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[Goro]

Suggest getting in at least 200 hrs of service to others less fortunate than yourself. Continue with patient contact experience. Aim high.

I suggest:
ALL FL schools
Vanderbilt
WashU
Yale
JHU
Northwestern
U Chicago
U Penn
Columbia
Duke
Harvard
Sinai
Cornell
Stanford
U MI
U VA
BU
Case
Mayo
Pitt
Hofstra
Ohio State
U Cincy
USC/Keck
Albert Einstein
Dartmouth
Emory
Rochester
Jefferson
U IA
U VM
Western MI

 

[Goro]

Thanks for your response, Goro! This'll really help as a starting point for my list.

I did forget to mention that the dental clinic I volunteered in was for underprivileged + low income patients. Does that cushion the volunteering a bit more? It's going to be difficult for me to rack up more volunteering hours before application time.

That helps. Be sure to spin that on your behalf.ie, mention the patients you dealt with

 

[Walter Raleigh]

@Goro: is there any concern at all with the clinical work being in OP's parents' practice? While most applicants like this are honest, it is possible for a Loafer McLoaferson to work in his parents' practice, study or loaf all day, and thereby get credit for hours. Other than work in their parents' practice, OP doesn't have very much clinical experience. Ideally, OP would have:

• Another 100 hours of nonclinical volunteering
• Primary-care shadowing
• 200 hours of clinical experience that's not in their parents' practice

These are the areas that might be improved on; the nonclinical volunteering and primary-care shadowing's most important IMO.

 

[Goro]

@Goro: is there any concern at all with the clinical work being in OP's parents' practice? While most applicants like this are honest, it is possible for a Loafer McLoaferson to work in his parents' practice, study or loaf all day, and thereby get credit for hours. Other than work in their parents' practice, OP doesn't have very much clinical experience. Ideally, OP would have:

• Another 100 hours of nonclinical volunteering
• Primary-care shadowing
• 200 hours of clinical experience that's not in their parents' practice

These are the areas that might be improved on; the nonclinical volunteering and primary-care shadowing's most important IMO.

That CAN be an issue!!

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Agreed. If OP really wants to gun high and attend a top-20, they might consider a gap year to rectify those minor issues; as it is, they're a decently strong applicant. Perhaps OP's parents might be able to set them up with a job in their friends' practice!

 

[Goro]

Should I not list the work I did in my parent's practice on the application?

Also, do you think I'd be doing myself a disservice by whittling my list down to the 25-30 range?



Thanks for jumping in Walter. The primary care shadowing is an easy fix - I can definitely get in 25-50 hours before I apply.

I'm actually already committed to a gap year. I graduated in December. Right now I'm getting in as much travel as I can before May, then I'll hunker down and focus on the application process. I'm assuming that anything I do after my resume goes out isn't going to help me too much, right? Technically I could nix my travel plans for April and get some last minute volunteering in... but it would be pretty heartbreaking.

Once I'm done with apps the plan is to just get a scribing job and hang out. Adding volunteering to that wouldn't be too taxing, and I know it would give me something to discuss during interviews... but how much is it really going to help, after apps are out? I might do some volunteering just because I'll have nothing else going on, but I'm curious if it would have much payoff at that point.

If you don't list it, then make up for it by getting other clinical experience.

I always recommend applying to 20 to 30 schools .

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Goro's advice is solid. If you'd want to take a second gap year, it would help you shore up those deficiencies in your app. Fix those, and you'd be golden and closing in on platinum territory. You might consider something like Americorps. In addition, you'd have that middle-author paper to put on your app. As you are, your stats are solid but you may have some shortcomings in the clinical-experience area. You run the risk that adcoms think that you loafed at your parents' practice or worse, didn't really rack up those hours. Put it on your application, to be sure - but it doesn't count for as much as if you did that work for someone other than your parents. Good luck.

 

[LukaDoncicLuk]

I'm just a M-0 but I don't think you need a gap year. Just try and get some underserved volunteering in ASAP and you should be good to go. Your stats are too good to wait around and lose a year of attending salary.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

I mean, it's really about how much OP wants to attend a highly-ranked school, isn't it? If he wants to get into his state school now, yeah, he should apply now. If he's gunning for the likes of Harvard, a gap year could be very helpful indeed.