Medical Should I rescind my interview invites and reapply?

[GoSpursGo]

Hello,

I have been driving myself insane with this question and I'm hoping to find some guidance here. Please read the post in its entirety. I appreciate all and any input!

My background:

-Attended a community college for 2 years and transferred to UCLA where I earned a BA in Psychology.
- Studies abroad to England for a semester.
- Finished taking Pre-Med courses at UCLA Extension after graduating.
- California resident

I applied this year with following stats:

• Overall GPA: 3.63 | BCPM GPA: 3.62 (since submitting my application I have taken 4 science classes and earned As which has probably brought my BCPM GPA to 3.65)
• MCAT: 510 ( taken only once)
• verified end of July | submitted all my secondaries by the end of August
• I have 500+ volunteer hrs in multiple hospitals including UCLA Hospital. NO NON-CLINICAL VOLUNTEER
• I worked as a research lab assistant for over 700 hrs. Implanting experimental mice, recording and analyzing sleep data. NO PUBLICATION
• I have leadership experience (lead a class on environmental sustainability)
• I have paid work experience during my time as a college student
• I currently work part-time at an ENT (Otolaryngology) office where I am part of the medical staff, work closely with the Dr. and get lots of hands on experience with the patients

I applied to about 35 schools (all MD) and have so far gotten 2 interviews from schools that are unranked, and upon looking into them/ their match lists more closely I am not excited about attending.

HERE IS MY DILEMMA:

1. I JUST got offered a position that I applied to back in October for a Lab Assistant to the head Neurosurgeon in one of the top 10 schools. Not only will I be observing him perform spinal surgeries and take on duties around the lab, but for the first time I can work on my own research in the area and get published as a first author.
This position starts mid March.

2. Since COVID-19 restrictions have loosened up I was offered a (non- clinical) volunteer position to help underserved children with finding scholarships for college and help them with the application process. This position starts mid February.

Besides these two things being something that I am extremely passionate about I can't help but think that having these experiences added to my application would make me a better candidate and give me a shot at MD schools that are my top choices. I feel sending an update letter at this point in the cycle will be too late.

I realize my first mistake was applying to schools that I wasn't 100% sure about attending.
I also realize that if I get accepted this cycle not going would be a big red flag for my future application.

So here is my question:

Do I rescind my interview invitations and re-apply as a stronger candidate OR do I keep my interviews, and if I get accepted attend the school.

I am very grateful for having gotten these interviews and I hope this post does not make me sound unappreciative, after all these schools are willing to take a chance on me. I just wasn't expecting to get offered the neurosurgery lab position and I can't help but think that it would be an extremely rewarding experience.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post and for sharing your input!

You are overthinking this.

You currently do not have any acceptances to medical school, so you should accept these positions. They will certainly help if you get wind up having to reapply. If you get accepted to med school, then quit and go to med school. Period, end of discussion.

Yes, both of these positions should be helpful in case you wind up needing to reapply, but nothing is guaranteed. In particular, this neurosurgery lab position seems good, but I very strongly doubt that you would be a first author of a paper as a lab assistant. And even if you did, it almost certainly would not be published in time to help you for the next application cycle. The volunteer opportunity will, frankly, be a footnote on your app.

Finally, at the end of the day while your stats are fine, they're pretty average. The odds that an EC is going to suddenly vault you from borderline getting into a low-tier school to a top-X school is low. So again, the grass always seems greener somewhere else, but if you're fortunate enough to get accepted this year don't put your life on hold for these positions.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

I am sorry but saying that you are "not excited about attending" an MD medical school because you "weren't excited about their match list" with a 3.6/510 from California with zero clinical experience makes me think you are ill-informed about the process.

Also, that's cool that you got a research position, but one...research is not THAT important for medical school admissions, and two, there is very, very little chance that you will get a publication in one year (let alone get first authorship).

 

[Goro]

• NO NON-CLINICAL VOLUNTEER

This will be lethal. Medicine is a service profession and you need to demonstrate your altruism. Having a first author Cell paper won't make up for this lack. On top of this, most of the schools where you'll be most competitive at are service loving schools, like Drexel, Tulane or Albany.

In short, beggars can't be choosy and turning down IIs is behavior contrary to your own self-interest.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Thank you for your response.

do you mind elaborating on me not having any clinical experience? I actually thought that I had plenty given that I have volunteered in hospitals/ worked with a doctor and patients at a private practice for years. Unless I’m misunderstanding something about what clinical experience entails.

Meant non-clinical experience