To Apply or Withdraw?

[BevoBuck14]

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Old post-resolved

 

[Jay11jayjay]

I would go ahead and apply. Do get some clinical exposure during the app cycle. As long as you are able to make the case that you're interested in medicine you will likely get in somewhere. Make sure you apply to many schools if you can (~25).

 

[Catalystik]

I would really appreciate some advice on my situation. Should I continue on with applying this cycle or withdraw my application (already submitted) before it is verified (so I am not considered a reapplicant) and wait it out another year/strengthen my app? I will provide my basic stats, info, and activities for some background:

Econ major, Spanish minor
(s&c)gpa >3.9
mcat 33

I have plenty of nonclinical volunteering and other EC's, including 3 consecutive spring semesters with inner-city tutoring where I used Spanish

90 hrs of shadowing 3 different doctors

research: I already began working part-time for an economic statistics research firm for my gap year. I'm learning statistical program that I would be interested in using and would be applicable for future biostatistical and epidemiology research. There are some cases we have that are medically related. In all honesty becoming a doctor is a lot more appealing to me than doing this or anything business related for the rest of my life.

After exploring other professions I switched to a pre-med track my junior year. I have dedicated about a year and a half straight to pre-med, so it is not a capricious decision; I considered other paths to reassure that this is "the one."

My concern:

I do not have clinical experience/exposure outside of shadowing--I suppose I just volunteered and gained experience in things I was interested in that would have qualities that still apply to medicine. I made the case of a well-rounded liberal arts student who has a wide array of applicable skills and characteristics to medicine in my PS and everything is strong except the clinical experience. I would have graduated early but dedicated my last 2 years to mostly science classes, and I believe I could communicate my genuine interest in medicine to an interviewer, but will I be in trouble not having the clinical exposure of getting in/getting interviews? I have clinical volunteering options I could start before secondaries to write about and build plenty of hours (I know this is not the "way" to do it) prior to an interview, but would this carry any weight? I know the answer to this, but I guess I want to know if its a complete shot in the dark. I am content with not going to the top ranked med schools.

I am also uncertain about the pre-med requirements if I waited another year. I would not want to have to take psych, sociology, etc. along with waiting another year. I have had the mindset of applying this cycle all along and it would be tough for me to have wait another year, but I do not wanna make a foolish mistake of applying this year when I shouldn't.

Thanks a lot, and sorry for the lengthy post.

There are schools that won't care about shadowing. But, in your favor, other schools don't differentiate between active and passive clinical experience (though most expect both). If you can figure out which is which, applying this season won't be a complete waste of your application dollars. You would be well advised to start gaining patient interaction experience ASAP, in case that might help, for the sake of Secondary essays, future update letters (where allowed), and interview conversations.

Your "research" experience hasn't been presented here as satisfying what adcomms will be looking for, namely hypothesis-driven, scholarly investigation of a problem that would result in potentially publishable data from which conclusions have been drawn. Having two weak areas among your experiences would provide even more of a challenge to a successful application cycle.

What is your advisor's opinion of your chances at your state schools (if any)?

 

[Halfdolphy]

i'd definitely apply this year instead of wasting another year especially when ur stats are already good

 

[Goro]

Do NOT apply. You need to show us that you know what you're getting into and that you really want to be around sick people for the next 30-40 years. It doesn't look god when it all comes at once at the end of your UG training.

Apply once, with the best possible app, even if it means delaying a year. I've seen 4.0/40 MCAT people at my school, or post here that they got rejected because they were in exactly the same place as you.

My concern:

I do not have clinical experience/exposure outside of shadowing--I suppose I just volunteered and gained experience in things I was interested in that would have qualities that still apply to medicine. I made the case of a well-rounded liberal arts student who has a wide array of applicable skills and characteristics to medicine in my PS and everything is strong except the clinical experience. I would have graduated early but dedicated my last 2 years to mostly science classes, and I believe I could communicate my genuine interest in medicine to an interviewer, but will I be in trouble not having the clinical exposure of getting in/getting interviews? I have clinical volunteering options I could start before secondaries to write about and build plenty of hours (I know this is not the "way" to do it) prior to an interview, but would this carry any weight? I know the answer to this, but I guess I want to know if its a complete shot in the dark. I am content with not going to the top ranked med schools.

I am also uncertain about the pre-med requirements if I waited another year. I would not want to have to take psych, sociology, etc. along with waiting another year. I have had the mindset of applying this cycle all along and it would be tough for me to have wait another year, but I do not wanna make a foolish mistake of applying this year when I shouldn't.

Thanks a lot, and sorry for the lengthy post.[/QUOTE]

 

[candbgirl]

Then why did you ask? Apply if you want! By the way Goro and Catalystick are ADCOMs so they do know what they are talking about and always give good advice. Even if it's not what people want to hear.

 

[BevoBuck14]

Then why did you ask? Apply if you want! By the way Goro and Catalystick are ADCOMs so they do know what they are talking about and always give good advice. Even if it's not what people want to hear.