I decided I wanted to be a doctor late. Need a lot of help!

[BurntFlower]

Hi everyone! So I decided pretty late that I want to be a doctor, but unfortunately I'm going to be a senior soon so I'll be applying late compared to my peers (who have applied already). I had been undecided about what I wanted to do for a long time, but after volunteering at a children's hospital in Bolivia everything clicked into place for me. However, I have not taken the MCAT yet and I am pretty clueless about the whole application process.

Profile: 23, Female. Hispanic. US Citizen.
GPA: Around 3.5
sGPA: Still have to calculate.
Majors: English & Biology.

EC's:
*Fluent in English and Spanish, and some Portuguese (does this count?)
*One summer teaching English to fifth graders in Chile.
*100+ hours helping a veterinary clinic in Bolivia.
*Red belt in Taekwondo (hoping to be a black belt by the time I graduate).
*Secretary of Student Environmental Awareness Club.
*Vice-President of THINK (Tomorrow's Hope in North Korea). We help NK refugees.
*50+ hours of helping kids in a children's hospital in Bolivia.
*some hours of volunteering in Habitat for Humanity and Student Volunteer Club.

So I have a couple of questions. When should I take the MCAT? Should I apply next year or should I work on my application some more? How can I improve my ECs? Am I on the right track?

Thank you in advance!

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[Silverfalcon]

Hi everyone! So I decided pretty late that I want to be a doctor, but unfortunately I'm going to be a senior soon so I'll be applying late compared to my peers (who have applied already). I had been undecided about what I wanted to do for a long time, but after volunteering at a children's hospital in Bolivia everything clicked into place for me. However, I have not taken the MCAT yet and I am pretty clueless about the whole application process.

Profile: 23, Female. Hispanic. US Citizen.
GPA: Around 3.5
sGPA: Still have to calculate.
Majors: English & Biology.

EC's:
*Fluent in English and Spanish, and some Portuguese (does this count?)
*One summer teaching English to fifth graders in Chile.
*100+ hours helping a veterinary clinic in Bolivia.
*Red belt in Taekwondo (hoping to be a black belt by the time I graduate).
*Secretary of Student Environmental Awareness Club.
*Vice-President of THINK (Tomorrow's Hope in North Korea). We help NK refugees.
*50+ hours of helping kids in a children's hospital in Bolivia.
*some hours of volunteering in Habitat for Humanity and Student Volunteer Club.

So I have a couple of questions. When should I take the MCAT? Should I apply next year or should I work on my application some more? How can I improve my ECs? Am I on the right track?

Thank you in advance!

Bolded statement just makes me to wonder, why not a vet? Not saying MD/DO shouldn't be a goal, but most people who go for MD/DO don't always do what you do and work at vet clinic (animal shelters do come up though).

 

[BurntFlower]

Bolded statement just makes me to wonder, why not a vet? Not saying MD/DO shouldn't be a goal, but most people who go for MD/DO don't always do what you do and work at vet clinic (animal shelters do come up though).

I was undecided about what I wanted to do, so I decided to help out a vet clinic to see if I would like being a vet. I liked it, but I would prefer being a physician more.

 

[Silverfalcon]

I was undecided about what I wanted to do, so I decided to help out a vet clinic to see if I would like being a vet. I liked it, but I would prefer being a physician more.

Great, just figured I'd ask.

You have good start. Biographic background will help you, and you also have a lot of unique volunteering experiences that will help you. Did you at least take all the prerequisites? If not, that's the first step. If so, the next would be on seeing when taking MCAT would be a good idea.

As a side note, you should still get volunteering/shadowing experiences here in US as adcoms will want to see that.

 

[BurntFlower]

Great, just figured I'd ask.

You have good start. Biographic background will help you, and you also have a lot of unique volunteering experiences that will help you. Did you at least take all the prerequisites? If not, that's the first step. If so, the next would be on seeing when taking MCAT would be a good idea.

As a side note, you should still get volunteering/shadowing experiences here in US as adcoms will want to see that.

I took all the prerequisites minus Physics 2 and Inorganic Chemistry 2 (I was dumb and took a course of Inorganic Chemistry that combined one year of Inorganic Chemistry into one fast-paced semester). So when would be the best time to take the MCAT with that in mind?
How much US volunteering/shadowing experience should I do?

Thanks for your help so far!

 

[boshtrich]

It would be too late to apply this cycle if you haven't taken an MCAT yet as the last test is in September and you need more than two weeks to prepare. If you wanted to apply for schools in the next cycle (which would allow you to start med school in Fall 2013), you should aim to take the MCAT late next spring or early summer, ie. sometime between March and June 2012. Taking it earlier allows more time if you need a retake, but personally, I though it was better, and less stressful, to just wait until early May to put in additional studying and then only have to take it once. Even if you take it in May and need a retake, they offer tests through September, so there is still plenty of time. As far as studying, I found practice tests to be the most helpful tool as they get you accustomed to the passage based questions on the real MCAT. I personally did not take a review class but people I know did and found them helpful. Based on where you are now, having taken most of the pre-reqs (make sure you take Physics 2 before the test though as there is a lot of electromagentics on the MCAT), 6-9 months should be plenty time to fully prepare.

Regarding EC's, you have some very unique experiences that will help you stand out which is good. Over the next year, I would focus on getting patient contact in the US. You don't need thousands of hours, but having about a year of good, consistent clinical experience should be sufficient given your other activities. You are definitely on the right track. Just focus on grades, MCAT and supplementing you current EC's and you should be fine for applying next year.

 

[Catalystik]

How much US volunteering/shadowing experience should I do?

About 3-4 hours a week over the next 9 months would be enough if you can get it started soon. Check into hospitals, hospice, nursing homes (if you can work with bed-bound patients, not just with folks who happen to be old), rehab centers, and clinics (ideally free-, low-income, VA, family-planning, or otherwise serving the poor, but private clinics can work too).

Average total shadowing listed is about 50 hours. Two to three docs of which one is primary care would be good.

Had you considered trying to get in a research experience. Even if only for a semester, this would be helpful to your application.

 

[BurntFlower]

It would be too late to apply this cycle if you haven't taken an MCAT yet as the last test is in September and you need more than two weeks to prepare. If you wanted to apply for schools in the next cycle (which would allow you to start med school in Fall 2013), you should aim to take the MCAT late next spring or early summer, ie. sometime between March and June 2012. Taking it earlier allows more time if you need a retake, but personally, I though it was better, and less stressful, to just wait until early May to put in additional studying and then only have to take it once. Even if you take it in May and need a retake, they offer tests through September, so there is still plenty of time. As far as studying, I found practice tests to be the most helpful tool as they get you accustomed to the passage based questions on the real MCAT. I personally did not take a review class but people I know did and found them helpful. Based on where you are now, having taken most of the pre-reqs (make sure you take Physics 2 before the test though as there is a lot of electromagentics on the MCAT), 6-9 months should be plenty time to fully prepare.

Regarding EC's, you have some very unique experiences that will help you stand out which is good. Over the next year, I would focus on getting patient contact in the US. You don't need thousands of hours, but having about a year of good, consistent clinical experience should be sufficient given your other activities. You are definitely on the right track. Just focus on grades, MCAT and supplementing you current EC's and you should be fine for applying next year.

Yeah, I already know I'm too late for this cycle. I'll try to get in next year. As for the MCAT, how hard is it to study for it while taking 16 credits of classes? Would there be enough time to apply if I decided to take it after I graduate (after May)? And how easy/hard is it to get clinical experience in the US?

Thank you so so much for all your help!

 

[Morsetlis]

About 3-4 hours a week over the next 9 months would be enough if you can get it started soon. Check into hospitals, hospice, nursing homes (if you can work with bed-bound patients, not just with folks who happen to be old), rehab centers, and clinics (ideally free-, low-income, VA, family-planning, or otherwise serving the poor, but private clinics can work too).

Average total shadowing listed is about 50 hours. Two to three docs of which one is primary care would be good.

Had you considered trying to get in a research experience. Even if only for a semester, this would be helpful to your application.

Follow this guideline, but consider that getting a good MCAT + more clinical/shadowing is more important than seriously researching. That IS, you should try to spend 100-200 hours in a lab, just to get acquainted (this won't lead to any worthwhile research, but at least you'll know where the ethanol is kept)... but you shouldn't try to start any Master's projects if you want to apply next year.

Of course, you're more than welcome to get a Master's and publish something to enhance your application. I do think that you can get into medical school, though, with a good MCAT.

Remember, MCAT is your most important academic determinant at this point.

It is not hard to study for, depending on how well you did in your bio/phys/chem/ochem classes. The introductory + the first half the year for the second semester are all that's required. You MUST MUST MUST spend a lot of time practicing for verbal reasoning. I recommend a Kaplan/Examkrackers/etc review course, if not the lectures, then at least the books. If you did well in the prereq courses, you will do well on the MCAT since it's just review from those courses. If you find that you don't know what a carbocation is, what the NMR spectra of a -CH3 look like, or how a nucleotide analog drug works, then ... it might take a while. Remember, the MCAT is more logical than memorization, but SOME things have to be memorized.

 

[BurntFlower]

About 3-4 hours a week over the next 9 months would be enough if you can get it started soon. Check into hospitals, hospice, nursing homes (if you can work with bed-bound patients, not just with folks who happen to be old), rehab centers, and clinics (ideally free-, low-income, VA, family-planning, or otherwise serving the poor, but private clinics can work too).

Average total shadowing listed is about 50 hours. Two to three docs of which one is primary care would be good.

Had you considered trying to get in a research experience. Even if only for a semester, this would be helpful to your application.

Okay, I'll first go look for some clinical experience in a hospital. In general, are doctors open to students shadowing them and what would be the best way to ask?

Yes, I have considered getting some research experience. Does it have to be medical-related or can it be in any field? I think one professor is looking for people who are willing to work with insects in lab.

And I know this is off-topic, but your avatar is very cute.

Thank you for your help!

 

[Morsetlis]

Any field is fine. Medically related is better.

 

[Catalystik]

1) In general, are doctors open to students shadowing them and what would be the best way to ask?

2) And I know this is off-topic, but your avatar is very cute.

1) This varies widely. You can check with your own doc and those of your parents. Or parents of friends. Or with docs you meet while serving in clinical areas. Or with your premed advising office, in case they have a list of willing physicians. Or you can cold call the offices of strangers and ask.

2) She is my rescued feral kitten whom I caught in a rare moment of not displaying disgust at being forced to pose in American Girl Doll glasses.

 

[sector9]

2) She is my rescued feral kitten whom I caught in a rare moment of not displaying disgust at being forced to pose in American Girl Doll glasses.

This is great.

Back on topic, here is some advice I gave a while ago about finding doctors to shadow (assuming you don't have any connections in the area, since having connections and networking is really the best way to do it)
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=11190151&post11190151

 

[PinkpanthaMD]

23 yo??? What took you so long? LOL After reading your title I was anticipating reading about a 45yo.

 

[Morsetlis]

23 yo??? What took you so long? LOL After reading your title I was anticipating reading about a 45yo.

Helping North Korean kids takes time, you know.

 

[BurntFlower]

1) This varies widely. You can check with your own doc and those of your parents. Or parents of friends. Or with docs you meet while serving in clinical areas. Or with your premed advising office, in case they have a list of willing physicians. Or you can cold call the offices of strangers and ask.

2) She is my rescued feral kitten whom I caught in a rare moment of not displaying disgust at being forced to pose in American Girl Doll glasses.

1). All right, I'll go ask the pre-med advising office. Unfortunately, my doctor is in Bolivia, though I could ask to shadow him when I return.

2). She is ADORABLE!

Thank you, Catalystik!

 

[BurntFlower]

This is great.

Back on topic, here is some advice I gave a while ago about finding doctors to shadow (assuming you don't have any connections in the area, since having connections and networking is really the best way to do it)
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=11190151&post11190151

I read your post in that thread, and it was very useful! Thank you!

 

[BurntFlower]

Helping North Korean kids takes time, you know.