Look, man. Let me just be real clear for anyone reading this post.
I am a first-generation college graduate, from an inner-city, from a low-income family. I graduated college from a tech state school. I took community college credit hours. I worked 2 jobs in college for a total of 30-40 hours a week, had all kinds of ECs. Paid for college by working and with the scholarship I earned, took a gap year and got a masters degree while still working two jobs. BELIEVE ME. I understand the struggle. I understand the social and economic impact that this pandemic has on all walks of life - that is not lost on me. I understand the hurdles people will have had to jump through and the ones that they will have to jump through.
I think you and the person commenting to me before you really missed my point, so let me make it extremely, perfectly, precisely clear:
Excuses for under-par performance do not make it in Medicine. Control what you can control, and do not make excuses. (After all, excuses are kind of like buttholes, everyone has one). It doesn't matter what that excuse is; whether it is you not having a gpa high enough even though your gpa is higher than last years average (or MCAT), not having enough ECs because of COVID, or having a patient pass away due to a nurse giving the wrong drug that you ordered. All of those things are excuses that fall directly under your responsibility.
I do not care what is socially and economically happening; and neither do medical schools in regard to accepting applicants. An applicant is going to have to be up-to-standards to be accepted. Medicine is not going to regress due to COVID and neither is the applicant pool. You talk about how hard it is to get experience, but the fact it is - for every class before you, it has been HARD to get experience - especially pending one's background. You talk about experience, and let me assure you, it will still be needed. In-person patient care is still going to be highly, HIGHLY valuable. And there are ways to get it. Maybe not in some place in the country right now, but in others, yes. But if you aren't fortunate enough for that, then again, I have stated that 5 months, heck even 12 months without solid in-person patient care is not going to be a game-breaker; so long as, you have supplemented with MCAT studying that will help you get that higher score, aced your classes since you can't work, done online ECs. Done SOMETHING, because you can always explain that gap otherwise.
You posted this to see what adcoms want because everything is silent right? Well, let me help you. They're silent because the standard hasn't changed, and it probably won't. They are not going to accept applicants that do not meet that standard; of which, you seem like you have a fairly good idea of what that standard is. You think that the impacts will be taken into consideration, absolutely. They will be. I haven't argued that. But it will not be taken into consideration in a way that will allow you to be less than what is expected. It will be taken into consideration when one applicant is the same as the other, but that applicant 2 has showed that they worked through adversity - that they did SOMETHING (even if that something is online tutoring or scribing) during COVID, and then precisely explained why they couldn't add "xyz" to their application during that time. It is at that moment, that seat to medical school is given to applicant 2.
Goro commented and said the new normal is gap year, and it is true. It is true because the average age of matriculation is 24. For both maturity and to get the ECs needed to be at an acceptable standard. I think medical schools do understand the social and economic impact, but they also understand that lowering the expectations is a disservice to all those in the profession currently.
I am trying to help YOU. I am trying to help all pre-meds who read this to be prepared instead of hoping the standards get lowered. If you do not believe what I am stating, then I hope
@Goro or some other adcom comes in here and discredits me or at least credits the thought.
PS: For you CC comment. Taking community college classes is 100% acceptable, so long as you don't go to university and then take all of your "hard science" pre-reqs at CCs. THAT is where the problem is. Also, good thing your fate is determined by many people instead of one adcom.