Obstreperous Bumpkin
Full Member
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2024
- Messages
- 20
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- 23
Context: I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life during college, and I basically wasted those 4 years. I never had to take anatomy, but I took it for fun my senior year, and halfway through my last semester of college something clicked and I realized that I want to be a doctor. I've spent the last year working as a medical assistant and getting volunteering hours. My stats will get me yield protected at a lot of schools, but my lack of leadership and research will keep me from getting even a second glance from T20s. I think if I took another year and got a lab tech job at my alma mater, and also bothered the PI a bunch to let me contribute or do my own research, I could probably get some meaningful research experience and maybe a poster or publication. This would also give me time to find some less perfunctory volunteer experience than what I've currently got (although when drafting my PS I was able to come up with a really meaningful connection between my clinical experience, health disparities/underserved populations, and my reasons for starting volunteering at the food closet). I also don't know how strong my secondaries will be, since my weak ECs mean I don't have a lot of talking points. I have FAP for this application cycle, which is part of the reason I don't know if I should just shoot my shot this cycle or not. I feel like I don't have a lot to lose in either situation, since I either get in somewhere, or I save the time and effort and come back next year with a strong application (but I would be starting med school at almost 25), so I was wondering what you all might suggest.
I guess the main question I would most like answered is: Is my application even strong enough to apply to mid-tiers this cycle, and do I (1) ignore T20s this cycle and apply to 30-40 mid-tiers, (2) apply this cycle to 10-15 T20s and 25-30 mid-tiers, or (3) wait yet another year to apply when my application is stronger? If the second gap year option is best, what should I do during that time to make my application T20-worthy, and are the T20s worth it? The ultimate goal is just to get into med school, and I know an extra gap year would help with that goal, but I want to know if it's necessary.
Faha suggested the following schools in another post I made, which I thought was strange given my lack of research/leadership:
Kaiser, Washington University, Vanderbilt, USF Morsani, Duke, U Virginia, Jefferson, Pittsburgh, Hofstra, Einstein, Mount Sinai, NYU, Columbia, Cornell, Rochester, UPenn, Johns Hopkins, Cincinnati, Ohio State, Case Western, U Michigan, Northwestern, Boston University, Tufts, Dartmouth, Brown
These seem like the sort of schools my lack of research/leadership would get me screened out of in a second.
All hours are projected to time of application if I apply this cycle in May/June.
GPA: 4.0 Biology BS
MCAT: 525 (132/129/132/132) on 1/13/24
Demographics: white male, Nevada resident
Clinical: 2000 hours as a medical assistant in a urology clinic -- direct patient contact (cath changes, BCG, Lupron injections; I also assist the doctors with cystos and prostate biopsies)
Research: zero
Shadowing: ~20 hours shadowing in urology (I plan on getting some more in primary care)
Volunteering: ~210 hours spread between food closet, library, and dog shelter
Leadership: none during college. I help train new MAs, and I'm the main authority in our clinic on assisting the doctors with bladder Botox.
Other: ~1500 hours part-time work at university library during school, 400-500 hours as a housekeeper each summer. ~500 hours as a field tech with the Forest Service doing field surveys to collect data on owl populations one summer.
I guess the main question I would most like answered is: Is my application even strong enough to apply to mid-tiers this cycle, and do I (1) ignore T20s this cycle and apply to 30-40 mid-tiers, (2) apply this cycle to 10-15 T20s and 25-30 mid-tiers, or (3) wait yet another year to apply when my application is stronger? If the second gap year option is best, what should I do during that time to make my application T20-worthy, and are the T20s worth it? The ultimate goal is just to get into med school, and I know an extra gap year would help with that goal, but I want to know if it's necessary.
Faha suggested the following schools in another post I made, which I thought was strange given my lack of research/leadership:
Kaiser, Washington University, Vanderbilt, USF Morsani, Duke, U Virginia, Jefferson, Pittsburgh, Hofstra, Einstein, Mount Sinai, NYU, Columbia, Cornell, Rochester, UPenn, Johns Hopkins, Cincinnati, Ohio State, Case Western, U Michigan, Northwestern, Boston University, Tufts, Dartmouth, Brown
These seem like the sort of schools my lack of research/leadership would get me screened out of in a second.
All hours are projected to time of application if I apply this cycle in May/June.
GPA: 4.0 Biology BS
MCAT: 525 (132/129/132/132) on 1/13/24
Demographics: white male, Nevada resident
Clinical: 2000 hours as a medical assistant in a urology clinic -- direct patient contact (cath changes, BCG, Lupron injections; I also assist the doctors with cystos and prostate biopsies)
Research: zero
Shadowing: ~20 hours shadowing in urology (I plan on getting some more in primary care)
Volunteering: ~210 hours spread between food closet, library, and dog shelter
Leadership: none during college. I help train new MAs, and I'm the main authority in our clinic on assisting the doctors with bladder Botox.
Other: ~1500 hours part-time work at university library during school, 400-500 hours as a housekeeper each summer. ~500 hours as a field tech with the Forest Service doing field surveys to collect data on owl populations one summer.
