Contradition
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- Sep 4, 2023
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Title. For over a year after my graduation in 2020 (philosophy BA), I did essentially nothing. I can cite environmental factors, like COVID-19 and depression, or not having a car (or meaningful public transportation where I live), or the fact that I hadn't yet decided to switch tracks, but that doesn't change the fact that I did nothing. Furthermore, after starting a DIY postbacc, I moved at a glacial pace and studied only part-time for a few semesters without major extracurriculars on the side. I didn't really get my act together until I blew organic chemistry 1 out of the water and realized I have at least the aptitude for this. After this I started working as a tutor, volunteering (community service tutoring underserved people struggling with English literacy and doing clerical support for a homeless shelter's monthly free clinic, clinical volunteering in an emergency department), working as a scribe, and taking full-time or overtime course loads. I still have no research exposure. I have not taken the MCAT yet but with the amount of time I'm dedicating to study for it (I'll be taking it in April and have already started the whole 9 yards of Kaplan content review, UWorld, Anki, and AAMC materials) and a pre-content-review half-length diagnostic benchmark of 516 (a fluke? I don't know) I don't think a 520+ score is out of reach. I have to earn that, though, so we'll see. For what it's worth, GPA was 3.74 in my Philosophy BA and 4.00 in the DIY postbacc, with a cGPA of 3.83 between the two. It could be better, but my problem as I see it is extracurricular.
I don't want to drag the post out much longer, but my basic question is whether what I've done so far and plan to continue doing/add on (in particular, I plan to earn an EMT certification after I take the MCAT and start working/volunteering in a more hands-on clinical way, particularly with underserved populations) has a chance of making up for my previous indolence in the eyes of adcoms. Any insight or advice would be appreciated.
I don't want to drag the post out much longer, but my basic question is whether what I've done so far and plan to continue doing/add on (in particular, I plan to earn an EMT certification after I take the MCAT and start working/volunteering in a more hands-on clinical way, particularly with underserved populations) has a chance of making up for my previous indolence in the eyes of adcoms. Any insight or advice would be appreciated.