How can I improve my activities/volunteering given my circuitous path to med school

[aethermist]

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[WIMNFamilyMed]

Have you shadowed a physician? How will you convince a med school that medicine is for you if you did the same to a pharmacy school, and then left them very recently? Taking another year off to make yourself a strong applicant by volunteering, shadowing, and proving a commitment to medicine itself with a patient care job like CNA/EMT will make it worth your time and money to apply.

 

[aethermist]

Have you shadowed a physician? How will you convince a med school that medicine is for you if you did the same to a pharmacy school, and then left them very recently? Taking another year off to make yourself a strong applicant by volunteering, shadowing, and proving a commitment to medicine itself with a patient care job like CNA/EMT will make it worth your time and money to apply.

Is scribing for a family doctor insufficient for clinical exposure compared to CNA/EMT? I didn’t go for a CNA/EMT type job because the training process was just too long given that I’m starting grad school in the fall. Also I’m not applying this cycle. I will be applying next cycle.

 

[Goro]

Long store short, I was in my first year of pharmacy school but decided I needed to leave. I withdrew in December and have been trying to prepare my application for med school since then. I plan to apply next year in 2019 and I know my history puts me at a huge disadvantage, so I'm trying to decide where to focus my time in the coming year. I will be starting at an MPH program in the fall, so unfortunately the volunteering/activities I am currently doing will have to be cut short.

By the end of the summer I will have:

Clinical Experience:
Outpatient scribe ~600 hours over 5 months
Hospice volunteer ~35 hours over 6 months

Other volunteering:
Homeless shelter ~60 hours over 6 months
Women's center on campus ~30 hours over 1 year
Environmental activism on campus in 2 leadership roles ~30 hours over 2 years
Women's health committee vice chair in pharmacy school ~20 hours over 4 months, but I'm not sure if I can include this. It's a student run organization so I truly have no idea who to put down for contact info.

Employment:
Economics TA ~30 hours over 4 months
Pharm Tech ~150 hours over 2 years
Content writer/editor for a shopping website >1000 hours over 5 years, ongoing

Research:
Ecology lab ~200 hours over 2 years
Developmental lab >1000 hours over 2 years, no pubs =(
Pharm chem lab ~95 hours over 4 months

Misc activities:
Choir ~200 hours over 3 years

So this is what I have planned for the next year before apps...

1) This summer I will be volunteering full-time for 3 days at a rural health mobile clinic. I expect ~30 hours.
2) I really need shadowing, so I will definitely be calling doctors this summer to see if anyone will let me.
3) In the fall after I move I will be applying for a volunteer position at either a hospital or free clinic. Will likely commit about 3-4 hours a week ongoing until i move again, so looking at minimum 100 hours before applications due.
4) Next summer I will be doing an internship of some sort in public health. Main interests are in maternal/reproductive health, so probably something related to that. ~300-400 hrs

Summary of my questions:
1) Where are the holes in my application? Should I try to find more clinical/non-clinical volunteering in addition to what I have planned?
2) How many shadowing hours minimum?
3) Do I need more research? (Would be in public health)

Some general stats:
top 15 undergrad
3.8c/3.7s
3.98 first semester of pharmacy school
taking the MCAT this summer
ORM

MPH isn't going to help your app.

Continue to engage in clinical experiences and service to others less fortunate than yourself.

You need to show why you're running TO Medicine, and not merely running AWAY from Pharmacy. Also, the risk you now have is that you'll bail on Medicine as well.

 

[aethermist]

MPH isn't going to help your app.

Continue to engage in clinical experiences and service to others less fortunate than yourself.

You need to show why you're running TO Medicine, and not merely running AWAY from Pharmacy. Also, the risk you now have is that you'll bail on Medicine as well.

Thank you for your insight! MPH is more for personal/long-term career interests. I realize the degree itself will not contribute to my application much, but i'm hoping that research/volunteering/leadership that I engage in during that time will add to my overall application.

 

[WIMNFamilyMed]

Is scribing for a family doctor insufficient for clinical exposure compared to CNA/EMT? I didn’t go for a CNA/EMT type job because the training process was just too long given that I’m starting grad school in the fall. Also I’m not applying this cycle. I will be applying next cycle.

Sorry I had glossed over the scribe experience and now I see that’s substantial. As always, follow the advice above from the all powerful goro. If you want an mph because you think you’ll use it get one, but yeah, it won’t change your application when you already have good grades