Late Primary or Next Cycle

[psp251]

Hi,

I was hoping to get your guys' thoughts on my situation. My stats are 3.95/36 but I'm a California applicant. I took the MCAT in June 2014, so it would be accepted this year and next. However, my extracurriculars are average and I don't have shadowing under my belt. I'm hoping to finish and submit my primary by 8/9 but that's the earliest I think I'd be able to finish. Should I apply "late" or just wait for next cycle? Thanks in advance for the advice!

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[chewy2008]

Hi,

I was hoping to get your guys' thoughts on my situation. My stats are 3.95/36 but I'm a California applicant. I took the MCAT in June 2014, so it would be accepted this year and next. However, my extracurriculars are average and I don't have shadowing under my belt. I'm hoping to finish and submit my primary by 8/9 but that's the earliest I think I'd be able to finish. Should I apply "late" or just wait for next cycle? Thanks in advance for the advice!

You have great stats, but could use the extra year to improve on your ECs and get some shadowing done. Without any shadowing, how can you demonstrate to the admissions committee what it would be like to be a doctor? After you do, you will have a better idea of why you want to be a doctor and express this during your interviews. Also your application would be early (assuming you get your primary, secondaries, and LORs in), giving you the best advantage over other applicants with similar stats as yours. I'd recommend waiting another year, which really is nothing compared to how long you need to become a doctor.

 

[tea guzzling traveler]

Also would recommend another year. Trust me, the process is really expensive, and you only want to shell out that much once. Verification times just take longer and longer the later you are in the cycle, so you would probably be complete mid September, which would definitely be late.

I feel you though as a fellow CA applicant. Feel free to watch my cycle through MDapps as I have fairly similar stats.

 

[Banco]

Ideally it would be best to wait until next cycle and improve your activities.

BUT to play devil's advocate, shadowing is not absolutely necessary if you have clinical exposure through a different means. And yes it is on the late side but not lethal; you also have amazing stats. So I think if you applied broadly you could still get in this cycle, but maybe not to your top choices.

It really depends on what you mean by "average ECs".

 

[psp251]

My EC's:

300 hours clinical volunteering
3 years mentoring/tutoring at an elementary school
Counselor at summer camp for 3 years
1.5 years research + 2 publications
Various clubs

I always read about all of the amazing stuff that other people do, so I'm pretty sure that these are average EC's, especially for a California resident.

Besides shadowing, are there any obvious holes in my resume? I've just never felt the need to go out and do something just for the sake of having it on my application; I actually enjoyed all of the EC's I've done.

 

[Banco]

Lol "average". Dude those ECs are great. Shadowing is nice as a checkbox but if you can convince adcoms that you know what a doctor's day is like then it isn't necessary. You could probably find someone to shadow before August 9th haha. If you want to apply this cycle, I give you the green light - just make sure to have a well balanced list (meaning apply to top, mid, and lower tiers).

From @gyngyn in another thread regarding shadowing: "About 20% of our acceptees have none. They have shown that they know what they are getting into in other ways."

But ideally you would have submitted as early as possible. Why didn't you submit this year in June?

 

[Doug Underhill]

Instead of applying late with average ECs, why not apply day 1 with above average ECs? This is the choice you'll have to make for your app cycle.

 

[psp251]

Thank you for the advice, everyone! Looks like I have a lot of thinking to do lol

I basically just started a new job in the spring and I found that I didn't have as much free time to work on the essays as I wanted. Overall, I think I just made bad decisions and surprise, it's come back to bite me in the ass haha.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Take a year off because you want to take a year off. I personally think it is a good idea to in many cases, but this application is fine for this cycle or next. No reason to not want to take a year off and decide to just because you think you need to for the sake of your app; that's false. Sure, applying late will hurt a little but you'll still have II's lined up with a broad list.

 

[psp251]

Thank you everyone for your help and advice; I really appreciate it!

 

[heebeejeebies]

I have the exact(ish) same stats and I'm scrambling to get all my secondaries in by August 7th. Next year.

 

[psp251]

Haha I feel ya, man.