A Few Nontrad Questions

[phys2med]

I'm hoping I can get a few opinions on some questions I have for this summer and applying. I typed a nice bit of info just to give a bigger picture. A little background may be necessary: 26y/o with bachelors in physics, 3.7 gpa/4.0 science gpa, MCAT on May 23. Applying this cycle. TX Resident.

My first question is in regards to volunteer work. My three main volunteering activities are fostering dogs, free tutoring in chemistry and physics and a charity group that I created. I have fostered dogs for four years and had close to 18 different dogs during this time that have all found homes. Most of them I picked up off the street and cleaned them and taught them basic obedience commands. I tutored during my undergrad years for free and have close to 500 hours (rough estimate) but haven't tutored since I graduated. Lastly, I created a group that makes and donates hats to cancer patients and underprivileged children (and blankets for children too). I've done this for close to year now. As you can see I don't have any direct patient contact volunteering and I am contemplating doing some starting in June. My question is would if benefit me greatly to volunteer a bunch of hours in June (say close to 100) to be able to put down some kind of medical volunteer hours for my application this cycle? I want to be able to show that I have some exposure to patients but I don't want to make it seem like I am just "checking the box" when it comes to volunteering. I spent a summer as a student rad-tech during my second semester of college (before I switched to physics) and got a lot of hours with patient contact and I have 90 hours of shadowing so I do have exposure to healthcare just not in the form of volunteering.

2. My second question is in regards to which schools to apply to in relation to the cost. I can only afford $1,500 to apply total and my thinking for this cycle is to apply only to Texas schools and see how it plays out. Would it be reasonable to apply to only Texas schools and skip messing with AMCAS all together? Based on my stats it seems like I might at least get looked at from a few tx schools but I don't know how strong of a candidate I am or how much more likely my chances of acceptances are if I apply more broadly.

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[DrMidlife]

Answer to #2: sure. The cost savings of staying in Texas could easily be six figures, which is probably worth multiple app cycles if necessary.

Answer to #1: you should be doing volunteering with patient contact for a variety of reasons, and yes, you have low exposure to the practice of medicine in the US, but no, I don't think you should whip out a 100 hour EC in June before you apply.

What I do think you should do:

1. Submit TMDSAS as early as you can. You have to decide if you're going to submit without your MCAT score, assuming it's going to be good enough (or not).

2. Start a good clinical exposure volunteering gig and keep doing it all year.

3. Reverse the order of your EC descriptions, in terms of priority, and maximize the human clinical aspects that you do have. Your dog fostering is only marginally interesting after your human volunteering. Play up the patient contact experiences. Nobody is going to be confused about your enthusiasm for dog fostering, so stop working on how to describe it and work on your human ECs.

Best of luck to you.

 

[phys2med]

Thank you for a quick and detailed response Dr Midlife. I thought I had to wait until my MCAT score was reported to TMDAS before I could formally submit but if this isn't true I will certainly try to submit in late May, early June. Something I haven't mentioned is that one of the primary reasons I've chosen medicine is that a close family member was diagnosed with cancer and I moved in with him and take care of him during the day until his wife gets home from work and she takes care of him while I take classes as night. Again not volunteering but I'm hoping this might help explain my choice of why medicine.

 

[reviliver]

Objectively, I think you need to play up your shadowing and patient care experience. You said that you do have over 90 hours of shadowing, and the summer as a student rad-tech, so focus more on how those experiences shaped your desire to go into medicine and less on the personal experiences. Don't leave out the stuff that makes you in interesting and compassionate person, but you aren't going to be a tutor, volunteer coordinator, or animal nonprofit manager so you need to relate each of those experiences back to the profession of medicine.

Dr. Midlife's suggestion of starting a solid clinical volunteering gig and stating on your applications that you plan to continue all year is perfect. You want adcoms to know that you love being in a medical setting and interacting with patients, and that you fully understand the job. Good luck!

 

[phys2med]

Thank you for the opinion reviliver. I had not considered playing up my shadowing/volunteering as much as my personal experiences. A few doctors have told me to focus a lot on the personal experiences because a doctor with an academic and personal motivation is more desirable. I might try to start with my initial motivation being a personal one but my experiences shadowing and volunteering have solidified/strengthened that desire.