In Need of Some Guidance

[OneDayMaybe]

Alright guys, I need some big time advice.

I started off as a biochem major in college 2 years ago, finished freshman year with a 3.2 due to slacking. First semester of sophomore uear was a wreck and I fell into depression and got a D+ in Orgo I and finished with a 3.1.

I decided to transfer over the winter break and came back strong at my school and am finishing with a 3.7-3.8 gpa.

I am retaking Orgo I next semester and am determined this time around. I still have to take Biochem I and 2, physics 2, microbio, etc.

I am kind of lost as I do not know a good timeline to apply for med school.
When should I take the MCAT?

I currently have 60 hours of clinical volunteering, no shadowing, and little to no EC’s.

I AM going to change for the better, I just need some advice on where and how to start going for good.

iI’ll appreciate any help I can get, so please comment anything you think would help!

I appreciate you guys!

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[Rogue42]

So, you're at the end of your Junior year, correct?

The logical - and often most given and correct - advice is to tell you to take the MCAT no earlier than when you are 100% ready to take it. However, I'll divulge some trade secrets;

For MD, you usually want to have your entire application - MCAT and all - by September 1st. The earlier, the better. Usually late July and early August is solid. Anything in June is GOLD. The latest you could take an MCAT and be ready for submission by September 1st is late July (all depending on the return date for the score). For DO, you have until Thanksgiving to submit and still be alright. Granted, that is pushing it in my books. But most schools won't accept an MCAT any later than the last given in September. So, remember that. Typically, three solid months of MCAT prep will put you into a ballpark of knowing what you will score and usually a good enough score to get you in *somewhere.* But again, it really is dependent on you.

As far as the rest of your application; you're going to need, in my opinion, a minimum of 50 hours of shadowing, 100 hours of volunteer work to really be seen as a legitimate application.

Assuming you want to go to medical school immediately after graduating undergraduate work - well, bad news. I do not think you have the time to study the MCAT, take the test, get the volunteering, get the shadowing, and all of the recommendation letters by late July. You could hypothetically do it, but I think it would be hard pressed to do all of those things the way they need to be done to be competitive. But again, you can try it.

I believe that over the next year you could focus on making A's or simply keeping your GPA high, study the MCAT, volunteer a couple of weekends (one saturday a month for 8 hours ends up being 400 hours), shadowing a couple of solid times, and try to do some other things like tutor or be a TA or just something else to show you were involved. By next year at this time, you will have an application that is respectable so long as you can make the MCAT.

Best of luck, young grasshopper.

 

[Goro]

Alright guys, I need some big time advice.

I started off as a biochem major in college 2 years ago, finished freshman year with a 3.2 due to slacking. First semester of sophomore uear was a wreck and I fell into depression and got a D+ in Orgo I and finished with a 3.1.

I decided to transfer over the winter break and came back strong at my school and am finishing with a 3.7-3.8 gpa.

I am retaking Orgo I next semester and am determined this time around. I still have to take Biochem I and 2, physics 2, microbio, etc.

I am kind of lost as I do not know a good timeline to apply for med school.
When should I take the MCAT?

I currently have 60 hours of clinical volunteering, no shadowing, and little to no EC’s.

I AM going to change for the better, I just need some advice on where and how to start going for good.

iI’ll appreciate any help I can get, so please comment anything you think would help!

I appreciate you guys!

I'd say that you're probably 1-2 years out from applying.

You take the MCAT when you're 100% ready for it.

You need 50+ hours of shadowing; > 150 hrs on non-clinical volunteering, and > 150 hrs of clinical exposure, either via employment or volunteering.

Read this too:
Med School Rx: Getting In, Getting Through, and Getting On with Doctoring Original Edition by Walter Hartwig
ISBN-13: 978-1607140627
ISBN-10: 1607140624

 

[DrPatrickStar]

Wow, I feel like I was in your exact same shoes and it's crazy as I was also a biochem major who got his first D in orgo 1 haha.

My GPA didn't trend up until my last two years just like yours and most of my ECs were done during that time as well.

In my eyes, you are a long ways of applying and this is ok. Most of those classes you have left are important to take before you start MCAT studying. The MCAT will be a beast and you should ideally have a few months off to prepare for it once all of your classes needed for it are complete. You also are severely lacking in ECs where I felt this was the stronger part of my application and what helped me get recognized by schools. Join some clubs! Joining a club you would be interested in will be great for you to enjoy the time with and have something to write about for your application. It does not have to a pre-med club. I also volunteered at my local hospital for four hours a day, once a week (not a huge time commitment) but did so for a long time. Finding a doctor to shadow can be difficult but you can make some connections by volunteering or working at places where doctors are nearby. I also tutored when I could and found some meaningful work experiences as I always had to hold down a job.

Your grades and MCAT are priority. Make sure your time off is being spent well on yourself and on some extracurriculars you enjoy doing. I only had one EC that I didn't like and this was due to a hostile work environment, not because I didn't appreciate the work.

Don't shy away from taking an extra year if you need to, as I did this. Take your time and get through it because this is a marathon and not a sprint. You are already improving yourself so all of the other things you need should be cake with some effort.

 

[Isoval]

A few additions to @Rogue42's advice:

As far as the rest of your application; you're going to need, in my opinion, a minimum of 50 hours of shadowing, 100 hours of volunteer work to really be seen as a legitimate application.

Personally, I had no shadowing (in college; I had some from high school which was alluded to in my essays), roughly 220 hours of clinical volunteering, and about 200 hours of non-clinical volunteering. I received 4 interviews for 9 applications (in Texas, 3 MD 1 DO). Your mileage is going to vary here. Generally speaking, you can forego shadowing if you have significant clinical volunteering with patient contact. Furthermore, it seems that significant volunteering opportunities, like Alternative Spring Break, have a greater impact than their 35/40-hour designation would otherwise imply. I went on two (once my Junior year and once my Senior year) and would highly recommend even just for the experience.

Assuming you want to go to medical school immediately after graduating undergraduate work - well, bad news. I do not think you have the time to study the MCAT, take the test, get the volunteering, get the shadowing, and all of the recommendation letters by late July. You could hypothetically do it, but I think it would be hard pressed to do all of those things the way they need to be done to be competitive. But again, you can try it.

I believe that over the next year you could focus on making A's or simply keeping your GPA high, study the MCAT, volunteer a couple of weekends (one saturday a month for 8 hours ends up being 400 hours), shadowing a couple of solid times, and try to do some other things like tutor or be a TA or just something else to show you were involved. By next year at this time, you will have an application that is respectable so long as you can make the MCAT.

I agree with this pretty whole-heartedly. Medical schools aren't going to get up and run away from you. You've got functionally infinite time to apply to medical school. No need to rush. Take the MCAT when you're ready, and no sooner. If you can study for a month and you genuinely feel like you're going to knock it out of the park, take it then. If you study for five months and still don't feel ready, then study more and take it when you feel ready.

You absolutely need clinical experience of some sort (shadowing, scribing, clinical volunteering) and non-clinical volunteering. These are huge red flags if your application lacks them. I would go so far as saying it would be worse to apply without these two categories filled out than it would be to get, say, a 498 on the MCAT. Not that you should pick - do both - but understand the impact these categories make.

Good luck!

 

[OneDayMaybe]

So, you're at the end of your Junior year, correct?

The logical - and often most given and correct - advice is to tell you to take the MCAT no earlier than when you are 100% ready to take it. However, I'll divulge some trade secrets;

For MD, you usually want to have your entire application - MCAT and all - by September 1st. The earlier, the better. Usually late July and early August is solid. Anything in June is GOLD. The latest you could take an MCAT and be ready for submission by September 1st is late July (all depending on the return date for the score). For DO, you have until Thanksgiving to submit and still be alright. Granted, that is pushing it in my books. But most schools won't accept an MCAT any later than the last given in September. So, remember that. Typically, three solid months of MCAT prep will put you into a ballpark of knowing what you will score and usually a good enough score to get you in *somewhere.* But again, it really is dependent on you.

As far as the rest of your application; you're going to need, in my opinion, a minimum of 50 hours of shadowing, 100 hours of volunteer work to really be seen as a legitimate application.

Assuming you want to go to medical school immediately after graduating undergraduate work - well, bad news. I do not think you have the time to study the MCAT, take the test, get the volunteering, get the shadowing, and all of the recommendation letters by late July. You could hypothetically do it, but I think it would be hard pressed to do all of those things the way they need to be done to be competitive. But again, you can try it.

I believe that over the next year you could focus on making A's or simply keeping your GPA high, study the MCAT, volunteer a couple of weekends (one saturday a month for 8 hours ends up being 400 hours), shadowing a couple of solid times, and try to do some other things like tutor or be a TA or just something else to show you were involved. By next year at this time, you will have an application that is respectable so long as you can make the MCAT.

Best of luck, young grasshopper.

I just finished my Sophomore year, so I am going into junior year. Thank you for all your advice, I definitely accepted a gap year though.

 

[OneDayMaybe]

Wow, I feel like I was in your exact same shoes and it's crazy as I was also a biochem major who got his first D in orgo 1 haha.

My GPA didn't trend up until my last two years just like yours and most of my ECs were done during that time as well.

In my eyes, you are a long ways of applying and this is ok. Most of those classes you have left are important to take before you start MCAT studying. The MCAT will be a beast and you should ideally have a few months off to prepare for it once all of your classes needed for it are complete. You also are severely lacking in ECs where I felt this was the stronger part of my application and what helped me get recognized by schools. Join some clubs! Joining a club you would be interested in will be great for you to enjoy the time with and have something to write about for your application. It does not have to a pre-med club. I also volunteered at my local hospital for four hours a day, once a week (not a huge time commitment) but did so for a long time. Finding a doctor to shadow can be difficult but you can make some connections by volunteering or working at places where doctors are nearby. I also tutored when I could and found some meaningful work experiences as I always had to hold down a job.

Your grades and MCAT are priority. Make sure your time off is being spent well on yourself and on some extracurriculars you enjoy doing. I only had one EC that I didn't like and this was due to a hostile work environment, not because I didn't appreciate the work.

Don't shy away from taking an extra year if you need to, as I did this. Take your time and get through it because this is a marathon and not a sprint. You are already improving yourself so all of the other things you need should be cake with some effort.

Thank you for the help! I feel at a standstill right now as my volunteering got taken away due to what's going on. I am just so lost on getting in my EC's. I'll work on getting into a club next year and making connections for sure.