Advice for two gap years and opinions on my chances so far

[WitcherWolf7]

Hi all. I just graduated college, and due to needing to get my emotional health in order, I will not be taking the MCAT until next year. As a result medschool would be two years off. I was wondering if anyone had advice as to how I should best spend my time.
My current stats are as follows

• 3.91 GPA Biochem major (3.88 science GPA) with two awards in the department as an outstanding student in Organic and Analytical chem respectively.
• About 100 hours working with my universities homeless outreach program, of which I was a member for about 2 years
• About 250 hours working as an EMT on campus
• About 50-60 hours shadowing a variety of urgent care, ER, and Ortho physicians
• Additional extracurriculars on campus include Rowing team and Writing for the school paper for about 1 semester each

While I think academically im in good shape, I think the EC and service portion is very weak. I don't have real research or teaching experience. I would occasionally teach Ju Jitsu at my family's dojo, but i'm not sure that is relevant to what medschools would be looking for.

What are your guy's opinions on how i'm doing so far and what would be some advice for the next few years?

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[WitcherWolf7]

Also my university is not Ivy-league but usually makes the top ten for colleges in the midwest. It's science program is known to be rigorous.

 

[MyOdyssey]

Get a research position and do more non-clinical volunteering to the underserved.

 

[Saturday’s Child]

For research: good to have but not entirely necessary. Depends on schools you are considering. Top ~30 schools in research rankings value it more heavily, considering research is a major benefit they offer. If you see yourself at one of those types of schools, consider doing research. This could also be a low yield venture, unless you go balls to the wall with it, since you have what sounds like a year until you apply. It’d be hard to get much out of just a year’s worth of something, but you can certainly try. The fact that you’re not in undergrad anymore may make it difficult to find a lab, unless you tried to do some kind of NIH fellowship.

For service: aim to get at least 150 hrs total of nonclinical, as this is considered benchmark. The more you get, 250-300+, the stronger that portion of your app becomes. You need at least 1 or 2 strong extracurriculars. Make sure all the service is to disadvantaged groups—you can search sdn for posts from adcoms describing different types of service that fit that category. Your clinical is good, but keep bumping it up. Strengths, remember?

Other EC’s: med schools do care about that stuff. You learn valuable lessons and develop important traits from them. Also shows schools that you are an actual person with unique interests. Pursue those heavily as well.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Get a research position and do more non-clinical volunteering to the underserved.

This. And another 100-200 hours of clinical volunteering inside something with walls; a hospital would be good and a hospice even better. Your MCAT will then make or break you.