Class vs Clinical experience, what should I do?

[CharlieBillings]

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Hello Sdn,

Can you help me analyze my situation? and what this clinical opportunity is worth?

I have an opportunity to volunteer once a week for 2 hours assisting patients (not working with doctors) at a small clinic run for the underprivileged. I would have to skip 50% of my lecture time for one of my classes, and I am wondering what the value of this 2 hours / week volunteering will really get me.

I am a third year student, and currently have no clinical experience. I will start volunteering in a hospital (with patient interaction) at 4hours/week soon. I plan to apply this summer, and the rest of my app looks like this: GPA ~3.9, MCAT 35, with good non-clinical volunteering, some shadowing, and no research. I am a CA resident and have absolutely no interest in "top tier" schools.

I feel this extra 2 hour / week volunteering is needed because I currently have no clinical experience, but it will end up complicating my schedule a lot. I'm wondering what I will actually get out of it. Will I learn what it is like to work in a clinical setting? or will I just be smiling at patients and counting the hours?

Edit: The class is question is just a general biology class. Nothing dense/complex.

 

[Dr Van Helsing]

No amount of EC's are worth compromising your grade point average; period. Since you are applying this summer it is going to be obvious you were trying to squeeze in the volunteer experience aspect of your application, which will probably be somewhat of a flag on your application. The application process is a crap shoot.. I think regardless of where you intend to apply, your lack of experience will hinder your chances by a large margin (though it may not, and there are certainly exceptions). With your MCAT, I would really consider taking a gap year and killing the extra-curricular game. You could work as a scribe and devote time to research, a volunteer project, I mean sky is the limit! I frequent SDN and it is somewhat of a rarity to see someone with a 35 MCAT and 3.9 GPA. Whether or not you care about getting into a great school, consider the fact that you're kind of sitting on a gold mind, assuming the other aspects (personal statements, LOR's, etc.) of your application do not have red flags (institutional action, poor LOR's).

In summary, if you can time manage well, the clinical opportunity should be viable. Once again, I do not think the clinical opportunity will save your application. Your numbers are strong, and numbers get you in the door. Consider taking that gap year to strengthen your application.

Good luck, OP.

 

[clocks123]

If you absolutely have no clinical experience and plan on applying this cycle, I would take the volunteering at the clinic (given that you are actually interacting with the patients and not just doing paperwork). But I also agree with above that it will look rushed and you wont have much of a long term commitment.

 

[CharlieBillings]

I'm not opposed to taking a gap year.

Should I apply anyway? See what happens?

 

[Narmerguy]

If you took your MCAT last year you should be fine taking a gap year. You'd be applying in 2016 to matriculate in 2017, which is still within 3 years of when you took your MCAT.

 

[starlite911]

I'd also suggest taking a gap year. I took the old MCAT (May 2014-36) and am taking a gap year to matriculate into medical school Fall 2016. To my knowledge, the old MCAT score will be accepted at every school, with 1-2 exceptions (one school in Louisiana and another I can't quite remember since I didn't have interest in it).

Lack of clinical experience, or trying to "check that box" at the last minute, isn't going to let you achieve the type of acceptances you deserve with your stats, possibly even at mid tier schools (although with clinical extra curricular + your stats, you could shoot for top if you wanted 🙂).

 

[CharlieBillings]

"type of acceptances you deserve with your stats"

I appreciate the reply, but the truth is I don't believe there are US-MD schools that would let me down.
If my application is too poor to receive any acceptances that's another story. And I suppose what I am trying to decide now is: apply and plan or a gap year, or don't apply and plan for a gap year.

--I'm going to take the 2hr/week additional volunteering. I'll still get an A in the class, I've attended less and done better before.

 

[Dr Van Helsing]

I'm not opposed to taking a gap year.

Should I apply anyway? See what happens?

My greatest fear of taking a gap year is that my MCAT will become invalidated and I will have to take the new 2015 one. I should do well on the 2015 version since I am a biochemistry major, but still I would rather sit on my 35. (I took the MCAT September 2014)

If you are potentially okay with being a DO or spending the money you can; I'm not sure whether LOR's can be recycled. However, you will be able to make it in time for the gap year so I would go for that. It would be a waste of a good application if you applied now. . By taking this extra year, you are displaying how badly you want this. You are explaining that you were calculated, and you didn't rush.

 

[Styrene]

How do you know medicine is the best career choice for you without any clinical experience?

 

[Dr Van Helsing]

"type of acceptances you deserve with your stats"

I appreciate the reply, but the truth is I don't believe there are US-MD schools that would let me down. I don't want to go into research, and I think what comes of medical school will be more about what I put into it than anything. Maybe I'm wrong, but I would matriculate to any US-MD school with a mission statement I agree with and education environment I could thrive in.

If my application is too poor to receive any acceptances that's another story. And I suppose what I am trying to decide now is: apply and plan or a gap year, or don't apply and plan for a gap year.

--I'm going to take the 2hr/week additional volunteering. I'll still get an A in the class, I've attended less and done better before.

You are really rolling the dice applying solely MD this cycle. You've been warned!

 

[CharlieBillings]

I knew that adcoms look for the reason an applicant was previously rejected, but I was unaware that they may blacklist people for applying without full/strong applications. Thanks, I'll think about this.

 

[Dr Van Helsing]

How do you know medicine is the best career choice for you without any clinical experience?

THAT is a very good question. Yes, OP, what does make you so sure about your career in medicine? We at the school of, blank, would like you to elaborate.

 

[Aloft085]

You've got a 3.9 and a 35. You've got absolutely nothing to worry about. You'll get accepted to probably a third of the mid-tier MD programs that you apply to. Both of my stats were worse, and I'm going to a pretty good school in a few months. You can take a gap year if you want the time to relax, but don't feel like you need to. That year will ultimately cost you $150k+ in lost wages.

If you're going to miss 50% of that biology class, talk to your professor first. If he's cool with it, then do it. Make sure you spend extra time outside of class reviewing that missed material.

 

[CharlieBillings]

How do you know medicine is the best career choice for you without any clinical experience?

The most rewarding thing I have ever done is my volunteer work because I was there when I bettered their life. There are many careers where I would experience that moment, but medicine has the grandest motivator that gives me a reason to put the people I help above myself. It's the health of the patient, and my potential to change it, that attracts me to medicine. I've shadowed physicians and seen them feel this, and when I volunteer I can as well. I believe clinical experience will only strengthen this, but you're right in that I don't ultimately know. By the time I would apply this year I would have that additional experience to draw from, which was this original plan.

Scribing would be the best opportunity I could ask for, but I have looked. Nobody wants a college kid who has to commute ~1-2 hours to work, and I have not even found a way to apply to the ones in my area (no scribe companies, only hospitals).

 

[CharlieBillings]

You've got a 3.9 and a 35. You've got absolutely nothing to worry about. You'll get accepted to probably half the mid-tier MD programs that you apply to. Both of my stats were worse, and I'm going to a pretty good school in a few months. You can take a gap year if you want the time to relax, but don't feel like you need to. That year will ultimately cost you $150k-$500k in lost wages.

If you're going to miss 50% of that biology class, talk to your professor first. If he's cool with it, then do it. Make sure you spend extra time outside of class reviewing that missed material.

I'll get an A in that class regardless, I've done more with less. The problem is that it will complicate my schedule, and i may end up volunteering night shifts at my other clinical opportunity. Additionally, I think Dr Van Helsing makes some excellent points as to why I and my application are not ready to be submitted to the adcoms. Thank you for your reply, but my lack of clinical experience and research is quite a red flag.

 

[Styrene]

The most rewarding thing I have ever done is my volunteer work because I was there when I bettered their life. There are many careers where I would experience that moment, but medicine has the grandest motivator that gives me a reason to put the people I help above myself. It's the health of the patient, and my potential to change it, that attracts me to medicine. I've shadowed physicians and seen them feel this, and when I volunteer I can as well. I believe clinical experience will only strengthen this, but you're right in that I don't ultimately know. By the time I would apply this year I would have that additional experience to draw from, which was this original plan.

Scribing would be the best opportunity I could ask for, but I have looked. Nobody wants a college kid who has to commute ~1-2 hours to work, and I have not even found a way to apply to the ones in my area (no scribe companies, only hospitals).

I chose to pursue medical college from the first day of undergrad. I took a year off to work after high school and then had a serious accident that sidelined me for another year, and all of a sudden I realized that the only thing I wanted was a career as a physician. The last time I had excelled academically was in 8th grade.

Naturally, I had doubts in the beginning about my academic ability, and then I got As. Then I had doubts about leadership and self-worth, and then I joined clubs, did extensive volunteer work, and became an orientation leader. Then I had doubts about the career itself, and then I started a long road of clinical experience, fell in love with the hospital and sick people, and became certain that my heart forced my head in the right direction when I first made the choice.

When I apply this June, I'll at least be certain I love being in hospitals/healthcare settings. Do whatever you can to prove--or disprove--the same as it relates to you.

 

[Styrene]

I'll get an A in that class regardless, I've done more with less. The problem is that it will complicate my schedule, and i may end up volunteering night shifts at my other clinical opportunity. Additionally, I think Dr Van Helsing makes some excellent points as to why I and my application are not ready to be submitted to the adcoms. Thank you for your reply, but my lack of clinical experience and research is quite a red flag.

Also, I think something good to look into would be getting as much clinical experience as you can right now--for example, the hospital volunteering you mentioned--and to use that as a segue into an entry-level clinical research position. Depending on your location, there may be one or more clinical research programs in your area that actively enlist the help of qualified premed hopefuls in exchange for knowledge of academic medicine and the healthcare professions.

 

[CharlieBillings]

Also, I think something good to look into would be getting as much clinical experience as you can right now--for example, the hospital volunteering you mentioned--and to use that as a segue into an entry-level clinical research position. Depending on your location, there may be one or more clinical research programs in your area that actively enlist the help of qualified premed hopefuls in exchange for knowledge of academic medicine and the healthcare professions.

I'll give it a shot, and I'm applying for summer research positions now.

 

[Aloft085]

I'll get an A in that class regardless, I've done more with less. The problem is that it will complicate my schedule, and i may end up volunteering night shifts at my other clinical opportunity. Additionally, I think Dr Van Helsing makes some excellent points as to why I and my application are not ready to be submitted to the adcoms. Thank you for your reply, but my lack of clinical experience and research is quite a red flag.

Are you applying to Harvard, dude? I mean really. Check out your odds here: https://www.aamc.org/download/321518/data/factstable25-4.pdf .

 

[Goro]

Do both, you are expected to walk and chew gum at the same time; good time mgt skills are crucial for success in medical school.

Hello Sdn,

Can you help me analyze my situation? and what this clinical opportunity is worth?

I have an opportunity to volunteer once a week for 2 hours assisting patients (not working with doctors) at a small clinic run for the underprivileged. I would have to skip 50% of my lecture time for one of my classes, and I am wondering what the value of this 2 hours / week volunteering will really get me.

I am a third year student, and currently have no clinical experience. I will start volunteering in a hospital (with patient interaction) at 4hours/week soon. I plan to apply this summer, and the rest of my app looks like this: GPA ~3.9, MCAT 35, with good non-clinical volunteering, some shadowing, and no research. I am a CA resident and have absolutely no interest in "top tier" schools.

I feel this extra 2 hour / week volunteering is needed because I currently have no clinical experience, but it will end up complicating my schedule a lot. I'm wondering what I will actually get out of it. Will I learn what it is like to work in a clinical setting? or will I just be smiling at patients and counting the hours?

Edit: The class is question is just a general biology class. Nothing dense/complex.