Veteran graduating soon, what to do until May?

[CJ11B]

Hello everyone,

It has been a few years since I last posted here. I overcame my rough start and will be graduating with ~3.7 Cum and ~3.8 science. I will be taking the MCAT in May, but my practice tests have been ~510, so I am assuming (hoping really) that my real score will be around that. I am a non-trad applicant and a former combat infantryman with service overseas. My worry with my application is that I have very little in the way of clinical, volunteer, or research experience. I am in the process of getting a scribe job, and hopefully working full time from now until May will give me some solid clinical experience. I am a humanities major, so almost all of my science classes have been the prereqs, so I am also wondering if it would be wise to take some post-bac science courses? Any other suggestions to improve my app? I am targeting my state school (very strong in-state preference), or neighboring ones. Any advice or comments would be appreciated! Thank you all.

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[deleted1001426]

i feel like i repeatedly give this advice but I cant recommend emting enough. its an awesome experience that ive found really interests interviewers and gives you a way to talk about patient care that isnt just describing encounters you witnessed while shadowing or scribing. Plus it checks off 2 areas that youre weak on, clinical exp and volunteering.

 

[CJ11B]

i feel like i repeatedly give this advice but I cant recommend emting enough. its an awesome experience that ive found really interests interviewers and gives you a way to talk about patient care that isnt just describing encounters you witnessed while shadowing or scribing. Plus it checks off 2 areas that youre weak on, clinical exp and volunteering.

I was considering this, but I feel like by the time I get trained/qualified there won't be much time left before applications go out.

 

[deleted1001426]

I was considering this, but I feel like by the time I get trained/qualified there won't be much time left before applications go out.

Look into the courses offered near you. Personally I was able to do an accelerated one that only took a month. It was fairly intensive (4 days per week) but the material is pretty straightforward and if you join a volunteer squad they’ll usually pay for it too. You also have to remember that on the amcas you fill in projected time as well as completed so even if you don’t complete the course until the summer you’ll still have a full year to accrue projected hours

Even if you don’t make any drastic changes to your app via research or emting, as long as you obtain a bit of clinical experience(scribings great bc you can also get a few lors if you still need them and in my experience they’re considerably better than the ones from a doc you shadowed for a few days as while scribing you usually get to know the docs on a personal level, so they have a lot of hopefully good things to say about you) and don’t bomb the mcat, I don’t see a reason why you wouldn’t find success this coming cycle.

 

[candbgirl]

Look into the courses offered near you. Personally I was able to do an accelerated one that only took a month. It was fairly intensive (4 days per week) but the material is pretty straightforward and if you join a volunteer squad they’ll usually pay for it too. You also have to remember that on the amcas you fill in projected time as well as completed so even if you don’t complete the course until the summer you’ll still have a full year to accrue projected hours

But remember projected are are considered just that- projected. We all know life happens and our projections may or may not happen. Applying with only projected clinical hours isn’t smart.

 

[deleted1001426]

But remember projected are are considered just that- projected. We all know life happens and our projections may or may not happen. Applying with only projected clinical hours isn’t smart.

True but seeing as it’s oct now/ probably November by the time op could enroll in a course and emt courses run anywhere from 1-3 months, op should at the latest be certified by February which gives him/her 3-4 full months of full emt practicing + most squads will let you ride as an ambulance assistant prior to your cert. I assume op would continue to scribe(or at the bare minimum seek out the occasional shadowing opportunity) throughout the process as well, providing another route for clinical experience

 

[CJ11B]

Thank you for the replies. I will definitely look into the EMT courses, I got my EMT-B years back but I doubt it is still valid. Regardless, I will likely have 500-600 hours before my application. I was also unaware that you could put in projected time...that number will likely be significantly higher. Would it be wise to spend my extra time trying to get some volunteer experience or do you think it would be better to take more upper-division sciences?

 

[Tenk]

You should scribe and do some volunteering on the side. You’re too far along to do EMT to get any benefit out of it. You’ll gain far more clinical knowledge and connections as a scribe. Scribe in an ED if possible.

 

[Google_was_my_idea]

Thank you for the replies. I will definitely look into the EMT courses, I got my EMT-B years back but I doubt it is still valid. Regardless, I will likely have 500-600 hours before my application. I was also unaware that you could put in projected time...that number will likely be significantly higher. Would it be wise to spend my extra time trying to get some volunteer experience or do you think it would be better to take more upper-division sciences?

So make sure you have the following things before applying.

- 150 hours of clinical experience and/or clinical volunteering

- 150 hours of non clinical volunteering

- 50 hours of shadowing

Research is nice to have but only required for Top 20 medical schools. You may get some leeway as a veteran on volunteering due to your past experience but don’t count on it. Get the 3 above things done and you’ll be golden

 

[CJ11B]

So make sure you have the following things before applying.

- 150 hours of clinical experience and/or clinical volunteering

- 150 hours of non clinical volunteering

- 50 hours of shadowing

Research is nice to have but only required for Top 20 medical schools. You may get some leeway as a veteran on volunteering due to your past experience but don’t count on it. Get the 3 above things done and you’ll be golden

Would working as a scribe be considered clinical expereience AND shadowing?

 

[Google_was_my_idea]

Would working as a scribe be considered clinical expereience AND shadowing?

Scribing is considered clinical. I think most adcoms would consider it shadowing too, but some adcoms want to see you shadow without scribing. You probably would be fine without shadowing if you scribe, but the safest route is to shadow separately.