Sorry if this is long! - ORM, SES EO2, qualified for FAP
I’m trying to decide if I want to reapply to medical school the next cycle in 2019 if I end up not matriculating this current cycle, or if I should wait a year to apply in 2020.
I currently attend a state school in the Southeast US with state medical schools with high in-state bias.
I am graduating this May with a BS Biology degree
uGPA: 3.83 (Upward trend; 3.55 Freshman year to a 4.0 Senior year)
sGPA: 3.77
MCAT – 509 (79%) – (C/P, CARS, B/B, P/S) – 128, 125, 129, 127
Nonclinical Volunteering: 120 hours with a pre-health organization (some from the same event, while the others are sporadic); I was also a violin tutor with my former church providing free lessons at times, especially for those w/o private teachers or violins of their own for about 250 hours over 4 years (started in high school, continued in college).
Clinical Experience (work): Per diem CNA 350 hours over 9 months during Freshman Spring and Sophomore Fall terms.
Shadowing: I shadowed a Pediatrician for 46 hours all in one month.
Work nonclinical: Supplemental Instructor for four semesters, and I am doing my last semester now. I didn’t include the hours from when I volunteered to tutor students who weren’t able to go to my classes/sessions since they had work, other obligations. I’m thinking of adding these hours onto AMCAS in the description rather than taking up another slot.
Research: On AMCAS I put 400 hours over two years, but now that I’m starting my own project, it’s estimated to be up to 1,000 hours so far. From the 400 hours, I have two publications, but I was a middle author out of like 12-20 authors. Currently, I am working on a project that continues these projects, and I will be first author with a publication sometime when school ends (it isn’t one where I’ll be published in a school journal btw).
Leadership: Committee member that helped members find more volunteer opportunities for 1.5 years. I was also active in my former church, where I slowly gained promotions. From the oldest to most recent: orchestra director, choir director, song leader, and music director.
Other ECs: I was a TA for two different Introductory Biology courses. The hobbies I have are transcribing music/pieces with no sheet music online during my spare time. I’m also a regular runner. I ran a half-marathon, and I am planning to join a local running club.
This cycle: I applied to 20 schools, received two II from my state schools, rejected from one of those and I am still waiting to hear from the other interview. I was put on hold at three schools, rejected from four so far. I submitted 10 secondaries in late August, 3 in early September, 5 in late September, 1 in October, and 1 in November right before their deadline.
PS was read and drafted several times, looking back it appears as a generic PS. One of my interviewers asked me why I wanted to go to medicine despite reading my PS, which means my PS doesn’t answer this question.
Secondaries were rushed since I submitted my primary in mid-July, verified mid-August, and didn’t pre-write any of the essays.
I didn’t apply to any DO schools, but I clearly should have.
Current course load is very light since I took care of upper division classes my junior year and all my summers. The only thing taking my time is working on my manuscript, so I have much more time to volunteer, work on other ECs, etc.
I have recently attended an orientation to teach refugees/local community members English. This might go well with my interests on teaching (Supplemental instruction, TA, tutoring, etc.) I have already signed up for about 80 hours from now until May. This doesn’t include any hours from April, Spring break, or when the semester ends, so I am ideally planning for 100 hours by then. I am planning to continue this experience well into next year since I truly like this experience. On the primary, I intend to be super conservative with how many projected hours I put (about 1 hour/week until next year or so, despite already doing 6-12 hours/week). I unfortunately didn’t even know about this until recently.
I am scheduled to attend orientation to volunteer in a hospice, and I am also hoping to volunteer until application time in June. I also think this will match will with my experiences as a CNA.
I have already set up a schedule to shadow a DO doctor in April for two hours a week. I am currently looking to shadow another DO doctor in March and an MD doctor in May. Cold calling is the only way that works for me since I don’t have any connections.
School list primarily consisted of low- to mid-tier MD schools, again no DO schools.
Sorry if this is long, but as long as I improve my nonclinical/clinical experiences to show commitment to patient care, although it doesn’t show long-term commitment, my clinical experiences, and shadow a few more doctors, all before June comes along, am I able to apply immediately to the next cycle without incurring a huge disadvantage? I intend to primarily apply to DO schools and any MD schools I didn’t end up sending my primary too or I applied super late too. Of course, I intend to write a response to how I spent my gap year if any schools’ secondaries ask this question.
Lastly, I don’t mind taking one gap year, since I will continue volunteering in both new experiences, part-time work, travel, etc. I really want to avoid two gap years.
Thanks for everything!
I’m trying to decide if I want to reapply to medical school the next cycle in 2019 if I end up not matriculating this current cycle, or if I should wait a year to apply in 2020.
I currently attend a state school in the Southeast US with state medical schools with high in-state bias.
I am graduating this May with a BS Biology degree
uGPA: 3.83 (Upward trend; 3.55 Freshman year to a 4.0 Senior year)
sGPA: 3.77
MCAT – 509 (79%) – (C/P, CARS, B/B, P/S) – 128, 125, 129, 127
Nonclinical Volunteering: 120 hours with a pre-health organization (some from the same event, while the others are sporadic); I was also a violin tutor with my former church providing free lessons at times, especially for those w/o private teachers or violins of their own for about 250 hours over 4 years (started in high school, continued in college).
Clinical Experience (work): Per diem CNA 350 hours over 9 months during Freshman Spring and Sophomore Fall terms.
Shadowing: I shadowed a Pediatrician for 46 hours all in one month.
Work nonclinical: Supplemental Instructor for four semesters, and I am doing my last semester now. I didn’t include the hours from when I volunteered to tutor students who weren’t able to go to my classes/sessions since they had work, other obligations. I’m thinking of adding these hours onto AMCAS in the description rather than taking up another slot.
Research: On AMCAS I put 400 hours over two years, but now that I’m starting my own project, it’s estimated to be up to 1,000 hours so far. From the 400 hours, I have two publications, but I was a middle author out of like 12-20 authors. Currently, I am working on a project that continues these projects, and I will be first author with a publication sometime when school ends (it isn’t one where I’ll be published in a school journal btw).
Leadership: Committee member that helped members find more volunteer opportunities for 1.5 years. I was also active in my former church, where I slowly gained promotions. From the oldest to most recent: orchestra director, choir director, song leader, and music director.
Other ECs: I was a TA for two different Introductory Biology courses. The hobbies I have are transcribing music/pieces with no sheet music online during my spare time. I’m also a regular runner. I ran a half-marathon, and I am planning to join a local running club.
This cycle: I applied to 20 schools, received two II from my state schools, rejected from one of those and I am still waiting to hear from the other interview. I was put on hold at three schools, rejected from four so far. I submitted 10 secondaries in late August, 3 in early September, 5 in late September, 1 in October, and 1 in November right before their deadline.
PS was read and drafted several times, looking back it appears as a generic PS. One of my interviewers asked me why I wanted to go to medicine despite reading my PS, which means my PS doesn’t answer this question.
Secondaries were rushed since I submitted my primary in mid-July, verified mid-August, and didn’t pre-write any of the essays.
I didn’t apply to any DO schools, but I clearly should have.
Current course load is very light since I took care of upper division classes my junior year and all my summers. The only thing taking my time is working on my manuscript, so I have much more time to volunteer, work on other ECs, etc.
I have recently attended an orientation to teach refugees/local community members English. This might go well with my interests on teaching (Supplemental instruction, TA, tutoring, etc.) I have already signed up for about 80 hours from now until May. This doesn’t include any hours from April, Spring break, or when the semester ends, so I am ideally planning for 100 hours by then. I am planning to continue this experience well into next year since I truly like this experience. On the primary, I intend to be super conservative with how many projected hours I put (about 1 hour/week until next year or so, despite already doing 6-12 hours/week). I unfortunately didn’t even know about this until recently.
I am scheduled to attend orientation to volunteer in a hospice, and I am also hoping to volunteer until application time in June. I also think this will match will with my experiences as a CNA.
I have already set up a schedule to shadow a DO doctor in April for two hours a week. I am currently looking to shadow another DO doctor in March and an MD doctor in May. Cold calling is the only way that works for me since I don’t have any connections.
School list primarily consisted of low- to mid-tier MD schools, again no DO schools.
Sorry if this is long, but as long as I improve my nonclinical/clinical experiences to show commitment to patient care, although it doesn’t show long-term commitment, my clinical experiences, and shadow a few more doctors, all before June comes along, am I able to apply immediately to the next cycle without incurring a huge disadvantage? I intend to primarily apply to DO schools and any MD schools I didn’t end up sending my primary too or I applied super late too. Of course, I intend to write a response to how I spent my gap year if any schools’ secondaries ask this question.
Lastly, I don’t mind taking one gap year, since I will continue volunteering in both new experiences, part-time work, travel, etc. I really want to avoid two gap years.
Thanks for everything!
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