Delayed Applicant - What should I focus on?

[MrTyberian]

I graduated in 2013 from NYU with good grades (3.83 GPA, 3.95 sGPA). Family and finance stuff got in the way, so I ended up not applying and ended worked in higher ed grants management. Med school was still the goal, so I ended up picking up 200 hours in clinical volunteering and a MPA in healthcare policy and management with 3.93 GPA. I assisted with some healthcare system research, not listed as an author but mentioned as an acknowledgement (which is fine considering how much work i did).

The life stuff is now sorted out, so I'm ready to focus on applying again. I'm starting a hospital job in quality management this summer and planning to apply to schools next spring for Fall 2022 admissions. I understand that the old prereqs will be an issue, but I don't intend to retake them. What should I be focusing on besides the MCAT? Research? Are there any major gaps that I'm missing?

Thanks in advance.

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[deleted936470]

non-clinical volunteering would help your application.

good work on the high GPA.

 

[Cornfed101]

Have you done any clinical work/volunteering since 2013? If not, you definitely need some recent clinical experience on top of non-clinical volunteering as @camoixu mentioned. Also, it is a good idea to have shadowing if you don't have any.

Research is good if you are wanting to attend a school that values research. This should be a lower priority than consistent volunteering and clinical experience though. Obviously do well on the MCAT.

 

[Nugester]

I graduated in 2013 from NYU with good grades (3.83 GPA, 3.95 sGPA). Family and finance stuff got in the way, so I ended up not applying and ended worked in higher ed grants management. Med school was still the goal, so I ended up picking up 200 hours in clinical volunteering and a MPA in healthcare policy and management with 3.93 GPA. I assisted with some healthcare system research, not listed as an author but mentioned as an acknowledgement (which is fine considering how much work i did).

The life stuff is now sorted out, so I'm ready to focus on applying again. I'm starting a hospital job in quality management this summer and planning to apply to schools next spring for Fall 2022 admissions. I understand that the old prereqs will be an issue, but I don't intend to retake them. What should I be focusing on besides the MCAT? Research? Are there any major gaps that I'm missing?

Thanks in advance.

Your pre-reqs are fine. I graduated in 2007 and applied this cycle and didn't run into any issues. There may be a handful of schools where the age of your pre-reqs do matter, so do some research before you apply. Add some non-clinical volunteering too.

 

[esob]

I pretty much agree with everything posted thus far. The age of your prereqs won't be an issue for most schools. Research is really only a major booster for schools that are research-heavy. The decisive factor in your journey (as with most people) will be the MCAT. If I had a dime for every person who earned a subpar MCAT/GPA while garnering 10,000 hrs at the soup kitchen and earning co-author on 5 research projects........

Ideally, you should try to find a clinical experience that has a lot of flexibility and start early. For example, volunteering at an underserved clinic that will let you volunteer anywhere from 2 hrs per week to 20 hrs per week is great. I did this with a lot of my EC's, which allowed me to put in a bunch of hours during windows when I had the time but also allowed me to focus on academic tasks when I didn't. Your application will only ask you avg hrs per week/month, not for a breakdown of each individual period. Thus, someone who volunteers for 12 months for 10 hrs per month for a year (120 hrs total) looks exactly the same on paper as someone who volunteers for 5 hours per month for 11 months but then puts in 65 hrs in the final month thanks to vacation time from work (still 120 total, which will avg out to 10 hrs per month).