From teaching to med school. Advice needed.

[cmgarza]

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Hey all!

I am looking for guidance on where I currently stand and need advice on what I should do between now and next years application cycle to increase my chances of gaining admission.

I earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Sociology with a minor in Biology in 2014 from The Honors College at University of Houston. Knowing I wanted to take time off after college to gain work experience and complete med school prerequisites, I also got a teaching certificate. I began working as a medical office manager and surgery scheduler for two years and have taught elementary math and science for the past three years. During these 5 post-grad years I also got married and am now a mom of two.

I am not returning to teach this school year and am enrolling in post-bacc classes. I was certain I was going to take them at my local community college but most of my pre-requisites would be done at a CC and I am worried that would be a major negative. I have e-mailed Med School advisers and was assured that cc courses would not hinder me from getting admitted, but I also know that I need to show that I can handle hard sciences at a four year university (or so I have been told). I applied and got accepted at Sam Houston State University and am thinking I will complete OChem 1 & 2, Physics 1 & 2, and BioChem there. The classes will be more expensive and it's a further drive; but if I have to do that I will.

I haven't taken the MCAT yet but will next spring. My GPA is currently a 3.5.

Former jobs: Elementary Math and Science teacher, Mohs surgery scheduler, Hormone Replacement Clinic Manager, and personal care manager of Alzheimer residents at a senior living home.

Shadowing: 10 hours of direct shadowing. Lots more if I can classify working with docs and interacting with patients, but I don't know if this will count? I know I need more.

EC's: MD Anderson Volunteer, Teen mentor for at-risk high school students, and youth camp counselor. About 215 hours combined.

I am no longer volunteering or working at the moment. I start volunteering at a free healthcare clinic next week.

These are the questions I need help with:

1. Would it be beneficial for me to attend a four year university instead of cc for the rest of my prereqs?

2. How many more hours of shadowing should I strive to obtain?

3. Is teaching or teaching activities able to count for some EC hours? How would I classify that?

4. Many of my volunteer and shadowing hours are 10 years old. Will this be a disadvantage?

5. Does my previous work history or extra curriculars seem valuable? I know we shouldn't compare ourselves but I just feel like everything I have done may be considered mediocre in the eyes of adcom.

What steps should I take from here to be a competitive applicant? Thank you in advance for any help or advice you can offer!

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Hey all!

I am looking for guidance on where I currently stand and need advice on what I should do between now and next years application cycle to increase my chances of gaining admission.

I earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Sociology with a minor in Biology in 2014 from The Honors College at University of Houston. Knowing I wanted to take time off after college to gain work experience and complete med school prerequisites, I also got a teaching certificate. I began working as a medical office manager and surgery scheduler for two years and have taught elementary math and science for the past three years. During these 5 post-grad years I also got married and am now a mom of two.

I am not returning to teach this school year and am enrolling in post-bacc classes. I was certain I was going to take them at my local community college but most of my pre-requisites would be done at a CC and I am worried that would be a major negative. I have e-mailed Med School advisers and was assured that cc courses would not hinder me from getting admitted, but I also know that I need to show that I can handle hard sciences at a four year university (or so I have been told). I applied and got accepted at Sam Houston State University and am thinking I will complete OChem 1 & 2, Physics 1 & 2, and BioChem there. The classes will be more expensive and it's a further drive; but if I have to do that I will.

I haven't taken the MCAT yet but will next spring. My GPA is currently a 3.5.

Former jobs: Elementary Math and Science teacher, Mohs surgery scheduler, Hormone Replacement Clinic Manager, and personal care manager of Alzheimer residents at a senior living home.

Shadowing: 10 hours of direct shadowing. Lots more if I can classify working with docs and interacting with patients, but I don't know if this will count? I know I need more.

EC's: MD Anderson Volunteer, Teen mentor for at-risk high school students, and youth camp counselor. About 215 hours combined.

I am no longer volunteering or working at the moment. I start volunteering at a free healthcare clinic next week.

These are the questions I need help with:

1. Would it be beneficial for me to attend a four year university instead of cc for the rest of my prereqs?

2. How many more hours of shadowing should I strive to obtain?

3. Is teaching or teaching activities able to count for some EC hours? How would I classify that?

4. Many of my volunteer and shadowing hours are 10 years old. Will this be a disadvantage?

5. Does my previous work history or extra curriculars seem valuable? I know we shouldn't compare ourselves but I just feel like everything I have done may be considered mediocre in the eyes of adcom.

What steps should I take from here to be a competitive applicant? Thank you in advance for any help or advice you can offer!

My story sounds a bit like yours. I graduated and took what I thought was going to be 1-2 gap years to finish prereqs/gain clinical experience, and then apply. Those 1-2 years turned into 10 because life got in the way (as it has a tendency to do). I have spent a LOT of time on my nontraditional post-bac/pre-med process, and I've had two mantras throughout:

- It's a marathon, not a sprint
- Mitigate all risk to the greatest extent possible, even if it costs more time and money

So that's where I'm coming from, and here's my advice:

1. If you can afford it, take as many pre-reqs as possible at a 4-year institution. Many medical schools don't care about CC vs. 4 year prereqs, but CC prereqs will put you at a disadvantage with a not-insignificant amount medical schools. It is lowest-risk, in my opinion, to do all prereqs at a 4 year institution. If you can't do this, then at least take several credits of upper division sciences at the 4 year university.

2. You should target between 40-80 hours of shadowing; try to get at least 30-40 hours of primary care shadowing experience. You definitely want some primary care so you can be more competitive at medical schools with a primary care focused mission - these also appear to be some of the more nontraditional-friendly programs, so primary care shadowing is doubly important for candidates like you and me. I don't think you can count your work in the medical office as "shadowing", though it is clinical. Ideally, your shadowing would be you and the physician seeing patients together while you're not on the clock or tied up with other responsibilities.

3. If you were paid, you'd classify your teaching as professional/employment experience.

4. Maybe. If you did 10 hours volunteering over the course of two weeks for a charity event a decade ago, it's not going to add anything to your application. But if you have hundreds of older hours in an activity you consider personally meaningful (and you can discuss it accordingly), I'd list it. The oldest ECs I included on my AMCAS application were from 2011, and I made some hard choices to leave off older ECs I loved (mentoring and teaching reading to at-risk elementary school youth) since they were over ten years old and I hadn't remained in touch with the program. You'll want to include only ECs that you feel really add to your candidacy. I do think the majority of your EC hours should be fairly recent (within 5ish years) so it's readily apparent that you're still engaged with your community in clinical and nonclinical capacities.

5. In my opinion, your ECs and experiences look great. It sounds like you have a compelling story. How many hours can you get at the free health clinic between now and the 2020-2021 cycle? Try to get as many as possible.

Are you OK waiting yet another year (until the 2021-2022 cycle) to apply? I genuinely don't know how you would pull off acing Organic Chemistry 1/2 with lab, Physics 1/2 with lab, and Biochemistry (with lab, usually) AND properly study for the MCAT by the time the next cycle opens up. I don't mean to discourage you, but there's no way on Earth I would have been able to pull all that off on top of working/volunteering - and I'm not a parent. As a post-bac with a 3.5, you need to target a 4.0 postbac and a 510+ MCAT to be competitive for MD programs. If I were in your shoes, I'd complete the prereqs this year, study for the MCAT summer/fall 2020, take the MCAT late 2020/early 2021, and apply June 2021.

Do not take the MCAT until you've completed biochem. Some people can pull off self-studying for biochem, but I don't really think it's wise (but, again, I am an exceptionally risk-averse person).

Good luck!