Should I take two gap years?

[mike1331]

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[noticemeadcomsenpai]

How many schools did you apply to this cycle?

 

[mike1331]

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[DrHart]

So I applied for medical school this cycle and got two interviews, but it looks like I'm not going to be accepted. I have a cGPA of 3.99 and sGPA of 4.00 and an MCAT of 524, but very little direct clinical experience. I have been in a research lab for a year and a half now, and received my EMT license but never was able to get a job with it. I have non-clinical volunteer experience and limited shadowing experience, but really just need clinical hours. I also applied late in the cycle, which I didn't realize was such a mistake at the time and will definitely not repeat the next time I apply.

I know clinical exposure should be my focus this year, but is it possible to spend the month of May volunteering in clinical settings to get some more hours and write about my continued plan to volunteer or do I have to take another year off? I would really like to only take the one gap year, but I'm not sure how admissions look at future plans. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Your stats are good but little clinical will kill your app. I would take one full year to get clinical experience and learn from it. Then you'll be able to write about it for the following cycle. This means two years total. So long as your MCAT doesn't expire, you should be golden.

If you have little clinical when you apply, but indicate you'll be "volunteering" during your year off, adcoms take this with a grain of salt. How do they know you're really doing what you say? If they interview you and you haven't really been learning from your experience (or even volunteering as much as you said you would), they'll smell it from a mile away. Med schools aren't going anywhere and you don't wanna have to apply a third time. The major mistake reapplicants make is applying again too early without any significant change to their application:
The Ohio State University College of Medicine - Tips & Advice

 

[DrHart]

I understand that saying you will volunteer in the future sounds hollow, but if I begin post-graduation with a sole focus on clinical exposure, would that send the sufficient message that I am serious about fixing my gap?

This is iffy. I forget which adcom on the forum mentioned this, I think it was Goro.... if you put a start date for an activity as the month before submit your app - even if you anticipate a full year of doing it- you'll get dinged. If it's something as critical as clinical exposure/volunteering.... your app is sunk. This is just my opinion and what I've learned while on this forum.... if you have no solid, concrete, already completed clinical volunteering by the time you press submit, you are shooting yourself in the foot. Not only do you need to have it done, but you need to have reflected on it. This is impossible to do in your case. You can't reflect on an activity you haven't yet done.

Also I was wondering about the possibility of applying to a new set of schools this cycle. Then I would not be a re-applicant to any of the schools in my second cycle and if I am unsuccessful again, I could apply for a third time after the full year off to the schools that I originally applied to in my first application. I'm not sure if that's something applicants have tried or schools frown upon, but I haven't seen it discussed before.

This is also iffy. With your stats, you are clearly academically competitive for top 20 schools. With no clinical, they will likely pass. For middle and lower tier schools that you didn't apply to this past cycle, your chances could be worse. You may get yield protected at some. And other, more service oriented schools, may sink you because you have no volunteering. Save yourself the time, stress, and money. Spend a year bumping your shadowing hours up, volunteering or working in a clinical setting, and getting some non-clinical volunteer hours. Learn and digest your experiences to be able to meaningfully discuss it both on your app and in an interview.

 

[carrots28]

I worked on my clinical experiences for two years post grad and after my first cycle. schools were really intrigued by my experiences and I was accepted my second cycle with these experiences under my belt, so I highly recommend taking a year to learn and experience. It was also helpful in exploring other careers. For me, my work experiences confirmed I didn't want to do anything else but medicine.