6 months until I apply, what improvements should i make EC's wise?

[NotAThrowaway]

My EC's (hours are projected for what I think they'll be in June:

Volunteering:

soup kitchen- 2 1/2 years, ~350 hours,

organization that delivers meals to the disabled- 2 1/2 years, ~450 hours

Non clinical jobs:

Server, busser, food runner- 1 year, ~1000 hours

Uber, 10 months, ~1200 hours

Clinical work:

ED scribe, 8 months, ~800 hours. Stopped working as a scribe so might be a red flag since it's under a year?

Shadowing:

Family medicine, DO, ~50 hours

Derm, DO, ~10 hours.

Hobbies:

Piano, 1 1/2 years, ~200 hours?

Running, 3 years.

Weightlifting/Strength training, 5 years.

What i think are problem areas (what are your thoughts?): no clinical volunteering, not keeping a clinical job for a year (not fired), no research, not enough shadowing, and no MD shadowing.

I'm planning on applying to 12 MD schools ( 6 HBCU's+ 6 in state schools), and ~30 DO schools

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[EmilKraepelin55]

It should be okay if you don't have clinical volunteering because it is the clinical experience that really matters I think, not whether you volunteered in clinic. Your community volunteering will help your case in explaining your altruism enough I believe. I think as long as your MCAT and GPA's are up to par, and you have a well-developed and genuine narrative for "why medicine" given your experiences, you stand a decent chance of getting a few interviews. It's about the amount of time you've spent in those experiences, yes. But the most important thing is how much you grew as a person and how much you reflected upon them.

 

[Patrick Bateman's Brother]

you have enough shadowing for DO, but I would highly recommend getting some MD shadowing in before you apply (you have 6 months, so you should be able to do this)

Agree with this. During one of my interviews, the interviewer commented on how they appreciate to see DO and MD shadowing. May not be universal but doesn't hurt.

 

[BobbyKoch]

where did you find a DO derm? I thought that was one of the "near impossible matches" for DOs..

 

[Mr. Babe]

You have a lot of good going for you, but still a lot that needs to be done. If you want to apply MD, it's pretty important that you have research experience. You need to get on that ASAP and it definitely helps with DO as well. I've had many DO interviews where they asked me about my research experiences. Your non-clinical volunteering and work is fine, but it's nothing special. You need to get in volunteering for something in the healthcare field. I have lots of clinical volunteering and work, but a lot that isn't. I have never been asked about my non-clinical EC's in an interview before and it didn't seem like it was a big deal. Definitely shadow more, even with DO's. If you can get 100 hours of MD and 100 of DO, then you'll be looking really good. Make sure you get some good Doc's who will write you good LOR too. You have 6 months as you say, but if you apply early it's more like 5 months for DO.

 

[DO2015CA]

looks good. Like others said clinical volunteering isn’t a must because you have the clinical experience, but school eat up free clinic volunteering if you can find one locally

 

[NotAThrowaway]

where did you find a DO derm? I thought that was one of the "near impossible matches" for DOs..

Got referred to him by my FM doc.

 

[NotAThrowaway]

You have a lot of good going for you, but still a lot that needs to be done. If you want to apply MD, it's pretty important that you have research experience. You need to get on that ASAP and it definitely helps with DO as well. I've had many DO interviews where they asked me about my research experiences. Your non-clinical volunteering and work is fine, but it's nothing special. You need to get in volunteering for something in the healthcare field. I have lots of clinical volunteering and work, but a lot that isn't. I have never been asked about my non-clinical EC's in an interview before and it didn't seem like it was a big deal. Definitely shadow more, even with DO's. If you can get 100 hours of MD and 100 of DO, then you'll be looking really good. Make sure you get some good Doc's who will write you good LOR too. You have 6 months as you say, but if you apply early it's more like 5 months for DO.

When i was a ED scribe, 45% of the providers i worked for were MD's, 50% were,DO's, and 5% were PA's. Could speaking about that experience/exposure in detail make up for my lack of MD shadowing?

 

[Mr. Babe]

When i was a ED scribe, 45% of the providers i worked for were MD's, 50% were,DO's, and 5% were PA's. Could speaking about that experience/exposure in detail make up for my lack of MD shadowing?

It would definitely help, but it would not 'make-up' for your lack of shadowing. You've had the opportunity to interact with a lot of physicians as a scribe so that's a plus. If you have good relationships with physicians from being a scribe, than you can get some good LOR and that can be a good talking point for interviews. Try your best to get more shadowing, but if not......you should be okay if you're a good in interviews.

 

[saltandsugar]

IMO, get some clinical experience that involves talking/working with patients like a clinical research assistant and (if you have the time) a nursing assistant. I went on both MD and DO interviews and literally no one asked about scribing but everyone asked about being a nursing assistant and community health work that I had done.

 

[Steve H]

Shadow an ER doc. It is pretty cool and fun to talk about during interviews.

 

[NotAThrowaway]

Shadow an ER doc. It is pretty cool and fun to talk about during interviews.

I have 800+ hours working for ER providers.