Should I delay my application another year?

[bodenene]

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Hello! If anyone could give me their perspective on my situation, I would really appreciate it.

So I graduated from a pretty well known liberal arts college in 2012 with a B.A. in Biochemistry and a cGPA of 3.67 (sGPA ~3.61). I have since been working as a technician at a research lab at an Ivy League school. I have substantial research experience through my current job and previous summer internships (though no publications... yet), but not much clinical experience. The last (and only) clinical exposure I had was when I shadowed my pediatrician ~50 hrs back in high school (about 5-6 years ago). I know that clinical exposure through volunteering and shadowing is important for schools to know that you're genuinely interested in medicine and that you know what you're getting yourself into. I've made my decision to apply for med school pretty recently, and I have applied to a bunch of hospital/clinical volunteer work, but they don't start until May. I haven't taken MCATs yet, but if I apply during the 2014 cycle, then I would probably take it in June. Do you think that applying June 2014 for Fall 2015 matriculation is too soon considering I wouldn't really have much clinical exposure starting until May 2014? Would it be advisable to wait a year to apply? I dread the thought of delaying another year (I want to escape the lab bench!), but I'm worried my application is not strong enough for this cycle due to low clinical exposure... and that I may need to delay it one more year to build a stronger application and get more involved clinically (and I would have more time to study for MCATs). Thoughts?

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

How do you know you want medicine if you haven't worked in the field or shadowed since high school?

If you started now you get probably get in to some schools with a good MCAT but might get passed over at more clinically focused programs. Where are you in state?

 

[NickNaylor]

If you had a stronger GPA and a strong MCAT, you could probably get away with minimal clinical experience assuming the rest of your app is strong. However, if at all possible, it'd be a good idea to try and get some clinical experience under your belt. Are you working in a lab with clinical collaborators? Is there any other way you might be able to meet some physicians to shadow? If you're at an Ivy League institution, there is almost certainly an academic hospital system associated with it. That's a great opportunity for you to get some clinical exposure in your free time. You don't need a ton - just enough to give yourself some credibility when you start to talk about why you think medicine is for you. Unless, of course, your career goals are research- vs. clinically-focused.

 

[Catalystik]

So I graduated from a pretty well known liberal arts college in 2012 with a B.A. in Biochemistry and a cGPA of 3.67 (sGPA ~3.61). I have since been working as a technician at a research lab at an Ivy League school. I have substantial research experience through my current job and previous summer internships (though no publications... yet), but not much clinical experience. The last (and only) clinical exposure I had was when I shadowed my pediatrician ~50 hrs back in high school (about 5-6 years ago). I know that clinical exposure through volunteering and shadowing is important for schools to know that you're genuinely interested in medicine and that you know what you're getting yourself into. I've made my decision to apply for med school pretty recently, and I have applied to a bunch of hospital/clinical volunteer work, but they don't start until May. I haven't taken MCATs yet, but if I apply during the 2014 cycle, then I would probably take it in June. Do you think that applying June 2014 for Fall 2015 matriculation is too soon considering I wouldn't really have much clinical exposure starting until May 2014? Would it be advisable to wait a year to apply? I dread the thought of delaying another year (I want to escape the lab bench!), but I'm worried my application is not strong enough for this cycle due to low clinical exposure... and that I may need to delay it one more year to build a stronger application and get more involved clinically (and I would have more time to study for MCATs). Thoughts?

If you had a very strong MCAT score, years of nonmedical community service, and consistent leadership for many of these years, I can imagine that a school might accept you with limited clinical experience, considering your strong research background. But right now, you look like a PhD applicant. You need to give med schools evidence that you have the many qualities they're looking for. And you will surely have far more mature perspectives to gain from a shadowing experience than you did 5 years ago. From what you've presented to us, I think you should wait another year to apply while thoughtfully adding new experiences to demonstrate a myriad of desirable characteristics.

 

[lalax]

Depends on how good your MCAT is and whether you can shadow a couple of doctors before the application, even if only for ~10 hours.

 

[aesculapian]

Why not take an extra year and do some clinical work in that time? That way you get to escape the lab bench and have extra time to study for the MCAT and get that hands-on experience. I imagine your application would be pretty strong if that were the case.

 

[Optimus-Prime]

It depends on your expectations, if your willing to go lower tier you MIGHT be able to swing it. Why not take a year off apply with strong ECs and not have to wonder about what could've been