MD Bit Late to the Volunteering Game/Where Should I Apply?

[PB&Jam]

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I'm going to be applying to medical schools for the 2017 cycle, and am beginning to think about where I should apply and what my realistic chances are. My stats are:

GPA: 3.98 (cumulative) 4.0 (science)

MCAT: Have not taken yet, but I got a 504 on a practice exam without any studying, and am signed up for an intensive MCAT class through my school. I also tend to do well on standardized tests.
Shadowing: I have shadowed a neurologist specializing in stroke (8 hrs), a neuro-ophthalmologist (ongoing, 40-ish hours so far), and have plans to shadow a GI specialist and observe him performing endoscopies.

Clinical Experience: Since HS I have worked as an assistant/technician for an optometrist. This has involved taking patient histories, performing basic vision evaluation tests, and performing visual field tests/retinal imaging if necessary.

Research: I have worked in a stroke lab (1 summer, ~8 weeks) on a project involving the effect of ischemic stroke on breathing (no authorship or presentations, just experience); a neuroscience lab focused on the brainstem control of breathing (1 year, no authorship); and am currently in a lab which specializes in glial cells and their role in MS (3 months so far, will have authorship, a thesis, and at least one if not more presentations by the end of my time there).

Volunteering: This is definitely the area I am weakest in. I have volunteered through my university's marching band, by helping high school bands develop their marching programs and by assisting with/performing at a cancer walk near our university. This amounts to about 10 hours. I have plans to begin volunteering at a hospital as a patient companion this semester, and intend to continue my work there throughout the rest of my undergraduate career. I'm just concerned that I won't have enough experience there before I send in my application, and will look light in the volunteering area. Will the intention to continue volunteering there count for anything?

Extracurriculars/Leadership: I have been a member of my university's marching band and pep band for three years, and will likely be section leader next year. I have been a member of our school's Krav Maga club for 2 years and vice president for a semester (so far). I am a founding member and secretary for our Historical European Martial Arts club. I am also a member of the club fencing team (2 years, no leadership).

I am proficient in Spanish, and studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain for 6 weeks this past summer, where I studied neuroscience and took a course on medical Spanish.

I have been accepted into a combined BS/MD program at my university, where matriculation to the medical school is contingent upon grades and MCAT scores. Given this, I was considering only applying to higher tier medical schools, such as Mt. Sinai, Harvard, Yale, etc. I was also considering applying to MD/PhD programs given my involvement with and interest in research, but I'm not sure if applying as MD/PhD would affect my chances for matriculating as MD only. So do I have a shot at the upper tier schools? Should I include some other mid tier ones? Will my relatively light volunteering experience be a factor?

Thanks!

 

[candbgirl]

Nobody can tell you what your chances are without a MCAT score. It would be silly to predict. Your GPAs are very strong. IMO you should look for a shadowing opportunity with a PCP or FM or PEDS etc. . That would give you a view of medicine you aren't getting from all of these specialists. You also might consider getting some experience with sick people. Your a work in the Optometry office is fine but it's rather narrow and the people you deal with aren't sick. How can you know you want to deal with sick people for the next 40 years if you haven't interacted with them? As for your research I don't really know how strong it is for MD/Ph.D. programs but I'm sure someone will chime in and help you out. Congrats on your GPAs.

 

[RedStar7]

I believe that you can put on the application your plans of volunteering during the application cycle? So hypothetically if you were to get a volunteering gig like for this semester and do as many shifts as you can without it affecting your grades and you continue it throughout and keep doing it during the application cycle, it just might be enough. You certainly have the shadowing (get some more primary care stuff if you can) and your grades are fine and assuming (which is a HUGE assumption and should be careful with) you do well on the MCAT, you'll have a decent chance for MD at top schools.....and is your only reason to forgoe the BS/MD is to get into a top med school then the one you currently are technically in for?

My suggestion, overall? get into patient-care volunteering stuff and do well on the MCAT. About the MD/PhD, I would be really careful about your idea of considering it. Usually people that go that route are all-in research wise but also have the clinical aspect as well. Your pubs/presentations should help but you should have a strong reasoning behind why YOU want the MD/PhD and you will be asked that in interviews. Know your priorities and if the MD is the first then go that route.

 

[PB&Jam]

@RedStar7 I do not lose my conditional acceptance to my school's MD program if I apply to other schools. My reason for applying elsewhere is mostly that my experience staying at this school for MD would be very one-dimensional. The school is not located near a large city, would have a lot of the same people from my current pre-med class, and would be much of the same environment I've grown up in and experienced in my undergraduate career. Not that I haven't enjoyed my time at this school, but I (and others who know me) believe that I would benefit from a different school and a different experience.
For MD/PhD, I hadn't really been considering it until the past couple years, when I found I enjoy research. But I agree my research is kind of light for PhD and I'm not dead-set on going that route, and in fact have many doubts about it.

@candbgirl I know it's silly to speculate what my MCAT score will be. I'm taking it in May, but don't I have to specify what schools to send it to at the time of the test? (I could be totally wrong about that). If that is the case I would want to send it to schools where I have a chance.

 

[candbgirl]

Absolutely not. It will be reported to AMCAS and automatically included in your primary. When you fill in your primary you can apply to one school. Once verified by AMCAS they will release your total primary to the schools you have designated on your primary. Then when you get your score you can apply to more based in your MCAT. Not that you would ever be a reapplication but stranger things have happened. And you don't want to be a reapp at your favorite schools( hope I'm not confusing you- I'm sort of confusing myself). I'm sure you'll be just fine but you should always be alert to protecting yourself and your application.

 

[PB&Jam]

Why don't you want to reapply to your favorite schools? Does it look bad? Hopefully I won't have to anyway. Also yeah the premed advisors at my school don't always give the most helpful information, so I don't know a ton about the application process.

 

[candbgirl]

Well you need to spend sometime reading. Being a reapplicant is not a good thing in general. You want to apply one time with your very best application . If you are a reapplicatant and you reapply to schools you have previously applied to you must show significant improvement in your application. There are lots of thread dealing with reapplying. You should spend some time reading those too. And you aren't alone in the lack of good help from your premed advisors. That's a pretty wide spread issue.

 

[RedStar7]

SDN is a great resource! Use it to your full advantage, especially during breaks if you ever have a lot of free time! And check out all the stickied posts in all the categories/sections, I have learned a ton!

 

[PB&Jam]

@candbgirl I highly doubt I'll need to reapply, if I do I'll deal with that if I need to.
@RedStar7 Yeah I just found out about SDN but it seems really great so far! I'll definitely be using it as a resource from here on out!

 

[candbgirl]

I doubt you will too but you really never know. You don't have MCAT score so you can only guess. Another little SDN research project for you- look for threads of people asking why no interviews /acceptances. You might be surprised to see people with stats like yours asking these questions. Applying to med school is a crap shoot.

 

[PB&Jam]

@candbgirl I've heard. One of my friends, who had very good stats the first time around, didn't get in and needed to reapply the next year. He did a master's in the meantime and the school that he is currently going to only accepted him on the condition of him completing his masters.

 

[toogoofy]

If you get a solid score on your MCAT I think you and I will be in a similar position for this cycle, except I am low on clinical volunteering hes. Goro said Id just need 100-150hrs and then I could apply for the schools youre looking at.

Now that Im reading what I wrote idk if itll be that helpful, but hopefully its a little helpful

 

[PB&Jam]

@toogoofy Hopefully I will be able to get 100+ hours with the hospital I'm going to volunteer at. I know myself and with the MCAT class+studying independently I will probably do very well. Best of luck to you!

 

[RedStar7]

I feel like it also really depends on what your residence and current school status is as well. I feel that students with Texas residency have a great chance if they have the prereqs, basically less likely to fall through the cracks (especially those attending good schools outside of the state). Other stats like NY, NC, PA also have several options in-state, both private and public that take a lot of in-state people. Also, isn't CA not an amazing state to be in for premed because of crazy competition and massive OOS application as well?

 

[PB&Jam]

@RedStar7 I'm in CT. There are 3 med schools here, I think only UConn cares about state residency.