Military -> MD Seeking guidance to boost application

[60pilot]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hello all! I'm about 1.5 years out from applying to med school (looking to matriculate in fall 2027), and I'm looking for the best way(s) to improve/bolster my application. I'm currently serving in the Army and still have about a year left on my contract. My biggest concern is the large gap between college, during which I completed most of the parts of my application, and now. The interim years have a lot of Army stuff, leadership experiences, etc, but not a lot of academic content. I am working full time, so I'm trying to focus my efforts toward one specific aspect at a time.

1. cGPA and sGPA (not officially calculated) cGPA 3.73 sGPA 3.84.
2. MCAT 514 (128/128/129/129) in September 2024 --> should I retake? I don't think I'll get as much of a break with my job as I did before the last one, so studying might be challenging but still doable.
3. State of residence: Colorado
4. Asian + White
5. Graduated from a military service academy in 2019 and majored in Kinesiology with a pre-med focus. I completed all of my STEM courses, to include all of the prerequisite classes in 2018/2019. Should I retake any classes to prove continuing academic excellence? I'm currently stationed overseas, so my options for coursework are all virtual. I took a (mandatory) collegiate leadership class in 2024.
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer).
   1. ~1200h National Ski Patrol OEC technician and instructor (volunteer) 2015-2019
7. Research experience.
   1. ~300h - Senior Capstone Project (Military fitness testing)
   2. ~120h Research assistant (TBI protein analysis)
8. Shadowing (66h total) 2016-2019. Should I shadow more to improve recency?
   1. Dermatology 4h
   2. Anesthesiology 12h
   3. General / Orthopedic / Specialized Surgery 27h
   4. Physical Therapy / Occupational Therapy 3h
   5. Emergency Medicine 8h
   6. Internal Medicine 6h
   7. Neurology 4h
   8. Pharmacy 2h
9. Non-clinical volunteering n/a
10. 6 years military service as a helicopter pilot & officer
    1. 2x non-combat deployments to Europe
    2. 2x yrs service in Korea
    3. Unit master fitness trainer
11. Military awards related to the above

School List: Currently hoping for Boston area or DC area to accommodate my husband's work.
Reach (big reach)
Harvard
Boston University
Hopkins
UVA
Stanford
Icahn SOM

Target
Georgetown
Colorado
Tufts
Dartmouth
Albert Einstein

Baseline
George Washington
USUHS
Quinnipiac
VA Commonwealth

Thanks for your help!

 

[Faha]

You do not need to retake a MCAT of 514.
You do need 200+ hours of clinical volunteering/employment with patient contact (not ski patrol)
You do need 200+ hours of non clinical volunteering such as food bank or homeless shelter (many schools screen at 150 hours)
I suggest these schools if you have those hours:
Dartmouth
Brown
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Boston University
Tufts
UMass
Albany
Hofstra
Einstein (free tuition)
New York Medical College
Mount Sinai
Rochester
Hackensack
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
George Washington
Georgetown
Virginia Commonwealth
USUHS
Wake Forest
Miami
USF Morsani
Tulane
TCU
Rosalind Franklin
Iowa
Colorado
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State

 

[60pilot]

You do not need to retake a MCAT of 514.
You do need 200+ hours of clinical volunteering/employment with patient contact (not ski patrol)
You do need 200+ hours of non clinical volunteering such as food bank or homeless shelter (many schools screen at 150 hours)
I suggest these schools if you have those hours:
Dartmouth
Brown
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Boston University
Tufts
UMass
Albany
Hofstra
Einstein (free tuition)
New York Medical College
Mount Sinai
Rochester
Hackensack
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
George Washington
Georgetown
Virginia Commonwealth
USUHS
Wake Forest
Miami
USF Morsani
Tulane
TCU
Rosalind Franklin
Iowa
Colorado
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State

Thank you! I'm looking into more clinical volunteering opportunities for the next couple of years, but will the Ski Patrol work (which includes ~120h ea. volunteering in support of Special Olympics, local Boy Scout events, and community sports events) satisfy the non-clinical volunteering requirement, or does the volunteering need to be something more needs-based e.g. food bank, homeless shelter, etc? I also neglected to include ~100h volunteering with unit Soldier-Family Readiness Groups (does this get roped in to military service?) and ~80h Kiwanis-led volunteering I completed in high school (a long time ago)

 

[Faha]

The non clinical volunteering should be need based such as food bank, homeless shelter.

 

[Just Call Me Doc]

No offense to @Faha, but I would take the volunteering requirements with a grain of salt in your case. While these guidelines are a good place for a traditional applicant to start, I have found from my experience and observations that it is hard to quantify a person's chances for matriculation as a simple formula, particularly the more non-traditional the applicant happens to be. Some say that you CAN'T get into a top 20 school with a sub 3.5 GPA but I'm proof that is quite possible. I've found even the random luck of who you interview with can make or break your acceptance to a program, particularly with military veterans (even had an interviewer ask directly how I can justify going into medicine when I was previously in a job with the "purpose of killing people". You can guess I didn't get into that school but 9 other ones accepted me). For traditional applicants, they tend to be fighting a whole ocean of kids that on paper look almost identical to each other and are finding ways to make themselves stand out so every little things helps. As a female (or even better LGBTQ) Blackhawk pilot, you already will stand out amongst the crowd. The rest is backing it up with the stats.

I wouldn't retake your MCAT unless you had a high probability of scoring higher (which sounds like wouldn't be the case). I definitely wouldn't retake classes. The primary reason for clinical shadowing, in my opinion, is so that admissions committees can be sure you understand the realities of medicine and life as a doctor. If you can answer why medicine in a realistic and logical way your shadowing experience should suffice (I had absolutely no "shadowing" experience but was a Navy Corpsman). As an older applicant, admissions should also give you some grace as you're more mature than the standard applicant. Regarding non-clinical volunteering, many admins will weigh signing up to serve your country for six years much more heavily then a few days of working in a soup kitchen.

Will additional volunteering/shadowing hours, higher MCAT, or more classes help? Sure, but the question is if it's worth the time and money that much of these will cost. Since you're restricted geographically, it becomes a bit tougher since your pool is smaller so you'll have to do the math yourself, but don't see more volunteering time making as much of a dent as for other applicants. I would add the Soldier-Family Readiness Group stuff but not the high school volunteering.

You still have a little time, but after you submit your med school applications look up the Pat Tillman Scholarship. It's a great network of very inspiring veterans (poster boy is the legendary Jonny Kim) and the money is nice. Think you'd be a great candidate!

Good luck and Godspeed!

 

[Wamuu]

@Just Call Me Doc has an awesome response. I too had a lower-than-normal GPA and very few non-medical volunteering hours, but I worked my ass off for peanuts for a few years in a hospital system and had a Nike swoosh-shaped trend academically.

I also just wanted to let you know I had a good chuckle at your school list because of where Georgetown and Einstein are listed. I think it's easier to find an actual unicorn than a G-Town med student and acceptances for Einstein will be harder to come by now that they have free COA.

 

[coffeeconnoisseur]

Also Military, went through 2 application cycles. Your shadowing and Ski patrol will likely be too far back to be considered relevant experience. Based on applicant and reapplicant workshops from different schools, you will want recent experience. You can definitely pull from the past experiences when responding, but in terms of "is the applicant still serious about school" type of questions, you'll want to demonstrate recent exposure.

As far as classes go, I don't think it's necessary to retake as the recent MCAT (don't retake) demonstrates academic understanding. As long as you have classes on record that meet the requirements, you're fine.

You should also start volunteering again - schools care about continuity, not sheer numbers. Do you need 200? Not necessarily. Will it help to volunteer over time? Absolutely.

Don't forget you're more than your military experience.

 

[esob]

Having gone through the process as a veteran and spoken with other veterans, as well as serving on an ADCOM, I would also agree that the community service hours requirement for most veterans is a non-starter. Yes, technically, I'm sure that some institutions may screen in some haphazard manner that might auto-screen you out. However, any institution that doesn't give you a pass on community requirements after 6 yrs of service is a veteran-unfriendly institution and likely a poor fit for you. I don't know anyone involved in the process who seriously considers food bank hours and active duty service in the same category of extracurricular activities.

Now, will it help...Maybe. Do I know a single physician who does community service? A couple who do physician-centered gigs as an adjunct to their positions at the medical school (and every one of them endorses some level of burnout related to their volunteer time). I've met zero physicians who do any non-medical community service, so I find the whole premise a bit of a ruse.