Standing Out in Medical School Admissions

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I'm currently a sophomore double majoring in molecular biology and public health with a language minor. I've been browsing SDN for some time and I've noticed that users have a large-mid range of clinical and research experience. I was wondering if studying abroad 3 times (prestigious summer institute that I will not disclose for anonymity sake, pre-med focused program [semester], and a faculty-led rural Spain trip [summer]) would look good to an admissions committee? The pre-med focused trip would specifically give me access to physicians and clinical hours abroad. In addition to that I hope to have numerous clinical experience since my college has an amazing partnership with a nearby medical school. I'm not sure if research would be a priority though. I would be able to do research the summer prior to my senior year and possibly this school year. How do you think an admissions committee would view studying abroad multiple times as opposed to engaging in years/semesters worth of research?

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1) Study abroad is fine but more importantly, clinical trips and physician shadowing abroad can hurt your application
https://www.aamc.org/download/47425...al-shadowing-experience-executive-summary.pdf

Member schools expressed significant concern with regards to premedical students engaging in unsupervised clinical activities in international settings [emphasis added]. In particular, 45-50% of those schools completing the survey described applicant involvement in invasive procedures in international settings as either harmful to, or of no value to, their application. Examples of such invasive procedures include giving vaccinations, suturing an injury, pulling teeth, and delivering a baby. This concern of admissions officers persisted, albeit at lower levels (35-40% of respondents), when the students were supervised by a health professional while performing such invasive procedures in international settings.

see my post AAMC Med School Survey Summary on Clinical Experiences
2) In a 2013 AAMC survey* where 127 medical admissions offices responded, found research experience is only of medium importance at private schools and of low importance to public schools as an experiential factor in offering both interview invitations and acceptance. Healthcare experience, community service/volunteer experience, experience with underserved populations, navigated through cultural barriers or challenges, leadership experience were considered of higher importance in factors for interview invites and offers of acceptances. This was further borne out in the 2015 AAMC Survey** where 130 medical school admissions found that both community service or volunteer in both medical and non-medical settings ranked higher in importance than physician shadowing

https://www.aamc.org/download/434596/data/usingmcatdata2016.pdf#page=7
see page 3 (pdf p7) Table 1. Mean Importance Ratings of Academic, Experiential, and Demographic Application Data Used by Admissions Committees for Making Decisions about Which Applicants to Receive an Interview Invitation and Offer Acceptance (N=127)

** https://www.aamc.org/download/462316/data/2017mcatguide.pdf#page=9
See page 4 (pdf page 9) Table 1. Mean Importance Ratings of Academic, Experiential, Demographic, and Interview Data Used by Admissions Committees for Making Decisions about Which Applicants Receive Interview Invitations and Acceptance Offers (N=130)

3) attempting a double major with a minor will by itself, impress an adcom. You need to major in GPA and minor in MCAT. what academic concentration you do to get there is almost immaterial. Indeed, overloading yourself with additional coursework risks impact on GPA and insufficient time and energy to prepare for MCAT

In sum, you should be considering both clinical and non-clinical volunteering with shadowing of doctors in US based facilities


Thank you! I have participated in a lot of non-clinical volunteering during my first year of undergrad to total around 90 hours (which includes mentoring disadvantaged middle-high schoolers) and have attended pre-medical conferences. I'm waiting on the application for volunteering at a local hospital during the school year. My gpa is a 3.678 cumulative because of the B's I received in two math classes. Time management is definitely key to my coursework overload but I will take summer classes to minimize my coursework the semester that I plan to take my MCAT (after junior year). I will definitely try to shadow doctors this school year as well!
 
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