Feeling a bit "rushed" and looking for help with a viable undergrad EC schedule

[chcash]

---

Members do not see this ad.

27 year old non-traditional pre-med at a fairly average urban public university here. Math major. ~3.93 GPA so far, finishing up my first semester of sophomore year.

Looking for some help with planning my ECs out. As far as pre-req academics and the MCAT go, here's my plan:

Spring 2016: Orgo I, Phys I
Summer 2016: Orgo II, Lab
Fall 2016: Phys II, Biochem
No later than April 2017: MCAT
June 2017: Apply

I'm pretty set on going through with the above, but the problem is my extracurricular schedule. I'm feeling lost and worried, like I'm running out of time and am unsure where to begin. So far I have... well no ECs!

Last week I submitted an application to volunteer at a hospital with post-surgical care, so that should hopefully start in a month or so, which will be exciting. I also have some shadowing planned with an oncologist over my winter break (family connection).

Additionally I plan to volunteer with an urban youth outreach program as well as a former prisoner job placement / housing society. These are both things I feel very passionately about, and both are extremely local - I can speak with real conviction about these organizations and their work. I will probably volunteer for about 6 months per organization, more if time allows but I must be realistic.

Two main questions:

1) My main concern is additional shadowing and especially research. When can I do research and still keep a sane MCAT study schedule going? Is summer after Junior year (right after applying...) too late?

2) My second question is - how does this general plan look? Both in terms of amount of volunteering, as well as the nature of the work. I am open to slight revisions or delays but given my age (not that old really, but sometimes I feel like it) I would really like to avoid a gap year at all costs.

Thanks for taking the time to read this everyone - I look forward to some advice.

 

[Tzanku]

do something that means something to you so you can talk about it on secondaries and interviews

 

[DrHart]

Personally, I think you shouldn't sacrifice your MCAT prep for research. As a non-trad (and math major), idk how valuable research would be both for you personally and your application - although it depends on what research you would do.
From your post, I get the sense that you are very passionate about volunteering. Clinical volunteering and shadowing should be number 1 priority - you won't get accepted unless you have some idea of what you're getting yourself into.
Youth outreach would be a good number 2 priority.

Just my two cents. I've found that research can be a huge drain on time. Like I said, it really depends on what type of research. In my experience, you might spend a week doing experiments that keep failing but you have to keep trying because your PI wants to see your squeaky clean results. Unless you're dying to do it, volunteering and shadowing keeps your schedule maintained which will allow you to study and get the most out of your pre-reqs and eventually MCAT prep.

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

^I agree. There's no real requirement that you do research and I've heard that even research-heavy schools are sometimes willing to cut us nontrads some slack on this. I think it's often harder to do research casually without much of a time commitment so I would prioritize MCAT prep and clinical volunteering/shadowing. (Also, the volunteering that you're planning to do in your community because it sounds really rad! Look for schools that include caring for the underserved in their missions--I suspect that this is exactly the kind of stuff those schools are looking for.)

Also, you say you have no ECs right now but I'm sure you have hobbies. You should include these in AMCAS, too! It gives med schools an idea of who you are as a person. 🙂

 

[Planes2Doc]

I've got two words for you (or technically three): ED Volunteering

This is by far the BEST bang for the buck as a pre-med, especially in your case! It's amazing because you have the opportunity to kill multiple birds with one stone. Here is what's awesome about it:

1. Short weekly shifts are usually 3-4 hours and are very friendly to a busy schedule. It sure beats the hell out of entry-level clinical jobs which are way more hours many times per week!

2. You check the boxes for both clinical experience and volunteering at the same time. This is very convenient. Also, schools only expect you to get a sense of what the clinical environment is. There is no need to learn specific clinical skills, thus making entry-level clinical jobs overkill and counter-productive because they can negatively impact your grades and MCAT. And you still need volunteering on top of paid work!

3. Staff often don't care what you do on shift and ADCOMs won't know what you did on shift. So you can pretty much make this experience into what you want. If you want to work hard and make yourself an honorary member of the team, then do it. But if you want to sit back and do things only when asked, then that's okay too. You can spend a lot of your time studying for school and the MCAT.

4. If you make friends with the ED or other physicians, you can end up shadowing them during your shifts. If this is the case, then you can technically "double dip" the hours. Therefore, you will rack up your much needed shadowing hours while the clock is still ticking for your volunteer shift. It doesn't get better than this.

Yeah, ED and hospital volunteering gets a lot of crap on this board. But remember, your goal is to get into medical school. You have one shot to get those grades and MCAT where you need them to be. You have the rest of your life to volunteer if you choose to do so. Your time would be best spent volunteering in the hospital. You might end up doing scut work and hating the experience, but it's by far the most convenient way to get into medical school, and that's why you gotta "pay" for that luxury!

 

[chcash]

Thank you guys for responding. I put down ED as one of my areas of interest for my hospital volunteer application, so I may go in that direction.

Frankly I'm not really at all interested in research, but I AM interested in schools like NYU and UVM, and it's very very difficult not to be neurotic about the huge percentage of matriculants there with research backgrounds. I could always be one of the lucky 10% that gets in without it, but that's a chance I find very nerve-wracking to bank on.

 

[robin911]

The only other thing I was thinking is that there are TONS of research opportunities at my Big10 college looking for biostatisticians for large cohort studies. Math majors who can do stats and use SAS are like gold. So research does not always mean bench work, you could use your math skills to help out in biostats. Just a thought i had b/c we are looking for a biostatistician/math major right now.