I'm planning on graduating this school year, then taking the MCAT and applying during my gap year. I was wondering what extracurriculars/jobs to pursue over the 1.5 years I have before applying?
Stats: CA ORM, 4th year, 3.65 GPA with upward trend (can end with 3.7)
My ECs so far:
- Clinical Volunteering[350 hrs in 1.5 yrs, ended]
- lots of patient interaction at a hospital
- Nonclinical Volunteering[ongoing, projected ~100 hrs in 1.5 yrs]
- started at a food bank for 2-3 hours/week
- Research[50 hrs in 3 months, plus 2 hours/week?]
- about physiology. I was only able to do a little, then COVID happened, now it's only remote data analysis and reading papers
- Leadership [250 hrs in 1 yr, ended]
- managing hospital volunteers and training new ones
- Teaching [projected 150 hrs over 2 yrs]
- with underserved high schoolers in various subjects
- Teaching [projected 300 hrs over 1 yr]
- university job for tutoring college students in science courses
- Shadowing [10 hours]
- cancelled due to COVID, will try to find more later
- Work [500+ hrs in 1 yr, ended]
My clinical volunteering and leadership experience are strong, but I just finished doing them. My weaknesses are definitely in nonclinical volunteering and research. I don't really know how teaching is valued, but I love doing it. Here are some options I'm thinking of doing during my gap year:
- Scribe job + nonclinical volunteering
- I'd get more clinical/shadowing experience, but I'd still have really low research hours)
- Lab assistant job + clinical/nonclinical volunteering
- lab job would probably be more grunt work instead of contributing to research, so idk if it would be valuable
- Americorps position + clinical volunteering
- I'd love to do Americorps but I think it'd be hard to study for the MCAT if I had to live somewhere else
What would you all recommend I do? Any other options or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
