Need help planning out premed activities and timeline

[Medigal]

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I am an incoming senior in AZ with a good GPA (haven't calculated according to AMCAS, but it is around 3.9 based on my university calculations). I am going to be taking the MCAT in August, and have chosen to take a gap year and apply to medical schools next year after graduation because I lack good enough clinical experience and ECs. Between freshman year and sophomore before COVID-19 started, I was a volunteer at a local hospital and also a volunteer for a student club as a patient navigator where we went out to treat the underprivileged people every month for 2 hours. So, I have about 40 hours of hospital volunteering, and 10 hours of student club volunteering (I will be starting this again next semester). I am also a TA since my sophomore year and will continue to do that job until I graduate. I have minimal non-clinical volunteering experience due to not being able to find any good opportunities and/or having scheduling conflicts. I only have 4 hours of shadowing a neurosurgical oncologist and that too was just when covid hit, otherwise, I was going to have more time shadowing different specialties. I got recruited at a research lab as a volunteer in spring 2020 at my university, but surprisingly we haven't had the chance to do research at all due to the pandemic and the professor/PI is now more focused on training the PhD students than undergrads. I am going to apply to some other research positions around my university because my honors thesis depends on this. I am also going to look out for clinical experience, but I honestly cannot find anything else other than scribing, and I am not sure if hospital volunteering is going to be adequate for a clinical experience if I start it again. Another thing to mention, I am a founder and a president of an academic student club since last year and am also a board member of a faith-based club that I joined this past semester, so I have adequate leadership experience to talk about in my application.

Currently, I am stuck on what kind of opportunities I should look out for and what ECs I should be focusing on, as I only have about 1 year left to apply to medical schools. My class load will be very light, as I have taken all science classes as of now and would only be taking other major-related classes or internships. I have been feeling very demotivated due to the fact that life is not going the way I had planned it out, but I also understand the fact that other premeds might be feeling similar to what I feel. Thank you in advance and any help would be appreciated!

 

[matt32red]

I was in a very similar situation to you when I was in undergrad going into my senior year, but I actually took several years after graduating to get all my ECs in, and I am applying this cycle. I think your first priority should be more clinical experience and shadowing (which may be a bit difficult now due to the pandemic, so you may have to cold call a lot). You can look for paid clinical experiences like scribing, medical assistant, EMT, etc, which will give you a ton of hours and likely be a lot more involved than just volunteering. For nonclinical volunteering, I would find something you're passionate about that involves working with underserved populations, and just try to do it as consistently as you can. It can even be something like ~5-10 hrs per month, but it'll add up. Hopefully the research opportunity works out soon! I know firsthand that it can be kind of difficult when you're not going the traditional route, but I think it's best to have a very solid app that you're proud of before applying, since you only want to do this once.

 

[candbgirl]

I am an incoming senior in AZ with a good GPA (haven't calculated according to AMCAS, but it is around 3.9 based on my university calculations). I am going to be taking the MCAT in August, and have chosen to take a gap year and apply to medical schools next year after graduation because I lack good enough clinical experience and ECs. Between freshman year and sophomore before COVID-19 started, I was a volunteer at a local hospital and also a volunteer for a student club as a patient navigator where we went out to treat the underprivileged people every month for 2 hours. So, I have about 40 hours of hospital volunteering, and 10 hours of student club volunteering (I will be starting this again next semester). I am also a TA since my sophomore year and will continue to do that job until I graduate. I have minimal non-clinical volunteering experience due to not being able to find any good opportunities and/or having scheduling conflicts. I only have 4 hours of shadowing a neurosurgical oncologist and that too was just when covid hit, otherwise, I was going to have more time shadowing different specialties. I got recruited at a research lab as a volunteer in spring 2020 at my university, but surprisingly we haven't had the chance to do research at all due to the pandemic and the professor/PI is now more focused on training the PhD students than undergrads. I am going to apply to some other research positions around my university because my honors thesis depends on this. I am also going to look out for clinical experience, but I honestly cannot find anything else other than scribing, and I am not sure if hospital volunteering is going to be adequate for a clinical experience if I start it again. Another thing to mention, I am a founder and a president of an academic student club since last year and am also a board member of a faith-based club that I joined this past semester, so I have adequate leadership experience to talk about in my application.

Currently, I am stuck on what kind of opportunities I should look out for and what ECs I should be focusing on, as I only have about 1 year left to apply to medical schools. My class load will be very light, as I have taken all science classes as of now and would only be taking other major-related classes or internships. I have been feeling very demotivated due to the fact that life is not going the way I had planned it out, but I also understand the fact that other premeds might be feeling similar to what I feel. Thank you in advance and any help would be appreciated!

What does this mean? Med schools aren’t going away after next June. Take as long as you need to build a competitive application. If it only takes a year great. If it takes 5 years that’s okay too. You only want to apply one time with the best possible application. Good luck.

 

[Medigal]

I was in a very similar situation to you when I was in undergrad going into my senior year, but I actually took several years after graduating to get all my ECs in, and I am applying this cycle. I think your first priority should be more clinical experience and shadowing (which may be a bit difficult now due to the pandemic, so you may have to cold call a lot). You can look for paid clinical experiences like scribing, medical assistant, EMT, etc, which will give you a ton of hours and likely be a lot more involved than just volunteering. For nonclinical volunteering, I would find something you're passionate about that involves working with underserved populations, and just try to do it as consistently as you can. It can even be something like ~5-10 hrs per month, but it'll add up. Hopefully the research opportunity works out soon! I know firsthand that it can be kind of difficult when you're not going the traditional route, but I think it's best to have a very solid app that you're proud of before applying, since you only want to do this once.

Thank you for the insight! I believe I would go with the scribing route, perhaps I can then find some doctor who I can shadow by building connections with some of them. Since I am going to have a good amount of free time next academic year, I might be able to do more non-clinical volunteering as well. I also agree that applying once but when we are ready should be the way to go, so I won't be rushing if I am not prepared to apply.

 

[Medigal]

What does this mean? Med schools aren’t going away after next June. Take as long as you need to build a competitive application. If it only takes a year great. If it takes 5 years that’s okay too. You only want to apply one time with the best possible application. Good luck.

I agree, it's just that I am not sure how much is enough to be accepted to medical school. I'm not worried about the time it might take to get into medical school though. Thanks for the help!