Filling Extra Time In Gap Year

[Farious]

My college GPA was an unpleasant 2.939 and I got an MCAT score of 21.

So now (I graduated in May) I have an undergraduate degree in Biology and am working at a neurology/neurophysiology clinic as a medical assistant (a job I took because of how impressive it sounded to me). I get lots of patient interaction. I'm also teaching myself guitar and about to do an online Spanish program to give another shot at learning the language. My college years were filled with missionary work and studying abroad, both to foreign countries. I was also involved in talent shows and student films and such a LOT.

In my med school applications, I'm really pushing that I want to be a medical missionary (because that's the truth) and am emphasizing my medical missionary experiences. I'm in Texas and I know that that's to my advantage with med schools, and I'm also applying to offshore schools (the Big 4) in the Caribbean.

What I'm wondering is whether I should focus more on shadowing doctors, more independent learning, more volunteering (at church or hospitals or elsewhere), more travel, or something else. I'm only working part-time in order to have time for these potential avenues, but I just don't really know which ones would help me most, or even if working full-time at the clinic would help me more.

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[jk1006]

you should do a post-bacc to get more grades to show you can have a higher gpa

then you should also retake that mcat to get it higher

caribbean.... is a last resort and its like flipping a coin on your medical career....multiple times (getting good clinical training, being able to pass boards, matching into a residency, paying off the debts) and you have to hit heads everytime.

 

[Farious]

you should do a post-bacc to get more grades to show you can have a higher gpa

then you should also retake that mcat to get it higher

caribbean.... is a last resort and its like flipping a coin on your medical career....multiple times (getting good clinical training, being able to pass boards, matching into a residency, paying off the debts) and you have to hit heads everytime.

I've talked to many reputable doctors, including a residency director at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, and they all agree that Caribbean medical schools (at least the Big 4) are perfectly legitimate options, particularly for medical missions, which is my ending goal. I know about the MCAT and GPA issues and have plans for those.

As I said, what I'm asking here is which of my current options (shadowing doctors, more independent learning, more volunteering (at church or hospitals or elsewhere), more travel) would be more beneficial.

 

[TriagePreMed]

I'm going to be real with you: as of this moment, you don't have what it takes to become a doctor. A 2.9 and a 21 are simply too low. I would be very surprised if anything other than Saba of the big 4 caribbean accepts you, but even if they accept you, chances that you'll be a successful student are incredibly low given your numbers. Then instead of doing missions you'll be debt for a lot of money.

I would strongly encourage you to retake classes and retake the MCAT if you're serious about medicine, but I would equally strongly encourage you to look at your life and see if you can find another career that will make you happy. I think you may be able to successfully secure a spot at one of the lower end podiatry schools. You can definitely do missions as a podiatrist and help many people.

To answer your question directly: no amount of shadowing, independent learning or volunteering will ever make your application get traction because of your GPA and MCAT.