No extracurriculars do I still have a shot?

[lotus4heart]

Please help me out here I am the third oldest in a family of 11 children and we have always been poor since we immigrated. I started working while in high school 25-30 hours a week and had to take care of my mother because she got in a serious car accident.

I have my general chemistry done with an A but I was not able to take it at the local uni because of my worry about the cost.

I took a year of general biology at my university and got an A, also took micro, anatomy, phys and received an A. So far, in my last physics series and expecting an A.

I took the mcat and got a 38.


My current gpa is 4.0 and my science GPA is a 4.0. I don't have any extracurricular activities though did some volunteering one year in high school before my job.

I will be graduating with a bachelors of science degree in biology.

I am currently working 40+ hours to support my family. Am I out of the running for medical school with no extracurricular done?

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[Catalystik]

What type of caregiver activities did you engage in when caring for your mom? Or did you mainly provide financial support? How long did this last?

What is your job?

 

[lotus4heart]

What type of caregiver activities did you engage in when caring for your mom? Or did you mainly provide financial support? How long did this last?

What is your job?

- I work in customer service full service shoe department I do put their shoes on don't know if that counts as something.
I cooked for my mother fed her, bathed her, clothed her, etc my mother is better now thankfully. I also had to provide financial support as well and still do.

I took care of her for a year my freshman year physically but have been working for 3 years now financially to provide.

 

[Catalystik]

Your job in retail sales has the advantage of requiring people skills and problem solving abilities.

Caring for your mom might be considered clinical experience by some adcomms. I've seen an applicant get accepted with no other medically-related experience except caring for family members (n=1).

Applying as economically disadvantaged may or may not help you, but do it. Maybe have your pre-health advisor help you with the required essay.

If you are planning to apply in June 2011, then try really hard to get in some physician shadowing and other volunteer experience (even two hours per week in a medical facility, like hospital, nursing home, hospice, clinic), as an acceptance as you are cannot be relied on, even with your terrific numbers. Further, without doing this you have little basis on which to write a Personal Statement about Why Medicine? As your MCAT score will be good for 2-3 years at least, depending on the school, you might also consider waiting a year to beef up your activities before applying.

 

[lotus4heart]

Your job in retail sales has the advantage of requiring people skills and problem solving abilities.

Caring for your mom might be considered clinical experience by some adcomms. I've seen an applicant get accepted with no other medically-related experience except caring for family members (n=1).

Applying as economically disadvantaged may or may not help you, but do it. Maybe have your pre-health advisor help you with the required essay.

If you are planning to apply in June 2011, then try really hard to get in some physician shadowing and other volunteer experience (even two hours per week in a medical facility, like hospital, nursing home, hospice, clinic), as an acceptance as you are cannot be relied on, even with your terrific numbers. Further, without doing this you have little basis on which to write a Personal Statement about Why Medicine? As your MCAT score will be good for 2-3 years at least, depending on the school, you might also consider waiting a year to beef up your activities before applying.

-
thank you so much Your advice helped me out a lot I am sorry but what does n=1 mean?

 

[Catalystik]

n (number)=1 means I've only heard of it happening once.

 

[TriagePreMed]

I volunteer at a major hospital. The minimum shift is 2 hours. They have times 24/7 in the ER, so if you are to apply next year, at least do that for a 6 months or so. Try a bit of shadowing too.

 

[lotus4heart]

n (number)=1 means I've only heard of it happening once.

-Thanks for the clarification

 

[lotus4heart]

I volunteer at a major hospital. The minimum shift is 2 hours. They have times 24/7 in the ER, so if you are to apply next year, at least do that for a 6 months or so. Try a bit of shadowing too.

-I don't have a family doctor would just asking a doctor be okay?

 

[TriagePreMed]

-I don't have a family doctor would just asking a doctor be okay?

Yeah, you could volunteer those 2 hours and run across many doctors willing to help you. It's good for you too since it proves that medicine is what you want to do. Caring for a loved one like you did is different than the bureaucracy and patients in a hospital.

 

[Catalystik]

For shadowing you can ask docs you meet, ask docs of family members, or ask parents' of friends who are MDs or DOs. You can also cold call physicians in the community and ask if shadowing is permitted in their clinic.

 

[lotus4heart]

Yeah, you could volunteer those 2 hours and run across many doctors willing to help you. It's good for you too since it proves that medicine is what you want to do. Caring for a loved one like you did is different than the bureaucracy and patients in a hospital.

-great advice thanks

 

[lotus4heart]

For shadowing you can ask docs you meet, ask docs of family members, or ask parents' of friends who are MDs or DOs. You can also cold call physicians in the community and ask if shadowing is permitted in their clinic.

-thanks so much I am starting on that now.

 

[iniquus]

If you're currently supporting your family, can you still manage to do that while in medical school?

Also if you can't get financial assistance with the application process (which is expensive, maybe more so in your case), did you consider spending one more year working and doing extracurriculars to boost your application?

 

[IDoIt4Love]

I don't know you guys; I think the OP shows extreme dedication to school and her family, and sounds very hard-working and mature. Her experiences taking care of her mom should definitely count as clinical experience and show that she is an empathic person, which is really important in a doctor. When you're working more than part time while enrolled as a full time student, it is definitely understandable why you cannot find time for volunteer activities or student clubs, however I agree with others that you should try to find a doctor to shadow, to show that you have been exposed to the medical work environment and have a better idea of what being a doctor entails. Other than that, keep up the awesome work and best of luck to you!

 

[MeowMeowCAT]

nvm