Please be honest with me - where do I go from here?

[teslawasrobbed]

GPA is 3.73 and BPCM is 3.53 with clear upward curve. I was sick my first three semesters of school. Was later dx with chronic illness. I got decent grades B+ but didn't participate in many activities, it was difficult enough just to get good grades and my school just didn't offer much other than sports or Greek life. I just started meds literally when we were sent home for Covid. Went back to campus a year and a half later as a senior and was told that profs weren't looking for seniors for research etc. and at the time I wasn't sure I could physically get through med school and residency but my illness is stable with meds. I was previously looking at Bio stats/Bioinformatics, MPH, or a medical adjacent career.

I thought I would be able to do a Post Bacc or SMP but someone said I wont qualify as either career change or grade improvement. My schools advising was just so awful. I have been through three advisors and two premed advisors. My premed advisor told me to move to NYC and scribe. Uhm, I cant afford to live in NYC and I cant scribe. The other advisor told me to do a service trip abroad.

I have missed out on so much. I do have some volunteering (250) and shadowing (120) and clinical (250), and am using my gap year for more. I was looking forward to the opportunities a Post Bacc or SMP would offer. Research, leadership, advising, also I doubt I would have strong lor. My school does a committee letter.

Not sure if I should bother looking at programs or just pay for a private consultant. I don't know how others do it. I am just so overwhelmed with what I don't know. Anyone's opinion is appreciated. thanks.

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[Isoval]

You’ve still got both feet squarely in the ring.

Start studying for MCAT and kick the s*** out of it. If you do, I do not think you will need SMP or post-bacc (unless you’re missing prereqs, in which case will need post-bacc).

As for ECs, you don’t need to be in school to do that. Volunteer with your local Habitat for Humanity, food pantry, homeless shelter, etc. Start scribing, ask for help in shadowing. Personally, my only clinical experience was 200 hours of hospital volunteering (EY 2018), and this can be done squarely outside of a school curriculum (obviously).

Research is important, but not as much as clinical and volunteering (unless shooting for like T20+). If you still want it, you would qualify for lab tech jobs with a bachelors of science. Alternatively, you may be able to assist with case studies or other clinical research if you ask your clinical mentors.

There’s tons of stuff out there for you to bolster your application. The fact you are no longer a student is only a minor setback as some access may be a little more difficult, but it is by no means impossible and you have not missed the train.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

You are literally fine. Get an okay MCAT and you could probably apply without much update to your application otherwise. Research is overrated. You could take some upper level science stuff as a non-degree student if you want to improve your GPA.

Re: letters, you need at least one from a science prof. Could be from a non-degree course if needed. Most schools allow you to submit individual LORs; get one from a work supervisor, volunteer coordinator, etc etc that can speak to your growth and competency.

Continue volunteering and accruing clinical and leadership experience. Try to cultivate a theme for your app if you don't have one already. Take your MCAT over the summer or early next year and post a WAMC thread with your score. Start pre-writing in the spring and you'll be sitting pretty.

 

[jvj24601]

I have very little research. Like 50 and I didn't even anything except some manual labor like moving cages around. Still got in a few places. A good MCAT will compensate for a few deficiencies.

 

[toastedbutter]

The bulk of my research productivity came from work I did, either clinical records data extraction or survey-based research using the Qualtrics platform. Both completely on my own time and from home on my own computer. I emailed dozens and dozens of people whose research I was interested in at both my home institution and institutions around the country. Since this type of research doesn't require you to be physically present anywhere (plus COVID has changed meeting culture, many research groups now continue to meet on zoom), you can ask to participate in groups around the country. Send some emails, and ask if you can help with anything.

One of the projects I am working on is with a new assistant professor who needed help parsing through a data set she collected when she was a fellow, and never got the chance to get back to it once she became faculty and got a lot busier. She let me take over the data analysis, and I now have a poster at a conference next month and a first-author descriptive cohort paper coming in a few months. She was happy to finally get that data set out of her to-do list and be the corresponding author, and I am of course giddy about the productivity and experience,.

There is a lot out there, and research does not by any means have to be biomedical and/or in a lab environment. You will easily find something, just send lots of email and strike up conversations with clinical faculty you interact with.

Also keep in mind that if you send 20 emails/ask 20 faculty, 15 wont respond, 5 will respond, and 4 will say no. You only need one yes, and don't be discouraged if you get ghosted a lot.

My last piece of advice is a little more subjective, but in my experience I have found that faculty in medical fields that have a bit of a stereotype of being 'nicer', if you will, are often much kinder or just more open to helping pre-meds. Infectious disease, family medicine, geriatrics folk, and endocrinologists have always responded more to me and have been more interested in having me help. Just food for thought.

 

[gyngyn]

The other advisor told me to do a service trip abroad.

This advisor is ill-informed.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Yeah I don't see the problem here. Do the MCAT, and if you get a decent score you'll be eligible at the very least for DO schools. BCPM is borderline for MD but depending on how strong your upward trend is and your state of residence you could stand a shot there too.

 

[Fluidity of Movement]

Not An Expert:

You can definitely set yourself up for a competitive DO application this year. You have the entire summer and start of fall. I would shoot for an early / mid august MCAT and then use the wait period to finalize your application / pre-write secondaries. (Start working on your app now).

You have at least six months left, I would aim for a September submission but after that is by no means too late. You can also still apply to MD schools in your bracket, but I would focus my time on the AACOMAS. Definitely work on the gaps in your application before prioritizing everything else, but you absolutely have to make sure that you give yourself enough of a dedicated MCAT study window as well.

Hang in there! Don't get discouraged yet, the fight is just beginning.

 

[Fluidity of Movement]

..

pump up the clinical hrs

research will take longer than is worth it at this point imo

..

They should definitely try to address the holes in their application first.

 

[Fluidity of Movement]

I have very little research. Like 50 and I didn't even anything except some manual labor like moving cages around. Still got in a few places. A good MCAT will compensate for a few deficiencies.

this, any exposure to it would be a boon at this point over having 0.

 

[pcm810]

you could still do a postbac at the NIH. Tons of patient facing labs where people can get both clinical and research hours. Tons of advising and opportunities like the NIH Academy to get leadership/service. Also the stipend is very livable in the bethesda area.