Need Help Please

Hello,

This is my first time posting on SDN, but after a few weeks of reading threads I am really impressed with how supportive and helpful people are. I am hoping for some constructive criticism.

I applied last year, and thus far I have been unsuccessful. I understand my biggest weakness was a lack of clinical exposure. I am currently planning on reapplying. I have listed my stats below for the current cycle. I applied to 20 schools ranging from top ten to unranked. It was a bit top heavy, but had a good number of unranked schools. I applied mainly in the northeast. I submitted my primary late July and finished my secondaries from late Sept to Nov.

~Top Ten Undergraduate University
~3.7 cGPA/3.8 sGPA (Dean's List)
~36 MCAT
~6 Months as a Lab Tech
~2 Years Research (no publications)
~1 Grant for Research
~4 Years Model UN
~1 Year Dorm Council
~1 Year Teaching some classes at a High School
~TA for Undergraduate Course for 1 Semester
~Study Abroad
~Good LORs (Told by one of the places where I interviewed.)


This past year I have continued working in the lab and my current project may yield a poster or a paper, but probably after I have to leave the lab. I have also been tutoring at a high school for a year and volunteering at a local hospital where I play with children in the nursing unit. I have also shadowed several times through the year for fun. I am redoing my personal statement and should be done with it soon.

Can anyone give me an idea of whether or not the stuff I did this past year would be good enough clinical experience. Also what is good turn around time for secondaries? I was told 2 weeks, but when I received them it was an avalanche. Also if you have any other suggestions I would be more than happy to read them.

Thanks a bunch.

Nantucket Nectar

 

Thank you. I have been volunteering since October. I will have about 50 hours of clinical volunteering, 40 hours of shadowing, and about 50 hours of high school volunteering to add to my primary. Is that enough? I know its a hard question, but after going through the forum, I have seen a lot of people with like 300 hours of volunteering. Is that the norm or just the sample of people on SDN are good applicants?

 

The clinical volunteering is in the nursing unit. I talk to, feed, play with, and walk around with the patients. I get to see how the doctors and nurses interact with the patients as well. Just to clarify. The shadowing I did was with a few surgeons and clinicians at the university hospital.