I had a setback; will I still be able to apply?

[Michou]

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Hello All,

I’ll be 28 this fall. I have just overcome 1-year of unemployment by accepting an ED Tech position.

The reason for my 1-year unemployment was due to my scribing job. I had very severe carpal tunnel that impaired my ability to continue working efficiently after 1.5 years. After leaving the position, the job that I had lined up fell through leaving me unemployed. Then, the application to signup for my local EMT course closed within 1 day since they had a high volume of applications (during summer). By fall 2019, I was in the course after signing up within hours of the application opening. Now, I’ll be starting as an ED Tech to join the fight against COVID-19. Given this, I wonder if I still have a shot with applying to medical school? I applied for work virtually everywhere and I finally received two job offers this past March.

Just to go over my story: (3.55c, 3.43 sci GPA) BS, biology (‘16).

150 hrs ED Volunteer
300 hrs summer research project
1780 hrs AmeriCorps
300 hrs Afterschool teacher
1,000 hrs medical Scribe
200 hrs (+30 hrs training) crisis counseling
EMT course 300 instruction hrs + 48 clinical hours

The above listed are my experiences thus far. I took the MCAT two years ago and got a 497 due to very low yield studying. I’m in a better headspace and would love to try again but I don’t want this to be futile.

 

[Damson]

With your GPA and extracurriculars, as long as you have rec letters in place, getting 500+ MCAT should get you into DO schools just fine

@Goro

 

[Goro]

Hello All,

I’ll be 28 this fall. I have just overcome 1-year of unemployment by accepting an ED Tech position.

The reason for my 1-year unemployment was due to my scribing job. I had very severe carpal tunnel that impaired my ability to continue working efficiently after 1.5 years. After leaving the position, the job that I had lined up fell through leaving me unemployed. Then, the application to signup for my local EMT course closed within 1 day since they had a high volume of applications (during summer). By fall 2019, I was in the course after signing up within hours of the application opening. Now, I’ll be starting as an ED Tech to join the fight against COVID-19. Given this, I wonder if I still have a shot with applying to medical school? I applied for work virtually everywhere and I finally received two job offers this past March.

Just to go over my story: (3.55c, 3.43 sci GPA) BS, biology (‘16).

150 hrs ED Volunteer
300 hrs summer research project
1780 hrs AmeriCorps
300 hrs Afterschool teacher
1,000 hrs medical Scribe
200 hrs (+30 hrs training) crisis counseling
EMT course 300 instruction hrs + 48 clinical hours

The above listed are my experiences thus far. I took the MCAT two years ago and got a 497 due to very low yield studying. I’m in a better headspace and would love to try again but I don’t want this to be futile.

With a 497 MCAT, I can't recommend applying to med school. You're ina major risk zone for failing out and/or failing Boards.

Your ECs are lovely. Retake the MCAT, but only when you're 100% ready for it.

 

[jhmmd]

I'm not sure if re-taking the MCAT is worth it, if you aren't scoring 500+ on the practice tests. Apply broadly--be sure to include DO schools as they look at the whole picture--and make sure that your LORs are solid.

The MCAT isn't everything, and there are other ways to demonstrate that you can succeed in med school. Can you take a course (like Kaplan, Princeton Review, etc.) to boost your MCAT score? It's probably a good investment if you're sure that medicine is for you.

You want to make sure that your application is not lacking in any area--and the two most important factors for weeding out apps are GPA & MCAT. This is how schools sort through the thousands of applications that they receive every year, before looking at the rest of one's application.

Great extracurricular activities and well-rounded app, btw. Good luck! 🙂