MD [deleted]

[GCU_Grey_Area]

[deleted]

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[Faha]

Your complete lack of shadowing and low clinical and non clinical hours are a major factor in your poor application cycles. Before you reapply you should accumulate 50 hours of in person physician shadowing (including primary care) and 100+ hours of non clinical volunteering such as food bank, homeless shelter, etc. (not teaching or tutoring). Also another 100+ hours of clinical volunteering with patient contact. If you accumulate those hours I suggest these schools:
Vermont
Quinnipiac
UMass
Tufts
Albany
New York Medical College
Hofstra
Rochester
Hackensack
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Wake Forest
NOVA MD
USF Morsani
Belmont
Alice Walton
TCU
Rosalind Franklin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Iowa
Illinois
Colorado
Arizona (Phoenix)
California University
Kaiser
The UCs (except Riverside unless you are from that region)
Roseman (when it opens)
Methodist (when it opens)

 

[GCU_Grey_Area]

Thank you for the advice, I appreciate it. I didn't realize that volunteer tutoring would not be taken as valuable non-clinical volunteering. I'll try to find something else like volunteering at a homeless shelter to replace that. I should definitely be able to add at least 100 hours to my clinical volunteering experience through my outpatient services volunteering, which involves a lot of patient contact. I also expect to get at least 50 hours of shadowing experience between the two shadowing locations.

To be clear, I should get all this done by the end of May rather than have it be ongoing after submitting the primary, right?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thank you for the advice, I appreciate it. I didn't realize that volunteer tutoring would not be taken as valuable non-clinical volunteering. I'll try to find something else like volunteering at a homeless shelter to replace that. I should definitely be able to add at least 100 hours to my clinical volunteering experience through my outpatient services volunteering, which involves a lot of patient contact. I also expect to get at least 50 hours of shadowing experience between the two shadowing locations.

To be clear, I should get all this done by the end of May rather than have it be ongoing after submitting the primary, right?

Volunteer tutoring reflects an academic competency, not service orientation. You are an expert teaching others, which is a hallmark of an academic setting. You must have 150 hours before applying or you will be subject to getting screened out at most schools. Given your stats (3.96s/517) and likely school list, you should strive for 250 before applying to stay on par with most applicants you are up against. As a 3x reapplicant, you must include DO schools; many MD schools will look at your application with skepticism if they can deduce you have applied before but did not get in.

 

[GCU_Grey_Area]

Volunteer tutoring reflects an academic competency, not service orientation. You are an expert teaching others, which is a hallmark of an academic setting. You must have 150 hours before applying or you will be subject to getting screened out at most schools. Given your stats (3.96s/517) and likely school list, you should strive for 250 before applying to stay on par with most applicants you are up against. As a 3x reapplicant, you must include DO schools; many MD schools will look at your application with skepticism if they can deduce you have applied before but did not get in.

Thank you for clarifying. That certainly is a sobering assessment but I do appreciate it.

To be clear, do you mean that I should target 250 total hours of non-clinical volunteering? Also, do my 90 hours of non-clinical volunteering as an American Red Cross volunteer qualify for this total? I understand that the tutoring hours do not.

Also, what is the minimum total hours of clinical volunteering that I should target? I have 130 total hours so far (assuming what I mentioned before qualifies) and the current plan is to add 100 more hours volunteering in outpatient services.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

To be clear, do you mean that I should target 250 total hours of non-clinical volunteering? Also, do my 90 hours of non-clinical volunteering as an American Red Cross volunteer qualify for this total? I understand that the tutoring hours do not.

From your description, it's campus leadership and community building.

Also, what is the minimum total hours of clinical volunteering that I should target? I have 130 total hours so far (assuming what I mentioned before qualifies) and the current plan is to add 100 more hours volunteering in outpatient services.

I concur with Faha you must have over 100 hours of clinical volunteering, but you should go for 200+ if you want to stay on pace with high-stats applicants. The problem is that as a 3x applicant, you already have 1 year to improve your application (gain at least 1000 hours of clinical exposure).

This is where your CNUCOM acceptance is starting to look really good, despite the challenges with not knowing their accreditation status.

 

[GCU_Grey_Area]

This is where your CNUCOM acceptance is starting to look really good, despite the challenges with not knowing their accreditation status.

I see what you mean. Like we were talking about in the other thread, I essentially have two options:

1. Don't submit a 2025-2026 primary application in May, but have it written & ready. Commit to enroll to CNUCOM before the CTE deadline at the end of May. Continue developing volunteer experience through to mid-July and keep the application updated with it. If CNUCOM keeps accreditation, stay with CNUCOM and don't submit a new primary application. If CNUCOM loses accreditation, immediately submit the pre-prepared primary application even if I'd be disadvantaged by the late submission.
2. Submit a 2025-2026 primary application in May. Withdraw from CNUCOM.

Option 2 is clearly a much more risky prospect than option 1. Picking option 2 is essentially trading an assured admission at a school that may lose accreditation in exchange for an earlier-submitted primary application containing less accumulated volunteer experience. In the worst case with option 1, I imagine I may also benefit from some degree of sympathy from schools by telling them about the situation, which will probably be extremely well-known given that a school losing accreditation has little precedent.

 

[Faha]

Thank you for the advice, I appreciate it. I didn't realize that volunteer tutoring would not be taken as valuable non-clinical volunteering. I'll try to find something else like volunteering at a homeless shelter to replace that. I should definitely be able to add at least 100 hours to my clinical volunteering experience through my outpatient services volunteering, which involves a lot of patient contact. I also expect to get at least 50 hours of shadowing experience between the two shadowing locations.

To be clear, I should get all this done by the end of May rather than have it be ongoing after submitting the primary, right?

Yes. All the hours should be completed at the time you submit your application.