Hi everybody -
First post, forgive my ignorance. After being pre-med for my undergrad career, I decided to explore an alternate career path. I spent the last few years starting a career in business operations and management. I now want to apply in the 2018-2019 cycle to an (any) MD program in the US. I will be quitting my job ~low key panic~ to spend the next 12 months preparing my application. I have to take 5-6 months to study for the MCAT. Should I spend the rest of the 6 months to raise my GPA via post bacc (the most I can reasonably raise my GPA is ~0.10) or more focus on volunteering and/or getting clinical experience?
Profile:
Career: I completed a competitive internship at a top strategy consulting company and was given a return offer for a full-time role. I declined because I started becoming someone I did not want to be. Instead, when I graduated, I joined a small (10-20 person), non-profit technology company as a product manager. This nonprofit is reputable (high profile donors and foundation backing, etc.) with the mission of building software to address social challenges. One of those focus areas was health - I spent my time working with low-income hospitals and most recently with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid on clinical quality of care - we were working on the technology side (90% of the time, I couldn’t smell patients). I was promoted to Chief of Staff for the CEO about 8 months in and now am in a COO-type, leadership role where I help direct the company strategy and business operations.
cGPA: 3.48, sGPA: 3.40 (with post bacc -> cGPA: 3.54, sGPA: 3.50)
MCAT score: One of my biggest regrets was choosing “Do not score” on my first MCAT attempt. I was scoring ~32-33 on practice test leading up to it. Will this hurt me as a failed attempt?
State of residence: CA
Ethnicity: Asian
Undergrad: UC Berkeley, Bio, been out of school 2 years now
Research: ~9 months wet lab research (no publication).
Shadowing: ~150 hours rotating through the Department of Surgery at UC Davis Medical Center and ~100 hours shadowing an Ob/Gyn.
ECs:
Thank you, everyone, for your time and help - it is greatly appreciated.
First post, forgive my ignorance. After being pre-med for my undergrad career, I decided to explore an alternate career path. I spent the last few years starting a career in business operations and management. I now want to apply in the 2018-2019 cycle to an (any) MD program in the US. I will be quitting my job ~low key panic~ to spend the next 12 months preparing my application. I have to take 5-6 months to study for the MCAT. Should I spend the rest of the 6 months to raise my GPA via post bacc (the most I can reasonably raise my GPA is ~0.10) or more focus on volunteering and/or getting clinical experience?
Profile:
Career: I completed a competitive internship at a top strategy consulting company and was given a return offer for a full-time role. I declined because I started becoming someone I did not want to be. Instead, when I graduated, I joined a small (10-20 person), non-profit technology company as a product manager. This nonprofit is reputable (high profile donors and foundation backing, etc.) with the mission of building software to address social challenges. One of those focus areas was health - I spent my time working with low-income hospitals and most recently with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid on clinical quality of care - we were working on the technology side (90% of the time, I couldn’t smell patients). I was promoted to Chief of Staff for the CEO about 8 months in and now am in a COO-type, leadership role where I help direct the company strategy and business operations.
cGPA: 3.48, sGPA: 3.40 (with post bacc -> cGPA: 3.54, sGPA: 3.50)
MCAT score: One of my biggest regrets was choosing “Do not score” on my first MCAT attempt. I was scoring ~32-33 on practice test leading up to it. Will this hurt me as a failed attempt?
State of residence: CA
Ethnicity: Asian
Undergrad: UC Berkeley, Bio, been out of school 2 years now
Research: ~9 months wet lab research (no publication).
Shadowing: ~150 hours rotating through the Department of Surgery at UC Davis Medical Center and ~100 hours shadowing an Ob/Gyn.
ECs:
- President of a business fraternity. I
- I started a nonprofit student group that funded student-run startups (our cohorts raised ~$15M in funding).
- I helped to build an innovation center near the campus (I raised ~$300,000 for it).
- I worked at a digital health company that was improving patient-doctor communications via a web application for 9 months during undergrad (I did smell patients, I ran pilot tests of our product at medical center).
Thank you, everyone, for your time and help - it is greatly appreciated.