Feel like my plans are falling apart.

[Temporal_weapon]

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I'm part of a "Writing for Medical Professionals" class in my 4-year university that I recently transferred to. The class holds a lot of rising juniors in the same standing (year wise) as me. One of the assignments was to swap resumes with other students in the class.

In comparison, nearly everyone I worked with had anticipated 3.8's- 4.0s, double majors, and upwards of thousands of research hours and volunteering in other countries. Most of them had worked as scribes, EMTs, or chief research assists in hospitals. A lot of them had jobs as skilled techs (like cardio cath lab or PACU techs). A lot of them came from families in medicine. I thought I had a unique opportunity when I got the nearest ED (registration) job during the pandemic, but they all have volunteered/worked or been "transferred" to the ED during the pandemic, with hard clinical skills in practice.

To explain their wild research stats, our school has a coordination center where freshmen are auto-enrolled in research programs. There's also a robust pre-health society that patches people through to connections in the community. I'm a transfer. This is my first semester on campus, as a 2nd-semester junior. I have 18 months to catch up. All of the drop-ins for the pre-health are booked, and you must attend a "mandatory seminar" before you can be spoken to. This seminar doesn't start back up until January. I've taken some initiative and started cold e-mailing places, but nothing has come through yet.

For motivation, I looked back at my transcript, today. It had the opposite effect. I had a ton of W's from my CC at the start. Last semester was a 3.3. A considerable drop from the 3.8 on my AA degree. Nothing is really looking good at this point. I'm doing my best. I'm just tired, man.

FWIW, the 4-year I'm attending is about as selective as your average medical school. I guess this sort of thing should be expected.

 

[theendisnigh]

I currently attend a upper mid tier med school. My professor in clinical skills asked if anyone could raise their hand if they have ever made a formal diagnosis from a prior medical career before. No one raised their hands. In our clinical skills groups, there was one EMT or previous tech provider for maybe every 10 students. It sounds like you're in a very skewed population here. Although it is recommended that you have some clinical experience as a volunteer or part-time position prior to applying, I can say from my experience that a lot of these traditional students can come in stats-heavy but lack in other realms.

We have a diverse class of married non-traditional students, some veterans, some went to professional school in another field before this, etc. Med schools are looking to diversify the experience of their pool. W's are exponentially better than F's. Community college experience is another story to diversify their pool of experience. Keep working on keeping up the GPA.

In med school you really have to pay attention to what YOU'RE doing rather than what everyone else is doing, and so you might as well start early. Focus on improving your individual journey with your GPA and building experiences rather than caring about where others are. We're all in our own steps of our own journeys. This is your journey.

 

[Goro]

I'm part of a "Writing for Medical Professionals" class in my 4-year university that I recently transferred to. The class holds a lot of rising juniors in the same standing (year wise) as me. One of the assignments was to swap resumes with other students in the class.

In comparison, nearly everyone I worked with had anticipated 3.8's- 4.0s, double majors, and upwards of thousands of research hours and volunteering in other countries. Most of them had worked as scribes, EMTs, or chief research assists in hospitals. A lot of them had jobs as skilled techs (like cardio cath lab or PACU techs). A lot of them came from families in medicine. I thought I had a unique opportunity when I got the nearest ED (registration) job during the pandemic, but they all have volunteered/worked or been "transferred" to the ED during the pandemic, with hard clinical skills in practice.

To explain their wild research stats, our school has a coordination center where freshmen are auto-enrolled in research programs. There's also a robust pre-health society that patches people through to connections in the community. I'm a transfer. This is my first semester on campus, as a 2nd-semester junior. I have 18 months to catch up. All of the drop-ins for the pre-health are booked, and you must attend a "mandatory seminar" before you can be spoken to. This seminar doesn't start back up until January. I've taken some initiative and started cold e-mailing places, but nothing has come through yet.

For motivation, I looked back at my transcript, today. It had the opposite effect. I had a ton of W's from my CC at the start. Last semester was a 3.3. A considerable drop from the 3.8 on my AA degree. Nothing is really looking good at this point. I'm doing my best. I'm just tired, man.

FWIW, the 4-year I'm attending is about as selective as your average medical school. I guess this sort of thing should be expected.

Marathon now, not Sprint. Med schools are not going anywhere. You have plenty of time to reinvent your GPA. See my post on reinvention for pre-meds.

 

[BritainKittenMittens]

Marathon now, not Sprint. Med schools are not going anywhere.

While I agree with this overall, for the second part I do think there is a sense of urgency. The 2 trends that have been constant are that med schools are always there and med school admissions get increasingly harder. I am glad I don't have to deal with it ever again, the number of hoops that are added and the level the bar is getting raised are getting ridiculous.

So take your time and do it right, but don't dilly dally.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

I'm part of a "Writing for Medical Professionals" class in my 4-year university that I recently transferred to. The class holds a lot of rising juniors in the same standing (year wise) as me. One of the assignments was to swap resumes with other students in the class.

In comparison, nearly everyone I worked with had anticipated 3.8's- 4.0s, double majors, and upwards of thousands of research hours and volunteering in other countries. Most of them had worked as scribes, EMTs, or chief research assists in hospitals. A lot of them had jobs as skilled techs (like cardio cath lab or PACU techs). A lot of them came from families in medicine. I thought I had a unique opportunity when I got the nearest ED (registration) job during the pandemic, but they all have volunteered/worked or been "transferred" to the ED during the pandemic, with hard clinical skills in practice.

To explain their wild research stats, our school has a coordination center where freshmen are auto-enrolled in research programs. There's also a robust pre-health society that patches people through to connections in the community. I'm a transfer. This is my first semester on campus, as a 2nd-semester junior. I have 18 months to catch up. All of the drop-ins for the pre-health are booked, and you must attend a "mandatory seminar" before you can be spoken to. This seminar doesn't start back up until January. I've taken some initiative and started cold e-mailing places, but nothing has come through yet.

For motivation, I looked back at my transcript, today. It had the opposite effect. I had a ton of W's from my CC at the start. Last semester was a 3.3. A considerable drop from the 3.8 on my AA degree. Nothing is really looking good at this point. I'm doing my best. I'm just tired, man.

FWIW, the 4-year I'm attending is about as selective as your average medical school. I guess this sort of thing should be expected.

Run your own race. Nontraditional medical school applications can and should look different from the traditional 3.9 bio major + scribe + international medical voluntourism (ugh) + UG research app. Remember, you bring something entirely different to the table. You can't compare yourself, as a nontraditional transfer junior, to the other students who hit the ground running on this project from day 1 of their freshman year.

You say you have 18 months to catch up - no, you don't. It's going to take however long it's going to take, which is probably longer than 18 months given your atypical premed path. Just settle in for the ride.

"Don't compare your beginning to someone else's middle" is a silly motivational Instagram quote I keep reading, and I think it's apt here.

 

[Dave1980]

I'm part of a "Writing for Medical Professionals" class in my 4-year university that I recently transferred to. The class holds a lot of rising juniors in the same standing (year wise) as me. One of the assignments was to swap resumes with other students in the class.

In comparison, nearly everyone I worked with had anticipated 3.8's- 4.0s, double majors, and upwards of thousands of research hours and volunteering in other countries. Most of them had worked as scribes, EMTs, or chief research assists in hospitals. A lot of them had jobs as skilled techs (like cardio cath lab or PACU techs). A lot of them came from families in medicine. I thought I had a unique opportunity when I got the nearest ED (registration) job during the pandemic, but they all have volunteered/worked or been "transferred" to the ED during the pandemic, with hard clinical skills in practice.

To explain their wild research stats, our school has a coordination center where freshmen are auto-enrolled in research programs. There's also a robust pre-health society that patches people through to connections in the community. I'm a transfer. This is my first semester on campus, as a 2nd-semester junior. I have 18 months to catch up. All of the drop-ins for the pre-health are booked, and you must attend a "mandatory seminar" before you can be spoken to. This seminar doesn't start back up until January. I've taken some initiative and started cold e-mailing places, but nothing has come through yet.

For motivation, I looked back at my transcript, today. It had the opposite effect. I had a ton of W's from my CC at the start. Last semester was a 3.3. A considerable drop from the 3.8 on my AA degree. Nothing is really looking good at this point. I'm doing my best. I'm just tired, man.

FWIW, the 4-year I'm attending is about as selective as your average medical school. I guess this sort of thing should be expected.

Well it's important to be realistic about your chances. Sounds like you need shadowing, research, an upward GPA, and to do well on the MCAT. You are definitely in a hole compared to other applicants.

 

[Crayola227]

You can make yourself nuts with this kind of comparisons.

You need to just focus on getting your personal stats up close as you can to matriculation average, like GPA and the MCAT.

Because the way I think of it is that there's kinda two parts to a med app or applicant. Hard numbers and requisite classes that everyone has to do. Then the "human piece" that sets you apart and is all the extracurricular stuff.

Diversity can't make up too much for crappy numbers. Solid numbers and then diversity and interesting or down to earth experience can compete with some of the other extracurricular stuff.

You have 18 months. Maybe you need a gap year, that gives you 30 months.

As much as you can you want 12-16 hour days filled with school, part time work preferably research or clinical, and extracurriculars. Be yourself, be unique.

 

[Iamnew2]

I'm part of a "Writing for Medical Professionals" class in my 4-year university that I recently transferred to. The class holds a lot of rising juniors in the same standing (year wise) as me. One of the assignments was to swap resumes with other students in the class.

In comparison, nearly everyone I worked with had anticipated 3.8's- 4.0s, double majors, and upwards of thousands of research hours and volunteering in other countries. Most of them had worked as scribes, EMTs, or chief research assists in hospitals. A lot of them had jobs as skilled techs (like cardio cath lab or PACU techs). A lot of them came from families in medicine. I thought I had a unique opportunity when I got the nearest ED (registration) job during the pandemic, but they all have volunteered/worked or been "transferred" to the ED during the pandemic, with hard clinical skills in practice.

To explain their wild research stats, our school has a coordination center where freshmen are auto-enrolled in research programs. There's also a robust pre-health society that patches people through to connections in the community. I'm a transfer. This is my first semester on campus, as a 2nd-semester junior. I have 18 months to catch up. All of the drop-ins for the pre-health are booked, and you must attend a "mandatory seminar" before you can be spoken to. This seminar doesn't start back up until January. I've taken some initiative and started cold e-mailing places, but nothing has come through yet.

For motivation, I looked back at my transcript, today. It had the opposite effect. I had a ton of W's from my CC at the start. Last semester was a 3.3. A considerable drop from the 3.8 on my AA degree. Nothing is really looking good at this point. I'm doing my best. I'm just tired, man.

FWIW, the 4-year I'm attending is about as selective as your average medical school. I guess this sort of thing should be expected.

No offense and don't take it as a sign of discouragement - but if you are tired already perhaps it is worth thinking about a different profession in healthcare. med school training is a longgggggggg road - you have med school, residency, potentially fellowship. if you are already tired - it will be a struggle. I'm not going to say it's overrated per se, but there are plenty of other excellent things you can do in healthcare - that are shorter, where you can help people and that pay decently iwthout all the work, stress and nonsense of being an actual doctor. just a thought.

 

[jhmmd]

I'm part of a "Writing for Medical Professionals" class in my 4-year university that I recently transferred to. The class holds a lot of rising juniors in the same standing (year wise) as me. One of the assignments was to swap resumes with other students in the class.

In comparison, nearly everyone I worked with had anticipated 3.8's- 4.0s, double majors, and upwards of thousands of research hours and volunteering in other countries. Most of them had worked as scribes, EMTs, or chief research assists in hospitals. A lot of them had jobs as skilled techs (like cardio cath lab or PACU techs). A lot of them came from families in medicine. I thought I had a unique opportunity when I got the nearest ED (registration) job during the pandemic, but they all have volunteered/worked or been "transferred" to the ED during the pandemic, with hard clinical skills in practice.

To explain their wild research stats, our school has a coordination center where freshmen are auto-enrolled in research programs. There's also a robust pre-health society that patches people through to connections in the community. I'm a transfer. This is my first semester on campus, as a 2nd-semester junior. I have 18 months to catch up. All of the drop-ins for the pre-health are booked, and you must attend a "mandatory seminar" before you can be spoken to. This seminar doesn't start back up until January. I've taken some initiative and started cold e-mailing places, but nothing has come through yet.

For motivation, I looked back at my transcript, today. It had the opposite effect. I had a ton of W's from my CC at the start. Last semester was a 3.3. A considerable drop from the 3.8 on my AA degree. Nothing is really looking good at this point. I'm doing my best. I'm just tired, man.

FWIW, the 4-year I'm attending is about as selective as your average medical school. I guess this sort of thing should be expected.

Are you looking for advice or just want to vent?

 

[petomed]

I'm part of a "Writing for Medical Professionals" class in my 4-year university that I recently transferred to. The class holds a lot of rising juniors in the same standing (year wise) as me. One of the assignments was to swap resumes with other students in the class.

In comparison, nearly everyone I worked with had anticipated 3.8's- 4.0s, double majors, and upwards of thousands of research hours and volunteering in other countries. Most of them had worked as scribes, EMTs, or chief research assists in hospitals. A lot of them had jobs as skilled techs (like cardio cath lab or PACU techs). A lot of them came from families in medicine. I thought I had a unique opportunity when I got the nearest ED (registration) job during the pandemic, but they all have volunteered/worked or been "transferred" to the ED during the pandemic, with hard clinical skills in practice.

To explain their wild research stats, our school has a coordination center where freshmen are auto-enrolled in research programs. There's also a robust pre-health society that patches people through to connections in the community. I'm a transfer. This is my first semester on campus, as a 2nd-semester junior. I have 18 months to catch up. All of the drop-ins for the pre-health are booked, and you must attend a "mandatory seminar" before you can be spoken to. This seminar doesn't start back up until January. I've taken some initiative and started cold e-mailing places, but nothing has come through yet.

For motivation, I looked back at my transcript, today. It had the opposite effect. I had a ton of W's from my CC at the start. Last semester was a 3.3. A considerable drop from the 3.8 on my AA degree. Nothing is really looking good at this point. I'm doing my best. I'm just tired, man.

FWIW, the 4-year I'm attending is about as selective as your average medical school. I guess this sort of thing should be expected.

I see no question posed here. But to summarize, your new institution breeds gunners. We've all experienced such a personality, but it appears commonplace where you attend school. I'd recommend not focusing on these people. Take a look at your resume and figure out what you're going to bring to your future medical school. If this feature is stats, then learn to run with the gunners. If it's something more characteristic of a non-trad then you need to own it.

As for clinical experience, you do need to find a way in because this could change your mind about medicine entirely. That's why so many people have it, not because it's necessarily a box to check. As for how to get that experience, be your own advocate. I was 27 with no ties to healthcare when I began my journey. No one held my hand yet I managed to find clinical experiences. You have the infrastructure at your university. Don't take no for an answer. People are reasonable. Explain your situation and learn to be charismatic and persuasive until you find the answer you're looking for.

You're tired either because you don't really want this or because you're comparing yourself to others that have figured out their path when you yourself have not. That's no reason to give up. On the contrary, it means your close to figuring things out. My 2-cents anyway.

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

Those people aren’t normal, even by medical school standards. Don’t worry about them too much although consider networking because they sound well connected. You don’t need all that to get into a medical school unless you’re aiming for the top. Average MD states around something like a 3.7 or 3.8 and a 512. Average DO are about 3.5/504. The average person applied having only had summers and a gap year or two to get activities, so maybe 200-300 each of volunteering, research, clinical experience and leadership. And maybe a “passion category” with 500-1,000+ hours. It’s a lot but remember that it should all be able to be accumulated in a few years, otherwise more people would be taking 5 gap years.

 

[Temporal_weapon]

I wanted to come back around thank everyone for the supportive replies here.

There was a lot of intimidating elements in that class, and I made a few connections and friends out of it. As it stands, I have a 98 in that particular class and a prof willing to write my LOR.

I think I will be taking some time between now and my application cycle. I'd rather add a few more credits, take my time, and find another niche in community leadership in this new environment. It seems like it can be done.

As for clinical experience, you do need to find a way in because this could change your mind about medicine entirely. That's why so many people have it, not because it's necessarily a box to check. As for how to get that experience, be your own advocate. I was 27 with no ties to healthcare when I began my journey. No one held my hand yet I managed to find clinical experiences. You have the infrastructure at your university. Don't take no for an answer. People are reasonable. Explain your situation and learn to be charismatic and persuasive until you find the answer you're looking for.

It sounds like we had similar experiences. OTOH, I used to work as a registrar in the ER. I did spend a lot of time interacting with patients and providers and got a pretty good birds-eye view of the process. But I'm rather unclear whether ADCOMS would consider that "clinical". If "yes", then I potentially have over 1,000 hours. I've also gotten a lot of performance-based awards from that job, in addition to segueways into shadowing experiences. So... we'll see.

People are reasonable.

Thanks.

With the amount of doomscrolling I've been doing and some of the extreme personalities I've encountered in the ER (patient wise), its nice to have that reminder.