Rejected Last Cycle (2021), Was wondering what the best thing to do during my gap year before reapplying for the 2023 cycle.

[Darven]

My stats are as follows: 3.76 overall, 3.60 sGPA and 510 MCAT.
I am an asian male and am aiming to go to Drexel, Upstate/Downstate, and Eisntein Medical College.
As for my clinical hours I have 1000+ shadowing a primary care physician as well as about 250 hours in research.

I was wondering if it would be worth retaking the MCAT or if I should just focus on strengthening my resume and other activities.

thank you for taking the time to read this thread and give me advice!

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[clairish]

Do you have any community service hours or work or other experiences? Whats your state of residency? Did you get any interviews?

 

[Darven]

I'm from NY, and I do have quite a few clubs that I'm involved in but as far as community service goes I don't have any outside of participating in club events that are involved in community service. Unfortunately, I did not receive any interviews last cycle.

 

[Faha]

You need to apply to many more schools than just the 4 you listed. I suggest these schools:
All 4 SUNYs
Albany
New York Medical College
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Seton Hall
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
NOVA MD
Wake Forest
TCU-UNT
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
You should also apply broadly to DO schools and I suggest these:
Touro-NY
NYIT (both schools)
UNECOM
LECOM (all schools)
PCOM (all schools)
WVSOM
CUSOM
VCOM (all schools)
ACOM
MU-COM
DMU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
KCU-COM
TUNCOM

 

[Darven]

thank you for the suggestions I will be sure to add them to my list!

 

[clairish]

I think it is essential to add community service hours (nonclinical volunteering). Many schools look for that.. especially service oriented schools. And more clinical volunteering and experiences. Why did you shadow a physician 1000+ hours? Mcat is a little low for median mcat score for asian matriculants (~514), but I think you should focus on ecs now and you will have chance. or you can talk withpremed advisor at your school to see what you can do to improve your app.

 

[clairish]

Did you just apply those 4 schools last cycle? I recommend applying at least 20.

 

[Darven]

No i applied to 13-15 schools, I just listed those 4 as my target schools.

Thank you for your advice!

 

[Darven]

I think it is essential to add community service hours (nonclinical volunteering). Many schools look for that.. especially service oriented schools. And more clinical volunteering and experiences. Why did you shadow a physician 1000+ hours? Mcat is a little low for median mcat score for asian matriculants (~514), but I think you should focus on ecs now and you will have chance. or you can talk withpremed advisor at your school to see what you can do to improve your app.

Thank you for the advice! I shadowed a physician for 1000+ hours over 4 years of college, initially i did not intend to shadow for so many hours it just turned out to be that way. And I will try to reach out to a pre med advisor and see what they say.

Thanks again

 

[clairish]

Thank you for the advice! I shadowed a physician for 1000+ hours over 4 years of college, initially i did not intend to shadow for so many hours it just turned out to be that way. And I will try to reach out to a pre med advisor and see what they say.

Thanks again

good luck on your journey to med school! thanks for the reply.

 

[Girl on the Move]

I agree with everything above. Personally, I think that right now you want to find two types of volunteering - non-clinical and clinical. The clinical portion can be replaced by a job (e.g. scribing). But I know that both of those two items are VERY important for the application. You mentioned Downstate and Einstein as being your targets - they really care about service to underserved communities. If your clubs had enough volunteering events that you can talk about it, great, but I'm sure that both schools will be looking for a dedicated activity on your application. Additionally, Einstein emphasizes research as well, 250 is good, but if you're not getting a scribing job maybe consider one in a lab or other R&D position.