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I plan on applying this upcoming cycle and wanted a recommendation on how my time could be best spent. Here is a highlight of what my current application looks like:
GA Resident
GPA: 3.65
sGPA: 3.45
MCAT: 503
400 hours of Undergraduate Research
200 hours non-clinical volunteering
50 hours shadowing (General Surgery)
300 Hours paid tutoring
and will have about 1 year of full time paid work as a PCA in a hospital
I am currently accepted and plan on attending the MSPCS 1 Year Program at Mercer University this Fall.
I had originally planned on retaking the MCAT but I have found it hard to find the time to fully study with my full-time job. I was not planning on applying to many MD schools, primarily just Mercer and then DO schools. I know that Mercer tends to value people that fit their mission, which is why I was drawn there in the first place, and my shadowing hours are low and I have no clinical volunteer hours. Should I still try to lock down and retake the MCAT in mid-June or would I be better off tailoring my application in the other mentioned areas as my MCAT would be okay for most DO programs in my area and on the slightly lower end for Mercer. Also, if I were to only apply to Mercer would it make sense to do the early decision program?
Your shadowing hours are not low, but unfortunately they do not include a primary care doc, which if included would make a better case that you "fit the mission" of Mercer.
Considering your paid clinical employment, I don't feel you need clinical volunteering, though you are free to engage in some if you want a experience of a different patient base, eg hospice, inpatient dementia unit, pediatrics, etc.
As to the Mercer Early Decision issue, why not call the admissions office and ask if your stats would qualify you for consideration. And if you were rejected, which you wouldn't typically know before October, how disadvantaged would you be by belatedly entering the regular pool of applicants so late.
I'm not clear on why you plan to attend Mercer's MSPCS program during the same season that you plan to apply to med schools, considering it's a full academic year of studies, that admissions and waitlist decisions will have already taken place by the time your final transcript is ready to be sent out to med schools, and that your stats are fine as they are for DO med schools.