Should I apply this cycle?

[WhoGal]

Hi,

I was planning on applying this cycle to MD schools, my cGPA is 3.63, sGPA 3.4 (C in Orgo 2, but hoping to get that up after taking 3 science classes this summer) and haven't taken MCAT yet (taking it in 2 weeks). Have more than a year of research experience, but no publications.
However, I just have about 30 hour of Doctor shadowing and absolutely no clinical volunteering. This is because I immigrated to the US at the beginning of my freshman year in college and lost 2 years trying to "fit in" and during my current year I transferred to a 4 year institute. This summer I hope to start by volunteering.
My question is if it is a long shot applying this semester, specially with the low science gpa and no clinical volunteering?

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[Catalystik]

I was planning on applying this cycle to MD schools, my cGPA is 3.63, sGPA 3.4 (C in Orgo 2, but hoping to get that up after taking 3 science classes this summer) and haven't taken MCAT yet (taking it in 2 weeks). Have more than a year of research experience, but no publications.
However, I just have about 30 hour of Doctor shadowing and absolutely no clinical volunteering. This is because I immigrated to the US at the beginning of my freshman year in college and lost 2 years trying to "fit in" and during my current year I transferred to a 4 year institute. This summer I hope to start by volunteering.
My question is if it is a long shot applying this semester, specially with the low science gpa and no clinical volunteering?

Don't waste your application dollars during this coming application season. You'll want to "fit in" better among your fellow applicants by becoming more competitive first. Even if you already have a green card, I suggest that you take a year to raise your BCPM GPA, get in some solid clinical volunteering for 3-4 hours a week starting as soon as possible, add some nonmedical community service for a cause you care about-perhaps eventually taking on a leadership role, and continue to shadow, ideally including an office-based primary care physician. With the change in planned timeframe for applying, you can delay your MCAT if you are not consistently scoring in your target zone on practice tests.