Non-trad with inconsistent experience?

[CBXO]

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Hi everyone,

First post here. I am a non-trad who finally decided to pursue med school. I'm a 24 yo F and I'm concerned my previous experiences would make me look inconsistent and floppy. Truth is, I've always had a lot of interests growing up and could never pick what I wanted to do. This past year after working my first job out of college, I discovered my love for healthcare and am determined to go to med school.

I would have to attend a post-bac program before applying. If you have the patience, I'd appreciate any input or advice about my background and how you think I can strengthen it for post-bacc programs AND/OR future med school applications.

Education:
BA in International Studies
undergrad gpa 3.68 (got an F in econ first quarter of soph year but since then have only received A's)
entire cum gpa including community college 3.77
SAT 1770 (adding this because it's a requirement for post-bacc programs), could take GRE if score doesn't suffice.. please let me know your thoughts

Work:
currently working as a personal trainer
1.5 years in admin, worked my way up to marketing at a tech startup
.5 year internship as an operations assistant for a tech startup
1 year as a childcare assistant at a preschool
(does my lifetime as babysitter/chauffeur/tutor/diaper-changer for my younger 9 siblings also count? 😛 )

Volunteer:
40 hours as a medical scribe at a community clinic and continuing to accum hours
60 hours as a med/onc floor volunteer at a local hospital
20 hours driver for low-income and disabled patients to and from their appointments and continuing
20 hours tutor for ESL students
2 weeks volunteer in Africa for a therapeutic arts program for HIV/AIDS-affected children

Other:
Philanthropy Chair for a co-ed professional fraternity during my undergrad
studied abroad in 4 diff countries to learn 4 diff languages (I have a love for language)
EMT-certified

I know it looks like I'm all over the place or don't have much relevant experience, but it took all of these experiences to finally arrive to medicine and realize I wouldn't want to do anything else. Please let me know if you have any opinions or thoughts about how I can become a better applicant for competitive post-bac programs and med school in the coming years.

Much appreciated!

 

[Eccesignum]

You have a solid GPA which will will only be helped by a good performance in a post-bacc. Slaughter that post-bacc and get a strong MCAT score, those are the two most important things to at least jam your foot in the door.

You look fine to me. Continue with the volunteering, especially any clinical. You'll also need shadowing hours, preferably with multiple physicians, over a variety of fields. They want to see this to make sure you've explored the profession and have at least glimpsed what the time commitment and day to day life is like for a physician.

As for your history...how your experiences, however varied they are, reflect on you is totally based on how you write them. AMCAS and AACOMAS provide a section for you to talk (briefly) about 15 activities, whether they be jobs, volunteer, etc. It's up to you to write about them (and what you learned while doing them) in a way that clearly shows how they contribute to your being a good future physician. You also have a space for a personal statement, which is an essay where you'll be telling adcoms exactly why medicine and why now. Answering that in a compelling way helps net interviews. Being incoherent sinks you.

 

[CBXO]

You have a solid GPA which will will only be helped by a good performance in a post-bacc. Slaughter that post-bacc and get a strong MCAT score, those are the two most important things to at least jam your foot in the door.

You look fine to me. Continue with the volunteering, especially any clinical. You'll also need shadowing hours, preferably with multiple physicians, over a variety of fields. They want to see this to make sure you've explored the profession and have at least glimpsed what the time commitment and day to day life is like for a physician.

As for your history...how your experiences, however varied they are, reflect on you is totally based on how you write them. AMCAS and AACOMAS provide a section for you to talk (briefly) about 15 activities, whether they be jobs, volunteer, etc. It's up to you to write about them (and what you learned while doing them) in a way that clearly shows how they contribute to your being a good future physician. You also have a space for a personal statement, which is an essay where you'll be telling adcoms exactly why medicine and why now. Answering that in a compelling way helps net interviews. Being incoherent sinks you.

Thank you for your response Eccesignum! Your insight is very helpful.

 

[Ad2b]

Pardon my giggling, but you're 24. That's hardly a non-trad but you wrote here so, I'll chime in.

1. Determination to make it into med school is best shown by taking the pre-reqs and getting excellent grades in all or most of them

2. The EMT experience is helpful as it is clinical/hands-on patient experiences that indicate and understanding of how to help people at their most vulnerable

3. Continue volunteering - truly, never stop

4. Can't speak to post-bacc as most people on here go DIY (gen chem + orgo + biochem + physics + biology + genetics/etc...) + MCAT and apply

No one cares about your SAT score and no post-bacc that I've heard of does either but I could be out of the loop on that. I think the international living experiences are pretty cool and indicate a willingness to learn another culture which bodes well for patients of all ethnicities and races and an attribute I would think med schools would appreciate as well.

Non-trads by their nature have varying degrees of "all over the map" life experiences and oft times, varying types of u-grad degrees. Don't let that stop you 🙂

 

[CBXO]

Pardon my giggling, but you're 24. That's hardly a non-trad but you wrote here so, I'll chime in.

1. Determination to make it into med school is best shown by taking the pre-reqs and getting excellent grades in all or most of them

2. The EMT experience is helpful as it is clinical/hands-on patient experiences that indicate and understanding of how to help people at their most vulnerable

3. Continue volunteering - truly, never stop

4. Can't speak to post-bacc as most people on here go DIY (gen chem + orgo + biochem + physics + biology + genetics/etc...) + MCAT and apply

No one cares about your SAT score and no post-bacc that I've heard of does either but I could be out of the loop on that. I think the international living experiences are pretty cool and indicate a willingness to learn another culture which bodes well for patients of all ethnicities and races and an attribute I would think med schools would appreciate as well.

Non-trads by their nature have varying degrees of "all over the map" life experiences and oft times, varying types of u-grad degrees. Don't let that stop you 🙂

Thank you Ad2b!

I appreciate your input. As for SATs, I too was surprised to find out that most post-bacs ask for your scores regardless of how long ago you took them. I guess it's their way of making sure you have some ability to take the MCAT.

Do you have any insight on research experience? I hear that it's really important for getting into med school, but as someone with a Bachelor of Arts, I'm finding it really hard to get involved in any.

 

[backside_attack]

No one cares about your SAT score and no post-bacc that I've heard of does either but I could be out of the loop on that.

Actually, a lot of them do. The reasons why I think this is stupid is the subject for another thread... But, as an example, Goucher rejected me because my SAT scores (10 years old at that point) weren't "suggestive of MCAT and post-bacc success". JOKE'S ON THEM!

 

[Ad2b]

As for SATs, I too was surprised to find out that most post-bacs

Of the people I know who were accepted and graduated from post-bacc programs, none of them ever provided SAT scores. They provided ugrad grades and their MCAT and/or GRE scores.

SAT is not taken by everyone, nor is the ACT. In fact, some graduating seniors from top schools never take either of them.

Since it appears you've done your research on post-bacc, I would think you already have whether or not research is required for post-bacc.

Actually, a lot of them do!

We could get into semantics and pull data which might be interesting for some reason but see above. Yes, jokes on Goucher! Congrats 🙂