Im trying to apply this cycle and I realized I don't have as many hours as I thought. I have about 300 hours volunteering at a free clinic as a medical scribe, patient care manager, and medical interpreter. I have about 180 hours of volunteering in my community as a cooking instructor for a free clinic, clubs, and through church. For clinical experience I have about 215 hours between shadowing and interning as a medical assistant. I did an undergrade independent research project so I have about 300 hours for that. I also have 250 hours as a TA within my nutrition major courses. So in total I have about 1250 hours. I feel very inferior in this regard to other applicants. My cGPA is a 3.86 and BCPM is a 3.74, still waiting on MCAT. What are your thoughts on my extracurriulars? Should I get more experience before applying?
Do I have enough extracurricular hours?
- Thread starter j_lo
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You've got the boxes checked. Waiting for an MCAT is the biggest issue and it might be wise, depending on when the MCAT is expected, to skip this cycle and have a more robust application in 2023.
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Those are decent EC hours, albeit not very competitive for service-focused schools (the Jesuits, Rush, etc.). I think your free clinic cooking instructor gig is actually pretty cool and it would catch my eye if I were reviewing your application.
You could still stand to add some nonclinical volunteering during this application cycle if you can swing it. 180 hours isn't terrible, but it is on the lower end.
Word of warning: you are misclassifying your shadowing as clinical experience. Shadowing is its own separate category. Your scribe/patient care manager/medical interpretation/medical assisting roles will all be classified as clinical.
Thanks for your reply! Would you consider the cooking instructor clinical or non-clinical? The course is offered at a free clinic for patients with chronic illnesses and I taught them how to cook more well-rounded healthy meals, including cooking demonstrations.
For the shadowing issues, my medical assisting internship included some shadowing, but I'm not sure if I should split up the hours and write two separate experience entries on it or lump them together.
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The cooking instruction is nonclinical. They may have been patients, but you were interacting with them in a nonclinical context. Plus, you need the nonclinical hours.
I think you have to separate out your shadowing hours from the internship into its own “Shadowing” experience on your application. Otherwise, it will appear that you have zero shadowing hours and that will really hurt your application.
I think you have to separate out your shadowing hours from the internship into its own “Shadowing” experience on your application. Otherwise, it will appear that you have zero shadowing hours and that will really hurt your application.
I would classify the cooking class as clinical volunteering. It is provided at the clinic for patients with chronic illnesses. I am assuming healthy options for diabetics or people with heart disease... This goes directly to educating patients on how to adhere to treatment plans more easily. If changing sheets or getting water for patients is clinical, I think this would certainly fit the bill.
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I would strongly recommend not doing this, as this would further reduce OP’s already borderline low nonclinical hours. Furthermore, it would be very tough to sell “teaching a cooking class” to adcoms as clinical, even if the participants are patients elsewhere in the facility.
Clinical experience means you are interacting with patients in a context during which they are receiving medical treatment from healthcare professionals (e.g., physician appointments, inpatient treatment). The adcoms at my school would be unlikely to buy “leading a cooking class” as truly clinical experience - if anything, it’s teaching. OP already has enough clinical hours through medical assisting, scribing, etc. so there is no need to reclassify this activity.
I have my mcat scheduled for august 5th. Do you think this is too late? I'm really only giving myself 3 weeks of practice, i've already done content review. I know they say to be fully prepared before taking it but i dont want to wait another cycle unless i absolutely have to. I was supposed to take it in July but some personal issues prevented that from happening.
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Do you want to apply and then apply again next spring? If not, don't apply this year.
Taking the MCAT on August 5th with 3 weeks of practice is the definition of "too little, too late." Even if you take a full length practice test every Sunday (4 tests) and spend every Monday reviewing all the responses, both correct and incorrect, and studying Tuesday through Saturday, you are unlikely to do well and get the scores in soon enough to get noticed.
What you are doing is like putting pebbles in your shoes and wearing your running shorts backwards and expecting to finish a marathon in under 3 hours.
Why not wait, and have your best possible exam score and prepare your application in May and submit in June 2023. Don't rush this and then sit empty handed this time next year. Do it right and do it once.
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This^^^^^. As @LizzyM is saying, 3 weeks practice after content review is not nearly enough. On top of it, you won't be complete until well after Labor Day in any event, which will make you "late" by the SDN definition.
You don't "absolutely have to" do anything, and you are certainly free to take a shot. But the odds are high you won't do well on the MCAT with 3 weeks practice, and, even if you do, think how much better you could do with a "normal" 2-3 months of practice, including QBanks. Minimal MCAT prep plus a post Labor Day complete date is a classic recipe for a busted cycle.
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