Is AmeriCorps substantial improvement?

[gadgor]

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[ThoracicGuy]

Hi everyone! Long story short, I was rejected from my only interview at my state school last cycle. My stats are 3.6/510 (but with a 125 in biochem/bio section). I have 1000 volunteer/employment hours in the clinical field, 2.5 years in a research with a publication, and am currently serving in AmeriCorps. I started AmeriCorps back in December and have about 900 hours in community service hours. Do you think my AmeriCorps experience is enough improvement for me to apply again this cycle?

I suspect there is something else in your application that is holding you up... It's not volunteering.

 

[Catalystik]

Hi everyone! Long story short, I was rejected from my only interview at my state school last cycle. My stats are 3.6/510 (but with a 125 in biochem/bio section). I have 1000 volunteer/employment hours in the clinical field, 2.5 years in a research with a publication, and am currently serving in AmeriCorps. I started AmeriCorps back in December and have about 900 hours in community service hours. Do you think my AmeriCorps experience is enough improvement for me to apply again this cycle?

Have you given a thought to retaking the MCAT to raise that BBFLS?

 

[Catalystik]

Hmm I have, and I asked the same question to two schools during my feedback sessions. They did not mention anything.

Do you think it's a red flag? A little bit of me feel like it would be a risk to retake an overall ok score.

I think it's concerning, however all schools don't look at individual subscores. You might try to seek those out.

Did you have little to no volunteer/community service hours on your first application?

 

[deleted480308]

Hi everyone! Long story short, I was rejected from my only interview at my state school last cycle. My stats are 3.6/510 (but with a 125 in biochem/bio section). I have 1000 volunteer/employment hours in the clinical field, 2.5 years in a research with a publication, and am currently serving in AmeriCorps. I started AmeriCorps back in December and have about 900 hours in community service hours. Do you think my AmeriCorps experience is enough improvement for me to apply again this cycle?

Did you applu DO?

 

[Catalystik]

am currently serving in AmeriCorps. I started AmeriCorps back in December and have about 900 hours in community service hours. Do you think my AmeriCorps experience is enough improvement for me to apply again this cycle?

I had . . . . only about 50 non-clinical volunteering. I'm aiming for service oriented schools, and I figured raising my non clinical service could help.

I would consider that a substantial improvement.

Will you be continuing through the application cycle?

 

[Catalystik]

1) I only signed up for a 6 month term and planned on leaving after that service was over (due to rumors of the program being cut). Do you think it would look bad if I left but continued volunteering at the service site throughout the cycle?

2) Also, should I wait on applying this cycle and retake the MCAT? Your comment about my BB score worries me a bit haha.

1) If you aim to appeal to service-oriented schools, I think you would be well served to continue providing community service during the cycle, for the sake of Secondaries, update letters (where allowed), and interview conversations. Even better if it's at the same site or serving a similar population with the same service.

2) Applying late in the cycle would disadvantage you. Retaking the MCAT without significant preparation and scoring the same or lower will act against you, too. Some solutions: wait til next cycle when you'll have very substantial service completed and many months to prepare to kill the MCAT. Or, apply now, but add some DO schools to your list.

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

i did two years of americorps during my years as a reapplicant and it was a huge asset in the interview process. I had strong and meaningful stories about working in the community, I had developed much stronger communication skills, and I matured as an applicant. really work hard in your AC year to get a lot out of it though. some people cruise by, but stay late and work hard. also gives you time to get some good clinical experience.