I am beginning to think that I have waited too long to gain experience and exposure to the medical field. Especially since the COVID-19 crisis has basically caused everything to shut down, I can't find anything to do this summer that would make me a more competitive applicant for medical school. I have gained some experience, but it is not enough. So far, I have shadowed a plastic surgeon for around 50 hours and have gained health leadership experience on my college campus. However, I applied to become a hospice volunteer and got accepted but I haven't been able to actually volunteer due to the Coronavirus. I got into a research program abroad this summer and that has now been canceled. I am a rising junior and it seems almost impossible for me to get more shadowing hours and volunteer experience between now and the 2021 application cycle considering the impact of COVID-19. I have a 3.97 cumulative GPA and a current 3.73 BCPM, but I know grades alone are not sufficient for acceptance into med school. I don't know what to do. Does anyone have any thoughts on how med schools will view this? Should I consider a gap year?
COVID-19 and Pre-med Experience
- Thread starter j_lo
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Any volunteering/work from the summer after senior year of high school until the time everything began getting shut down?
I've also heard that most likely for the following few cycles there may be a question about the effect of COVID on you as AACOMAS is including such a question with the upcoming cycle
I've also heard that most likely for the following few cycles there may be a question about the effect of COVID on you as AACOMAS is including such a question with the upcoming cycle
I did not do any volunteering the summer before starting college. I did volunteer through my high school doing blood drives and food drives my senior year.
If it's not continued, then I don't believe it should be included.
Right now, the most important thing is to focus on doing well on your courses and supporting your family/community through this. Everyone is affected whether its applicants, their families, physicians, and everyone in between and people will be understanding about that. Just make sure to get back on track when everything gets back to normal and I would advise against seeking out opportunities during this to be a martyr to get hours.
From my father, uncle, and brother who are physicians fighting this right now, they have stressed the need for PPE so if you can organize mask and glove drives that would be good. Another option would be to use that food drive skill to galvanize donations to local food pantries with all the job losses and people suffering in the severe economic downturn.
@Goro @LizzyM are much more experienced than me with all this so they can provide better insight or correct anything wrong I said. But stay safe
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What happened in high school stays in high school
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There is no rule that you must exclude things that you did in HS. Generally, it is considered a good idea to have had enough things in the past 3 years (if you are a typical rising senior in college) that you don't have room on the application for that "old news". However, there is nothing to say that you can't include those experiences but there is nothing to say that they won't be discounted as "too long ago" and/or "when you were a kid rather than an adult".
Do the best to fill 15 or fewer slots with the best and most recent experiences you have.
Do the best to fill 15 or fewer slots with the best and most recent experiences you have.
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It's simple, take a gap year after college so that you have enough time to pursue experiences that will make you an intriguing applicant. It doesn't sound like you have much experience that shows that you have worked with patients nor witnessed what it's like to be a doctor. Adcoms here on son can add their opinion on this, but I can imagine that 50 hours of shadowing a plastic surgeon will not be viewed very highly by adcoms, even though it's met that 50 hour "requirement".
If you kill the MCAT, you could get some interviews possibly with those good stats, but just know you'll be competing with people with the same stats AND hundreds of hours in volunteering, clinical work, research, etc. Don't rush things and put yourself at a disadvantage.
If you kill the MCAT, you could get some interviews possibly with those good stats, but just know you'll be competing with people with the same stats AND hundreds of hours in volunteering, clinical work, research, etc. Don't rush things and put yourself at a disadvantage.
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Why does it seem impossible to get more hours between now and the 2021 application year? As a rising junior, you'll have the fall semester, winter break, the spring semester, and the summer to get in experiences before your application.
I think they mean the 2020-2021 cycle.
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deleted966164
Don’t get me wrong but now’s the time like no other to get exposure...
keolu hills
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We don't know how long we will be restricted by covid 19.
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You have a great GPA! Do you have an MCAT score yet? This crisis might actually have a silver lining for you insofar as it might end up saving you some money as well as saving you from being a reapplicant.
If you were planning on applying this June with no volunteering experience other than what you planned on obtaining this summer (and maybe planned on continuing next year), it very likely would not have been enough. Now you have another year to get your ducks in a row. Schools like to see a sustained commitment rather than a few months of box checking while you are in the application process. If you are talking about applying in June 2021, losing this summer will not be fatal to you (or anyone else!).
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deleted393595
Have you taken the MCAT yet? This time off could be a good opportunity to study and knock it out of the park. Your grades certainly suggest that you'd do well
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Hey, my situation is basically the same. I have a 3.9 GPA and was planning to take the MCAT in May which just got canceled. I had 150 hr of research and 50 hr hospital volunteering for Apr through June plus I was gonna find someone to shadow because I don't have any shadowing experience. I have like 1000 hrs of nonclinical volunteering 100 clinical, 100 clinical research and 30 lab research. Any advice?
Thank you! I am referring to applying in June 2021 so this is good to know
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Yeah, at this point we're all in the same boat, and the schools, being in the center of it (especially those attached to hospitals) are very well aware of the situation, so not having EC hours between mid-March 2020 and whenever things get back to "normal" is not going to adversely impact future applicants because it's going to impact all of us equally.
