Rising senior with little to no extracurriculars or campus involvement, really in need of advice

[premedhelp1234]

I'm a rising senior and my extracurriculars are almost comparable next to nothing. My first 2 years of college I stayed at home during COVID and just focused on trying to do well in my classes. I didn't really do any clubs, jobs, research, or anything. Around October of my junior year I started some volunteering with a non-profit (currently have about 65 hours), and I started volunteering with a homeless organization this past April. This fall I'll also be a TA for a bio course.

My GPA is okay (3.79 sGPA, 3.85 cGPA) and I've completed the prereqs.

I'm struggling to come up with a plan of how I should proceed. I admit I struggled to find the right experiences since I was so indecisive, and as a result my resume is basically blank. Does it look bad that my involvement in college started so late and is that a red flag? Should I take 2 gap years or 3?

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[Moko]

I'm a rising senior and my extracurriculars are almost comparable next to nothing. My first 2 years of college I stayed at home during COVID and just focused on trying to do well in my classes. I didn't really do any clubs, jobs, research, or anything. Around October of my junior year I started some volunteering with a non-profit (currently have about 65 hours), and I started volunteering with a homeless organization this past April. This fall I'll also be a TA for a bio course.

My GPA is okay (3.79 sGPA, 3.85 cGPA) and I've completed the prereqs.

I'm struggling to come up with a plan of how I should proceed. I admit I was also indecisive about a lot of things since I struggled to find the right experiences, and as a result my resume is basically blank. Does it look bad that my involvement in college started so late and is that a red flag? Should I take 2 gap years or 3?

At a minimum you will need two gap years, plan to apply in the 2024-2025 cycle at the absolute earliest. This will give you at least two years to beef up your CV (clinical experience, non-clinical volunteering, research, etc.) by the time of application. Clubs are comparatively low yield in your situation. Best of luck and just my thoughts.

 

[premedhelp1234]

At a minimum you will need two gap years, plan to apply in the 2024-2025 cycle at the absolute earliest. This will give you at least two years to beef up your CV (clinical experience, non-clinical volunteering, research, etc.) by the time of application. Clubs are comparatively low yield in your situation. Best of luck and just my thoughts.

Okay thank you. Do you think it will reflect poorly if most of my extracurriculars are concentrated in my senior year + gap years (besides the light volunteering I started junior year)?

 

[LunaOri]

Okay thank you. Do you think it will reflect poorly if most of my extracurriculars are concentrated in my senior year + gap years (besides the light volunteering I started junior year)?

No, it’s fine. Lots of applicants don’t decide to apply to medical school until senior year or later. Keep up the volunteering with the homeless, and add some shadowing when you have a chance. In your gap years, add clinical experience (paid or volunteer).

 

[JAK2-STAT3]

You need to do activities you are actually passionate about and avoid the "checkbox" mentality. As Goro frequently says here, get off campus and out of your comfort zone. Life is too short to do things for the sake of checking boxes and besides, if you only do things you think will look good on an application, you will get eaten alive by secondary essay prompts. I didn't become interested in medicine until after I graduated from college. The majority of my work/activities section was things that I did after graduating. I have one II so far so at least one school was okay with this.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Immerse yourself with the non profit group you are part of. Get off campus and find something you really care about. Medicine will be there as one way to help people overcome challenges in their lives, but it is not a cure by itself.

 

[Faha]

Some of your activities need to be clinical in nature. You should accumulate 50 hours of in person physician shadowing (including primary care) and 200+ hours of clinical volunteering/employment with patient contact before you submit your application.

 

[LindaAccepted]

I'm a rising senior and my extracurriculars are almost comparable next to nothing. My first 2 years of college I stayed at home during COVID and just focused on trying to do well in my classes. I didn't really do any clubs, jobs, research, or anything. Around October of my junior year I started some volunteering with a non-profit (currently have about 65 hours), and I started volunteering with a homeless organization this past April. This fall I'll also be a TA for a bio course.

My GPA is okay (3.79 sGPA, 3.85 cGPA) and I've completed the prereqs.

I'm struggling to come up with a plan of how I should proceed. I admit I struggled to find the right experiences since I was so indecisive, and as a result my resume is basically blank. Does it look bad that my involvement in college started so late and is that a red flag? Should I take 2 gap years or 3?

If you devote yourself for the next two years to:
1) Maintaining your academics during your senior year and continuing the volunteering that you've outlined
2) Adding clinical and community service as significant commitments during Gap year 1, you should be ready to apply at the end of that year (AKA 24-25 cycle)
3) Continue the clinical and community service during Gap year 2.
4) Do well on the MCAT and take in either in January of 2024 or late in the summer of 2023

You should be able to apply early in the 2024 application cycle.

 

[MyStateofMind]

In the thick of the current cycle so by no means an expert, but wanted to share my experience. When completing the primary and secondary applications, there were a multitude of questions that required me to draw from a library of experiences I accumulated during undergrad (both inside and outside of school) to "show" not tell who I am and what direction I want my medical education to take me. The more experiences I had in my arsenal to draw from, the better. So, just get out there and do things that you are proud to be part of! It's never too late to begin building that library of experience. Good luck!!