What you are doing depends a lot on where in the country you are and what training you have.
I know others on here tend to disagree, but I usually recommend to my students that they set themselves up to be able to work at the entry level in healthcare settings. Depending on where they are in the country, this changes some- but CNA, EMT or other entry level training (including scribing) can enable you to get a job- and jobs can be less impacted than volunteer positions, especially if they're jobs filling a need or demand. Anecdotally, my students who are working in such positions are seeing increased hours and opportunities now, while those who were volunteering are seeing that practices are too busy/overwhelmed to have room.
From what I'm hearing, there might be some "give" for applicants this cycle if (and I stress the if) they had a history of consistent involvement and simply don't have as many hours this spring/summer as they otherwise would. For students who were putting off getting experience until their senior year, there's not likely to be much flex in expectations. As a colleague has pointed out, those students should be prepared to have a very good answer for the question "Why did you wait to get experience?"
My personal take is that future cycles will be more competitive. I'm seeing a lot of my students who would already have had a moderately competitive application decide to take an extra gap year, and they will be entering the pool next year a lot stronger. I'd guess this is going to be a trend elsewhere, as well.
Depending on what happens with the economy, there may be people moving from other paths into medical school as non-traditional applicants from other healthcare fields. This could also happen due to personal experiences- entry-level or mid-level practitioners who have realized that they want to be in a more independent position, for example, or people in non-clinical research positions who have realized they want to be more involved on the front lines in patient care.
