Gap Year/ Upcoming Cycle Help?!

[deleted895568]

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Hello I am senior graduating this May and applying to medical school this summer

Currently studying for MCAT and will take soon.
My cGPA/sGPA is 3.71/3.59
URM African - American Female
Shadowing Hours 50 Hours - 30 Transplant Surgeon, 15 Hours of Primary Care, 6 Pediatrics hoping to shadow a GI and Oncologist before I apply.
My extracurriculars include
Volunteer at Free Clinic for about 1.5 years around 250 hours
Checked patients in and out of the clinic
Learned how to use electric medical records (EMR)
Cooperated with staff to answer phones, conduct clerical task, stock the front desk with supplies
Communicated patients needs to medical staff through EMR such as prescription refill, medical questions, and appointments scheduling
Volunteer at another clinic for about 2 months
Provided care to the patient by taking vital signs, weighing patients, and performing diabetic foot check when needed
Volunteer at a hospital for about 5 months
Assisted patient's family members to where family was located in the hospital
Research for 2 years - not sure about the hours
3 poster and presentations
potential publication but prob after I've graduated
Worked on homecoming board Sophomore Year

For my gap year I have applied for medical assistant, nurse tech, and research position
I wanted to know what else I could do to improve my application and what MCAT score would make me the most competitive

@gonnif @Goro @LizzyM @gorowannabe @HomeSkool @Tenk

 

[deleted895568]

anyone??

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

Without the all important MCAT, it is a little hard to advise you as to applying next cycle. And depends on your undergrad tier a bit - if T20, or more importantly, known to have grade deflation, or you were engineering major at tough school, then your sGPA is fine. Otherwise your science GPA is a bit low, though for URIM, it will not hurt you too much.

Shadowing is fine, especially since you plan to get some more. Since so much of your shadowing is in Plastics, you should consider more pediatrics or emergency medicine - something where you might get to see issues of patients' everyday interactions with the machinery of medicine, and social justice issues.

Your EC's seem a bit cookie-cutter, but 2 years of research with presentations is pretty good. I do think you are going to have to work to develop a narrative that connects a lot of your life story, and this might be a reason not to rush into applying 2019-2020.

Would also need to have a sense of your letters. Do people in the lab know you well and think well of you for your dedication, intellectual curiosity, etc? How about your other letters.

Overall, deciding what you want to do for gap year(s) is really dependent on what you want to do long-term. If you want to do academic medicine, then the best fits for you school-wise, are going to be researchy schools. My advice to you would be to consider 2 years of dedicated research, as you will not have anything NEW to show by the time you send in your application and these researchy schools will want to see a little more in terms of research. Obviously, if you get a 502 MCAT, the big researchy schools are not going to be highly interested anyway, so may be moot....

If you are more interested in population health, public policy, etc, then spend your time working in a job in a low resource clinic, etc (like you do already in a volunteer capacity). You can also do research in these fields, though harder. And then seek out hospice, nursing homes, veterans organizations, IPV shelters, etc to add to your volunteer work.

I think students like you should plan 2 gap years. One to make some accomplishments and then one to actually apply. Plus, as GONNIF recommends, this way you would not be rushing. You could take all the time you need to do well on MCATs. And then have a better idea of where you will fall in terms of school list and will have more time to find great gap year(s) activities.

 

[deleted895568]

Without the all important MCAT, it is a little hard to advise you as to applying next cycle. And depends on your undergrad tier a bit - if T20, or more importantly, known to have grade deflation, or you were engineering major at tough school, then your sGPA is fine. Otherwise your science GPA is a bit low, though for URIM, it will not hurt you too much.

had a rough semester 1.5 years ago unfortunately. My stats are on average for matriculants at my state school, hoping to do good this semester and get it up a little more

Shadowing is fine, especially since you plan to get some more. Since so much of your shadowing is in Plastics, you should consider more pediatrics or emergency medicine - something where you might get to see issues of patients' everyday interactions with the machinery of medicine, and social justice issues.

Definitely looking for an ER Dr. to shadow before applications

Your EC's seem a bit cookie-cutter, but 2 years of research with presentations is pretty good. I do think you are going to have to work to develop a narrative that connects a lot of your life story, and this might be a reason not to rush into applying 2019-2020.

my application i want to be focused on work with uninsured and underinsured people because they're overlooked in the healthcare system. Ive learned so much about medicare and medicaid, the benefits and limitations while volunteering here. Even though volunteering in a clinic isn't anything unique I think it's definitely opened my eyes to healthcare and the complexity of it.

Would also need to have a sense of your letters. Do people in the lab know you well and think well of you for your dedication, intellectual curiosity, etc? How about your other letters.

My PI who was a MD/PhD student is writing me a strong LoR she knows the process well, Transplant Dr. is writing me LoR, volunteer coordinator will be writing me one as well, and committee letter from undergrad

Overall, deciding what you want to do for gap year(s) is really dependent on what you want to do long-term. If you want to do academic medicine, then the best fits for you school-wise, are going to be researchy schools. My advice to you would be to consider 2 years of dedicated research, as you will not have anything NEW to show by the time you send in your application and these researchy schools will want to see a little more in terms of research. Obviously, if you get a 502 MCAT, the big researchy schools are not going to be highly interested anyway, so may be moot....

I hope to get more patient contact direct care. I don't think ill go into academic medicine, I like research but not enough to do it for the rest of my life. I want to work with patients, as well as hopefully open my own free clinic. My goal is my state school I come from a very instate bias state.

If you are more interested in population health, public policy, etc, then spend your time working in a job in a low resource clinic, etc (like you do already in a volunteer capacity). You can also do research in these fields, though harder. And then seek out hospice, nursing homes, veterans organizations, IPV shelters, etc to add to your volunteer work.

I think students like you should plan 2 gap years. One to make some accomplishments and then one to actually apply. Plus, as GONNIF recommends, this way you would not be rushing. You could take all the time you need to do well on MCATs. And then have a better idea of where you will fall in terms of school list and will have more time to find great gap year(s) activities.

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

had a rough semester 1.5 years ago unfortunately. My stats are on average for matriculants at my state school, hoping to do good this semester and get it up a little more



Definitely looking for an ER Dr. to shadow before applications



my application i want to be focused on work with uninsured and underinsured people because they're overlooked in the healthcare system. Ive learned so much about medicare and medicaid, the benefits and limitations while volunteering here. Even though volunteering in a clinic isn't anything unique I think it's definitely opened my eyes to healthcare and the complexity of it.



My PI who was a MD/PhD student is writing me a strong LoR she knows the process well, Transplant Dr. is writing me LoR, volunteer coordinator will be writing me one as well, and committee letter from undergrad



I hope to get more patient contact direct care. I don't think ill go into academic medicine, I like research but not enough to do it for the rest of my life. I want to work with patients, as well as hopefully open my own free clinic. My goal is my state school I come from a very instate bias state.

If your MCAT is good, as URIM, your stats sound like they will be fine for your state school. And if you beef up your volunteering and shadowing a bit, you should be within range for acceptance. Never a guarantee, of course, no matter what you get on MCAT, so develop a good, reasonable list of schools.

Sounds like you do have a good narrative and that your letters will be strong. Consider asking the MD/PhD student to have the head lab PI cosign the letter. Since you do not want to do research long-term and you are setting your sights on medical schools that will train you to be a clinician, then research box checked. Your gap year should try to be a paid clinical position, hopefully in a clinic that serves the underserved! Just make sure to set aside time to do well on your MCATs and to do a good job on your primary and secondary applications. But if you are going to have to rush, then do 2 gap years!

 

[lalalallala]

From what I'm reading of your extra curriculars you volunteered at 2 clinics and did research. These are great, but...

What about hobbies? What about leadership positions? What about non clinical volunteering?

As an URM applicant I think your GPA is fine as long as you did well in the pre-reqs and showed you can do well in med school. Right now focus on doing well on the MCAT and try to get some more activities in. I don't think you need more research especially considering that is not what you want to do.

 

[On_The_Way_Up]

A 528 MCAT would make you the most competitive.

 

[Peter Pan.]

Try to get at least a 505+ as a URM for MD schools.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Moving to WAMC.