Next Steps/what should I be doing

[tansky]

TLDR- What, in light of certain circumstances, can I be doing in order to progress my application, and what score should I achieve on my MCAT to be considered for mid tier MD?

Caucasian male 22, 4 year student athlete, 3.65 GPA (upward, almost all Bs from freshman year), 506 MCAT (retaking, bombed CARS but was 128 in other sections),
was a supervisor at a group home for several years,
1 year research with submitted poster,
shadowed 2 Drs briefly,
various volunteering

Covid has put me on hold or straight up canceled several jobs at this point, including an assistant to a MD, a critical care research position, Scribing, and various research jobs which I am still being considered for but they are taking forever.

What are my next steps here? I am almost 23, the world is still open to me, I am in 0 debt as I was on a full ride but it is very difficult to find a job in healthcare atm. I am going to return to studying for an MCAT retake soon. These last few weeks have been the first free time I have had my whole college career and I have thoroughly enjoyed them, but it is time to get back to grinding.

I really would like some suggestions, feedback, constructive criticism, helpful words, any advice at all as to what I should be doing right now and what MCAT score should I attain to be considered for a mid tier MD school. Thank you!

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[Goro]

514+

 

[jhmmd]

TLDR- What, in light of certain circumstances, can I be doing in order to progress my application, and what score should I achieve on my MCAT to be considered for mid tier MD?

Caucasian male 22, 4 year student athlete, 3.65 GPA (upward, almost all Bs from freshman year), 506 MCAT (retaking, bombed CARS but was 128 in other sections),
was a supervisor at a group home for several years,
1 year research with submitted poster,
shadowed 2 Drs briefly,
various volunteering

Covid has put me on hold or straight up canceled several jobs at this point, including an assistant to a MD, a critical care research position, Scribing, and various research jobs which I am still being considered for but they are taking forever.

What are my next steps here? I am almost 23, the world is still open to me, I am in 0 debt as I was on a full ride but it is very difficult to find a job in healthcare atm. I am going to return to studying for an MCAT retake soon. These last few weeks have been the first free time I have had my whole college career and I have thoroughly enjoyed them, but it is time to get back to grinding.

I really would like some suggestions, feedback, constructive criticism, helpful words, any advice at all as to what I should be doing right now and what MCAT score should I attain to be considered for a mid tier MD school. Thank you!

As was said above, the most important aspect of your application that you need to focus on rn is your MCAT score. Try to get in some more shadowing too, and remember to write down what you see, so that you can reference your experiences in interviews and essays/secondaries. Your GPA is decent. Your ECs look okay but not outstanding (I would be curious about the type of volunteering--well-rounded volunteering looks better than simply clinical volunteering)...be aware that tons of borderline mediocre apps like yours get rejected every year. You need to make a plan to make your app stand out (in a good way).
Good luck.

 

[candbgirl]

In addition to other responses, you need to wrap your mind around focusing on getting accepted at any med school. Your stats are below average for MD and your ECs are almost non existent. I know all about Covid, we all do, but understand that there will be thousands of your fellow applicants that will have everything expected for an outstanding application and more. Each cycle just over 42%of all applicants are accepted to any medical school. That means that over 55% are outright rejected each cycle. And this includes applicants with stellar applications. So get to work and build the best possible application you can. Good luck.

 

[tansky]

514+

Roger that, will be tough but achievable. Thank you!

 

[tansky]

As was said above, the most important aspect of your application that you need to focus on rn is your MCAT score. Try to get in some more shadowing too, and remember to write down what you see, so that you can reference your experiences in interviews and essays/secondaries. Your GPA is decent. Your ECs look okay but not outstanding (I would be curious about the type of volunteering--well-rounded volunteering looks better than simply clinical volunteering)...be aware that tons of borderline mediocre apps like yours get rejected every year. You need to make a plan to make your app stand out (in a good way).
Good luck.

That is what I was afraid of. To be honest, I really didn't have time to do much else in college. I know that is a common excuse but I genuinely didn't. Will look to expand my volunteering and shadowing. Looks like I will have a full time clinical lab job opportunity coming up so I will have to fit it all in. Thank you!

 

[tansky]

In addition to other responses, you need to wrap your mind around focusing on getting accepted at any med school. Your stats are below average for MD and your ECs are almost non existent. I know all about Covid, we all do, but understand that there will be thousands of your fellow applicants that will have everything expected for an outstanding application and more. Each cycle just over 42%of all applicants are accepted to any medical school. That means that over 55% are outright rejected each cycle. And this includes applicants with stellar applications. So get to work and build the best possible application you can. Good luck.

Appreciate your honesty, thank you! As I stated, between school, work, and being a student athlete, I did not have time to do add what would be considered traditional EC and I hope that admission boards will understand this. My life was completely consumed. I am in no hurry and in the near future I hope to add more shadowing/volunteering and a clinical lab opportunity to my resume.

Edit- A member from my football team is currently at a top 20 med school with even less EC (he only scribed I believe in addition to playing football), but he scored a 518 on the MCAT so I bet that helped a little bit lmao.

 

[jhmmd]

Appreciate your honesty, thank you! As I stated, between school, work, and being a student athlete, I did not have time to do add what would be considered traditional EC and I hope that admission boards will understand this. My life was completely consumed. I am in no hurry and in the near future I hope to add more shadowing/volunteering and a clinical lab opportunity to my resume.

Edit- A member from my football team is currently at a top 20 med school with even less EC (he only scribed I believe in addition to playing football), but he scored a 518 on the MCAT so I bet that helped a little bit lmao.

Be aware that they probably won't, bluntly speaking. You need to have a stellar app to get into med school. Being a student athlete does not get you off the hook.

You may need to take a gap year or two to build your app. I would work first on 1. Clinical volunteering/shadowing 2. ECs 3. Start writing essays.

 

[tansky]

Be aware that they probably won't, bluntly speaking. You need to have a stellar app to get into med school. Being a student athlete does not get you off the hook.

You may need to take a gap year or two to build your app. I would work first on 1. Clinical volunteering/shadowing 2. ECs 3. Start writing essays.

What sort of EC do you think I should be looking into? And again, I appreciate the honesty, now that I actually have time to allocate I want to expand my resume and turn myself into the best applicant I can.

 

[jhmmd]

What sort of EC do you think I should be looking into? And again, I appreciate the honesty, now that I actually have time to allocate I want to expand my resume and turn myself into the best applicant I can.

Well, I can't do it for you. But you need to have a unique story that weaves all of your experiences together, e.g. student athlete, volunteer football coach, student ambassador, etc. You want to STAND OUT cuz there are literally thousands of apps w/a 3.65, a decent MCAT, and hundreds of clinical volunteering hours. I'm not joking.

 

[user3564]

What sort of EC do you think I should be looking into? And again, I appreciate the honesty, now that I actually have time to allocate I want to expand my resume and turn myself into the best applicant I can.

Hi when were you planning on applying? I was a student-athlete in college and have one MD acceptance so far this cycle--my clinical experiences were not too spectacular in college so I knew that I'd be taking two gap years. Got my EMT cert the following fall and found a great job in a hospital for the following 1.5 years, with some volleying at a fire company. Most premeds don't have any certifications, so if you have the time (probably at least 2 years before matriculation) I would really consider getting an EMT or CNA. It gives you a huge advantage with both value and scope of practice when looking for clinical jobs and applying to med school; I can't imagine my own application being successful with just clinical volunteering.

 

[tansky]

Hi when were you planning on applying? I was a student-athlete in college and have one MD acceptance so far this cycle--my clinical experiences were not too spectacular in college so I knew that I'd be taking two gap years. Got my EMT cert the following fall and found a great job in a hospital for the following 1.5 years, with some volleying at a fire company. Most premeds don't have any certifications, so if you have the time (probably at least 2 years before matriculation) I would really consider getting an EMT or CNA. It gives you a huge advantage with both value and scope of practice when looking for clinical jobs and applying to med school; I can't imagine my own application being successful with just clinical volunteering.

I am not in any rush as I know I have my work cut out for me, I will definently look into EMT and CNA as they both sound like great options. Currently it sounds like I have a job in a clinical research environment so we will see. My priority is to get that MCAT up as it will open a lot of doors. Thanks for the help!

 

[candbgirl]

What exactly is the clinical research you keep talking about? You really don’t need research especially with your stats. You most likely won’t be applying to research powerhouses. Depending on what you will be doing, your time might be better spent elsewhere.
Roughly speaking you need:
-200+ hours of direct patient clinical experiences, this can be paid or volunteer; but it must be direct patient interaction and it must with be patients not research subjects.
-200+ hours of nonclinical volunteering to the unserved/underserved in your community; this is your chance to show your altruism to the ADCOMS; medicine is a service profession and you need to show you can work with people very unlike yourself, a chance to get out of your comfort zone and do something that will make a difference to others;
-50 hours of shadowing , including a good chunk with a primary care doc.

Building your application will not be easy or quick and you just have to accept that. ADCOMS don’t have to overlook gaping holes in your applications, because they don’t have to. There are hundreds/thousands of exceptionally qualified applicants.

 

[tansky]

What exactly is the clinical research you keep talking about? You really don’t need research especially with your stats. You most likely won’t be applying to research powerhouses. Depending on what you will be doing, your time might be better spent elsewhere.
Roughly speaking you need:
-200+ hours of direct patient clinical experiences, this can be paid or volunteer; but it must be direct patient interaction and it must with be patients not research subjects.
-200+ hours of nonclinical volunteering to the unserved/underserved in your community; this is your chance to show your altruism to the ADCOMS; medicine is a service profession and you need to show you can work with people very unlike yourself, a chance to get out of your comfort zone and do something that will make a difference to others;
-50 hours of shadowing , including a good chunk with a primary care doc.

Building your application will not be easy or quick and you just have to accept that. ADCOMS don’t have to overlook gaping holes in your applications, because they don’t have to. There are hundreds/thousands of exceptionally qualified applicants.

I have thousands of hours working with the disabled administering medications and helping with their daily life cares, does that count for nothing as far as patient hours? Thousands more on spent on college football, and if that doesn't aid me at all then what a godamn waste of time that was lmao. I am looking to build on my non clinical volunteering hours in the near future, I probably have 100 at a location that helps to package food for those in need. I will look to get more shadowing hours as I only have 24 total from two different Drs, mostly in surgery. As far as the clinical lab assistant position it is mostly sample prep at a genetics lab I gather. Have applied all over for Scribe jobs through ScribeAmerica but no success there.

Obviously I have to retake the MCAT but right now I really feel... stuck. I do not know what to do, I have a general idea, but currently I am working as a ranch hand in the middle of nowhere because covid has taken all of my medical opportunities away, and I realize I am no special snowflake but this.... this just sucks . I am not opposed to taking the next 1-2 years to really turn my resume around but I REALLY just want to get the ball rolling.

 

[candbgirl]

I have thousands of hours working with the disabled administering medications and helping with their daily life cares, does that count for nothing as far as patient hours? Thousands more on spent on college football, and if that doesn't aid me at all then what a godamn waste of time that was lmao. I am looking to build on my non clinical volunteering hours in the near future, I probably have 100 at a location that helps to package food for those in need. I will look to get more shadowing hours as I only have 24 total from two different Drs, mostly in surgery. As far as the clinical lab assistant position it is mostly sample prep at a genetics lab I gather. Have applied all over for Scribe jobs through ScribeAmerica but no success there.

Obviously I have to retake the MCAT but right now I really feel... stuck. I do not know what to do, I have a general idea, but currently I am working as a ranch hand in the middle of nowhere because covid has taken all of my medical opportunities away, and I realize I am no special snowflake but this.... this just sucks . I am not opposed to taking the next 1-2 years to really turn my resume around but I REALLY just want to get the ball rolling.

You never mentioned your thousands of hours as an aid to the disabled. Of course that will count. As will your football. ADCOMS are supposedly very fond of student athletes. In fact you could probably go ahead and apply to DO schools right now. (It might too late. @Faha is it too late?). The thing is you want mid tier MD with below average stats and mediocre ECs. Football will make you interesting and that’s good. But it won’t replace ECs expected of med school applicants. I’m sorry you are so upset. I certainly didn’t mean to upset you but you asked and you said you wanted to go to med school. Like all of us at some point, you have to put in the work and build your application. @user3564 was a student athlete and it’s taken him two years to get ready to apply and he’s already received an acceptance. He took his time and did what he had to do and it’s paid off. He’s going to be a doctor.

 

[tansky]

You never mentioned your thousands of hours as an aid to the disabled. Of course that will count. As will your football. ADCOMS are supposedly very fond of student athletes. In fact you could probably go ahead and apply to DO schools right now. (It might too late. @Faha is it too late?). The thing is you want mid tier MD with below average stats and mediocre ECs. Football will make you interesting and that’s good. But it won’t replace ECs expected of med school applicants. I’m sorry you are so upset. I certainly didn’t mean to upset you but you asked and you said you wanted to go to med school. Like all of us at some point, you have to put in the work and build your application. @user3564 was a student athlete and it’s taken him two years to get ready to apply and he’s already received an acceptance. He took his time and did what he had to do and it’s paid off. He’s going to be a doctor.

You didn't upset me I am just frustrated more than anything. I put a lot of pressure on myself as I am sure most nuerotic pre-meds do. I really do appreciate the help, I have sent applications all over the place and as soon as I secure a job I will look for more EC opportunities, as there are none in the area I am currently staying. Thank you, seriously!

 

[harmony14]

That is what I was afraid of. To be honest, I really didn't have time to do much else in college. I know that is a common excuse but I genuinely didn't. Will look to expand my volunteering and shadowing. Looks like I will have a full time clinical lab job opportunity coming up so I will have to fit it all in. Thank you!

I completely understand where you are coming from. I have like zero volunteering experience but during interviews I would always mention what I’m lacking, why I’m lacking ( working full time to pay for tuition), and my commitment to doing more during school. I’ve always received positive feedback and understanding from the interviewers.

 

[tansky]

I completely understand where you are coming from. I have like zero volunteering experience but during interviews I would always mention what I’m lacking, why I’m lacking ( working full time to pay for tuition), and my commitment to doing more during school. I’ve always received positive feedback and understanding from the interviewers.

Between school, football, and working up to 32 hours on weekends I was really stretched thin. Not looking for a pity party but just some understanding as to why I am at where I am now. That is great to hear and I appreciate the input, thank you!

 

[tansky]

Hi when were you planning on applying? I was a student-athlete in college and have one MD acceptance so far this cycle--my clinical experiences were not too spectacular in college so I knew that I'd be taking two gap years. Got my EMT cert the following fall and found a great job in a hospital for the following 1.5 years, with some volleying at a fire company. Most premeds don't have any certifications, so if you have the time (probably at least 2 years before matriculation) I would really consider getting an EMT or CNA. It gives you a huge advantage with both value and scope of practice when looking for clinical jobs and applying to med school; I can't imagine my own application being successful with just clinical volunteering.

I actually finessed my way into a 2 week all day EMT certification starting on Monday! Thank you for mentioning this. I plan on doing volunteer EMT while working as a scribe/ER Tech. I need to get those volunteer hours up and I know opportunities are limited right now but I am going to do my best to try and figure it out, I want to spend time volunteering with the elderly . If it takes 2 full gap years then that is fine by me, I am in no rush because from what I hear from Residency it is no cake walk and taking the time to save up a little money and grow as a person is not the end of the world. Hearing of another student athlete make it is great to hear because you know the challenge that entails. I have thousands of hours working with the disabled tending to behavioral issues, cares, and medication administration but I am thinking more clinical experience wont hurt me. Crush it in in med school!