Advice on plan/activities

[GCS-15]

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Hi everyone,

I'm a senior at a California UC school, was planning to apply to MD schools this year, but didn't do great on my mcat (505) so I'm going to retake. I have a 3.75c/3.70s gpa and
decent ECs:
-Clinical: 1. extensive volunteering/involvement at a clinic (3 yrs) and 2. assisted in clinical research at an ER (1.5years)
-Shadowing: 3. variety of surgeons (4 months ~ 100 hours)
-Research: 4. bench research for 1.5 years. Was more of an assistant: learned techniques, ran gels, read papers and helped experiments. 5. intern at another research center: ran tests, gathered/organized info (3 years)
-Non clinical/Other: 6. taught low-income/underserved elementary school children about cooking and nutrition (8 months) and 7. school club: outreached to students about health care resources (1.5yrs)
8. another club: educated people about eating right/wellness. (1 year)
+ sports and random hobbies

Can someone read my plan and tell me if there's anything else I need to do/ other activities I should get involved with?
retake mcat september (aiming for at least a 510 --> will this be a good enough increase? how bad is it that I need to retake the mcat 🙁
and then, try to find a job (maybe scribe) and volunteer some more
backup: if sept doesn't go well, take test jan 2017
apply June 2017
anything else I need to do? any advice on mcat retaking and prep?

Thanks

 

[Catalystik]

Hi everyone,

I'm a senior at a California UC school, was planning to apply to MD schools this year, but didn't do great on my mcat (505) so I'm going to retake. I have a 3.75c/3.70s gpa and
decent ECs:
-Clinical: 1. extensive volunteering/involvement at a clinic (3 yrs) and 2. assisted in clinical research at an ER (1.5years)
-Shadowing: 3. variety of surgeons (4 months ~ 100 hours)
-Research: 4. bench research for 1.5 years. Was more of an assistant: learned techniques, ran gels, read papers and helped experiments. 5. intern at another research center: ran tests, gathered/organized info (3 years)
-Non clinical/Other: 6. taught low-income/underserved elementary school children about cooking and nutrition (8 months) and 7. school club: outreached to students about health care resources (1.5yrs)
8. another club: educated people about eating right/wellness. (1 year)
+ sports and random hobbies

Can someone read my plan and tell me if there's anything else I need to do/ other activities I should get involved with?
retake mcat september (aiming for at least a 510 --> will this be a good enough increase? how bad is it that I need to retake the mcat 🙁
and then, try to find a job (maybe scribe) and volunteer some more
backup: if sept doesn't go well, take test jan 2017
apply June 2017
anything else I need to do? any advice on mcat retaking and prep?

Thanks

-Take on a peer leadership role.
-Add some office-based, primary care physician shadowing, to get a view of longitudinal care.

 

[GCS-15]

-Take on a peer leadership role.
-Add some office-based, primary care physician shadowing, to get a view of longitudinal care.

I was able to get some shadowing done at my primary care clinic I volunteer at- do you think that would be good enough? I'll look into the peer leadership roles.

 

[Catalystik]

I was able to get some shadowing done at my primary care clinic I volunteer at- do you think that would be good enough?

How many hours?

 

[GCS-15]

How many hours?

Not really sure of the exact number, but around 5ish.
Also, some of the surgeons I shadowed had clinic days and most of the patients there were for follow up/more primary care stuff too so I think that could count. (I shadowed 8 hours in total of surgery clinic days)

 

[Catalystik]

Opinions may vary, but I suggest you aim for another 10 hours of dedicated primary care shadowing, at least.

 

[GCS-15]

anyone want to chime in for mcat advice or comfort me and let me know what re-taking it isn't the end of the world? :/

 

[Dr Tony T. Chopper]

Just focus on retaking right now. The last thing you want is a downward trend.

 

[PatchAdams25]

anyone want to chime in for mcat advice or comfort me and let me know what re-taking it isn't the end of the world? :/

retaking is not end of world. Work hard, improve your score. You will benefit from more experience in this gap year + more time to dedicate to MCAT