A bad year (explaining gaps)

[asdjfklzxcv]

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Last year, in Spring, I took 0 classes for my last semester and started to work full time in my PI's lab to work on an honor's thesis. I had a lot of replication problems and insignificant results so I was only able to write a short paper and we decided it might be best not to go ahead with that. I graduated in May. I studied for the MCAT that summer and ended up taking in September (~518). I started a scribing job in December and have been working there since.. The rest of my application is good- ~3.9 gpa from a good state school. I hit all the bases in ECs otherwise - leadership, volunteering (clinical and nonclinical), shadowing etc. But there's still the lack of any real productivity throughout the year. I have no valid excuse for not being more productive. I should have applied to scribing positions earlier. I had tried to get an NIH IRTA position but I wasn't able to find an interested PI.

Any tips on how to broach the subject and do I have a chance still this cycle? Should I write about my mistake in secondaries and how I have matured since? Or should I just answer that in interviews?

 

[asdjfklzxcv]

I continued to volunteer but yeah... unfortunately.

 

[LizzyM]

We know that it can take time to find a job and you did some volunteering so there is that. You can't change the past but you should continue to hustle from now until you have an admission offer. You should always be preparing for the possibility of having to reapply.

 

[Goro]

Last year, in Spring, I took 0 classes for my last semester and started to work full time in my PI's lab to work on an honor's thesis. I had a lot of replication problems and insignificant results so I was only able to write a short paper and we decided it might be best not to go ahead with that. I graduated in May. I studied for the MCAT that summer and ended up taking in September (~518). I started a scribing job in December and have been working there since.. The rest of my application is good- ~3.9 gpa from a good state school. I hit all the bases in ECs otherwise - leadership, volunteering (clinical and nonclinical), shadowing etc. But there's still the lack of any real productivity throughout the year. I have no valid excuse for not being more productive. I should have applied to scribing positions earlier. I had tried to get an NIH IRTA position but I wasn't able to find an interested PI.

Any tips on how to broach the subject and do I have a chance still this cycle? Should I write about my mistake in secondaries and how I have matured since? Or should I just answer that in interviews?

Never bring attention to a negative. But you need to chill. Very few UG student shave anything to show for their time in the lab. Hell, it's hard enough for me! I've had a two year drought that should hopefully end next year. Science isn't pretty.