Nontraditional Pre-med hoping to apply in 2026. Any red flags?
Started by lukadoncic77
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Your main weakness is your low non clinical volunteering hours. Accumulate another 130+ hours at the food bank before you submit your application (some schools screen at 150 hours). Post your MCAT score here when available.
What happened during your senior year?
It looks like you bounced back nicely in your post-bacc, but I'm sure you'll be asked about it.
If you can nail the MCAT, I think you will do fine.
It looks like you bounced back nicely in your post-bacc, but I'm sure you'll be asked about it.
If you can nail the MCAT, I think you will do fine.
lukadoncic77
Full Member
I was not pursuing medical school at that point and was just trying to make it to graduation of my CS degree. I had an especially rigourous course load and was spending most of my time applying/interviewing to jobs. My GPA suffered heavily.
I hope medical schools will weigh my strong performance in my post-bacc more heavily since that was when I did all of my prereqs.
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lukadoncic77
Full Member
I have seen you say that 150 is a cutoff for non-clinical volunteering in multiple posts. Does the 60 at the Boys and Girls Club not count toward that? In case you do not know, the Boys and Girls Club provides disadvantaged youths a safe place to go after school to do homework and get meals.
It may, but tutoring is generally seen as a separate category.
lukadoncic77
Full Member
Would rephrasing it to be "After school Volunteer" or something like that be better than just tutor?
In my role there, I would assist with preparing and serving the children's lunches, in addition to tutoring and helping them with their homework.
Yes.
Like others have said, the MCAT will be especially important as I'm sure you already know. Have you taken any practice tests in order to see how competitive you are?
Your science GPA is not the greatest and a lot of highly ranked schools look at that, so I would apply to mid-tier and lower tier schools. Med school is med school.
My greatest concern is the lack of a hook/theme in your app. This is necessary for all apps, not just the top schools. There are many outstanding apps with better GPAs than yours. To be brutally honest, how does your app trump that? You probably need to:
1) Slaughter the MCAT
2) Get a little more research experience (poster presentations are the easiest way to do this)
3) More leadership (starting an extracurricular activity/club is a good way to do this)
4) Develop a solid hook/theme for your app
5) Get some good LoRs, and
6) Get a little more shadowing in.
I would prioritize studying for the MCAT above everything else. Good luck with everything.
What's your BCPM GPA trend? +1 for service orientation non-clinical volunteering hours. I ignore activities with fewer than 50 hours unless it's shadowing. You must have 150 hours minimum before you submit your application.
Just a pitch here for Becoming a Student Doctor to help you discern a narrative/hook/purpose as a physician. You must have a clean explanation for your career pivot.
Just a pitch here for Becoming a Student Doctor to help you discern a narrative/hook/purpose as a physician. You must have a clean explanation for your career pivot.
