Medical Is my application competitive enough to apply this upcoming Cccle(2021-2022)?

[TheBoneDoctah]

Hello!

I have asked multiple pre-health advisors on whether or not I should apply for the next cycle(2021-2022). There has not been a general consensus between my pre-health advisors, and I would like to get the opinion of an expert on my application. I've been told that my application would be strong enough to apply by June 2021(with some added extracurriculars), and I've also been told by a different advisor that I should start to consider other careers. As you can tell, I'm pretty confused about where I currently stand and I wanted to hear an opinion that may have more merit when it comes to applying to medical school. Any advice on whether I would be competitive enough to apply for this upcoming cycle or not would be greatly appreciated!

Context: I am debating on whether I should apply in the 2021-2022 cycle, or take an additional gap year, take the MCAT in summer 2021 and apply for the 2022-2023 cycle. If I took an additional gap year, I would most likely perform research throughout it.

I am strongly considering applying for this upcoming cycle, as one of my advisors stated that I may have an advantage since I have a significant amount of clinical experience when compared to others, due to the pandemic limiting clinical experience for a majority of students. Additionally, as a lower-income student, I would really prefer to attend interviews virtually to cut down on the cost of any prospective travel.

*I should note that I am aiming to be competitive for California schools(particularly the upper UC schools). With that being said, I fully acknowledge that my competitiveness for this tier of school is heavily dependent upon my performance on the MCAT. However, I wanted to see how my extracurriculars stack up for this group of schools, as this is all that I can provide at the moment.

Here's a bit about my application:
CC -> T25 Transfer(spent 1 year at CC)
Graduating May 2021 with a BS

cGPA: 3.74
sGPA: 3.63

*(Strong chance that my cGPA will be 3.78 and sGPA will be 3.68 when I graduate, as I have a very light upcoming semester)

MCAT: Aiming to take it in April 2021

First-generation college student, low SES/FAP recipient, strong chance will be applying as disadvantaged(will most likely follow up with an additional post)
CA resident

Clinical Experience:
620 hours volunteering in a community hospital(in-depth volunteering experience within multiple departments, with duties and responsibilities very similar to a CNA)

Research:
150 hours in a basic science lab (PI stated that my project will likely result in a publication by the time I graduate)
My responsibilities for my research project have skyrocketed recently and I'm expecting ~500 hours by June.

Nonclinical Volunteering:
105 hours at pet shelter (~150 hours by June)
50 hours creating health education videos for students at a nearby under-resourced elementary school
2 hours at a homeless shelter (program cut volunteer activity due to COVID, but the program is accepting volunteers again starting in February. Estimating ~100 hours by June)
0 hours currently for Health Insurance Assistant at community hospital (program stopped operations due to COVID, but I have been notified that the program is going to resume very soon. Estimating ~200 hours by the time I apply)

Shadowing: ~35 hours of informal shadowing [Anesthesiologist, Internal Medicine, Intensivist, and Emergency Medicine] (i.e. physicians that I've spoken with and observed when I had free time while volunteering at the hospital). I'm hoping to get a formal shadowing experience before June, but it depends on the circumstances surrounding COVID.

Leadership:
400 hours as a liaison between hospital volunteers and health staff in multiple departments

Paid:
100 hours as a tutor for underperforming students at an elementary school in an under-resourced area(~150 hours by June)

Other ECs:
Peer mentor: 10 hours(~50 hours by June)

Awards:
First-generation college student fellowship

After viewing my application, do you think it would be advantageous for me to apply this upcoming cycle (2021-2022), or would it be better to take an additional gap year and apply the following cycle(2022-2023), especially considering the tier of school that I am targeting? Also, is there anything that should improve on by the time I apply? Thank you very much for your time and opinion!!

I think you have a solid application. As you said, your weak area (right now) is your non-clinical volunteering, but if you end up getting the hours you're projecting before you apply, that would look good as well. Your GPA is slightly low for the upper UC schools as well.

California is a different beast for medical school. Even if you had a 4.0 and 520 MCAT there is always a good chance of not getting into California schools as a lot of it is a crapshoot. As we do with all applicants, your MAIN GOAL should be getting into medical school, period. Definitely throw your app at the UC schools, but understand there's a good chance you may not get love.

Also, we really won't know your competitiveness until you get your MCAT score as this is literally a huge chunk of your app.

So...in conclusion, don't listen to your advisors as a lot of the time, they don't give sound advice. I would take the MCAT (and make sure you are ready for it. Only take it once you are scoring higher than your goal score), increase your non-clinical hours, and apply broadly to MD schools (Cali and OOS) and throw in a few established DO schools. This will set you up for your best shot at a successful cycle. I personally don't think you need a gap year (unless you bomb the MCAT and need to retake).

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[Mr.Smile12]

You need an MCAT; take it once you are confident in your prep. Network with schools you'd like to consider especially the OOS, and find some California-resident med students attending those schools through connections with AMSA or SNMA. You need to know these schools beyond their website patinas.