based volunteering.

I have applied to volunteering this week and hopefully I can get into it, especially it is competitive to get in. But no, I have no volunteering experience while in college. If I don't get into, I might get certification first and try to find clinical part-time job for clinical experience before and after medic. I have done some shadowing, but I forgot to mention that in my post.

For clinical research, I am thinking either cardiovascular or oncology, but not sure if it involves study design and data analysis.

Thank you for very straightforward feedback! Hopefully, it turns out fine.