Reapplicant Advice Nontrad (516, 3.8 GPA)

[hazlexnut]

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Hi, I'm potentially looking at reapplying next cycle pending final decisions after receiving IS II from 1 school (UCSF).
I'm a nontrad student with a different past career as a software engineer in big tech (Meta/Google/etc,), so 5+ gap years between undergrad to applying. Quit my job and began working as a massage therapist for the past 2 years. I'm trying to decide what parts of my applications I can best improve for the upcoming cycle:

Core stats:
516 (127/132/128/129)
cGPA 3.74, sGPA 3.7, took a decent amount of post-bacc coursework with 4.0 GPA

Work experience -
- 9000+ CS, relatively cutting edge work with "name brand" companies
- working as a massage therapist with gender diverse populations
- long term work with harm reduction & unhoused people

Research - ~1000 hours undergrad research, no pubs, won some undergrad grants / awards
Clinical - 300ish, ER volunteer
Nonclinical - 1000+, strong, aligns with the rest of my application
Shadowing - 50, IM
Extracurriculars - 3000+, talked about being a leader in local arts spaces

I think the weakest parts of my application are my MCAT and my clinical experience. The other parts of my application which could be improved (ie. research), aren't really doable in my current situation. I am 100% planning on studying my ass off for the next 2 months and retaking the MCAT in early May.
I'm somewhat lacking in clinical hours, and they're from ER volunteering. I'm certified as an EMT and could theoretically begin working for the next month-ish or so and get a bit of experience as an EMT, so ~150 ish clinical hours. However, I would definitely take off for the latter half of April to study for the MCAT, and I could see it reflecting poorly on me that I began a clinical job just prior to the new application cycle. If I don't work I would also have more time to devote to studying for the MCAT, though I don't think it would make a big difference. Basically, my question is: Should I try to take a short-term EMT job to boost my clinical hours? How much, if at all, will those clinical hours help me, or should I just focus on improving my MCAT? Are there any other things that I'm overlooking that I could be doing to improve my reapplication chances?

 

[Faha]

What is the breakdown by hours and activities of your non clinical volunteering?

 

[PickaGodnPray]

What was your school list? Unless you are strictly applying T20s, your MCAT is not your limiting factor, especially since you ended up with an II at UCSF. Instead of retaking what is already a great score, boost your clinical hours.

 

[Med Ed]

I think the weakest parts of my application are my MCAT and my clinical experience.

Your MCAT is 92nd percentile, and about 5 points above the average for matriculants. Agree with above, unless you are targeting a short list of hyper-selective schools then your MCAT isn't really a weak point. Retaking when there are much better things to work on will call your judgement into question.

That said, you are right about the clinical experience. It's not that unusual for people in fields like tech and finance to become disillusioned and wander over to medicine in search of meaning. You will be considered one of them. To be convincing you absolutely need to show that you know what you are getting yourself into.

 

[A224B]

Your MCAT is better than your GPA, especially if it's after a big postbacc, which was probably needed for prereqs. 516 has a shot at every school in the country, although it is below the median at some. I'm guessing the lack of IIs is because Cali is an awful state for admissions and your school list probably sucks.

Leaving SWE to be a massage therapist looks kind of weird: tech is for high-powered leaders that are a lot like doctors, and massage is...not. If you quit SWE to be an EMT or MA, that at least states "I am adamant about medicine". 300 hours is 8 weeks of full-time work.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

An extra year's worth of clinical hours should help you. It doesn't need to be an EMT since you are already an ER volunteer. Try finding another patient-facing clinical exposure opportunity (paid or unpaid) that's different from what you may have already seen in the ER.