WAMC Fork in the Road

[DukeyDanger]

I am at a fork in the med school road: apply this cycle, take an extra gap year, and move to Texas to do a gap year there to gain residency.

• sGPA: 3.90
• cGPA: 3.91
• MCAT: 512 average practice tests (4 practice exams). I took the MCAT the day before yesterday, so I do not have my score back yet. I project to get my average or higher based on my confidence after the test. I am asking for help now because I have to start writing my personal statement immediately if I will apply this cycle.
  • CP: 127 Average
  • CARS: 129 Average
  • BB: 127 Average
  • PS: 130 Average
• State of residence: Oregon
• Ethnicity: White
• Undergraduate Institution: Small but well-respected private university in Oregon
• Clinical experience:
  
  • None, but I estimate I can acquire 150 hours before the application deadline
• Research experience:
  
  • Chemistry research - 400 hours
    • Research presented at Murdock Undergraduate Research Conference (poster)
    • Research presented at Undergraduate Research Symposium (poster)
  • Biology research
    • Independent research laboratory - 250 hours
    • biology research - 100 hours
      • It may be published some time, but not before I would be in medical school
  • Psychology Research
    • Psychology Project 1 - 128 hrs
      • Presented at APS conference (poster)
      • Presented at WPA conference (poster)
      • Presented at Linfield symposium (poster)
    • Psychology Project 2 - 60 hours
      • may or may not be published before the application cycle.
• Shadowing experience:
  
  • Vascular surgeon - 30 hours
  • Gynecologist - 10 hours
  • Sleep Medicine - 10 hours
• Non-clinical Volunteering:
  
  • TedxMcMinnville - 20 hrs
  • Community garden - 100 hrs
  • Women's homeless shelter - 150 hrs
  • Church youth group - 100 hrs ( service projects like helping seniors with yard work)
  • Food bank 100 hrs
  • Undergraduate Pre-orientation Peer Mentor - 40 hrs
• Extracurriculars:
  
  • Student government campus life director - 300 hrs
  • Library Technician - 1,160 hrs
  • Rat lab technician - 80 hrs
  • Psychology department receptionist - 384 hrs
  • Psychology Ambassador - 64 hrs
  • Gap year - I graduate at the end of May, but I plan on taking a gap year where I will acquire more clinical experience as a scribe. But for application this year it would just be estimated hours.
• Relevant Honors:
  
  • Dean's list - all four years
  • PsiChi Honor Society
  • ALD Honor Society
  • May receive more upon graduation in May
• Other: While I know that medical schools do not typically care about your majors or minors, I am majoring in psychology, minoring in biology, chemistry, neuroscience, and philosophy.

I'm posting this right now because I have to decide when to apply for medical school. If I choose to apply this cycle, I must immediately start writing my personal statement, get everything else ready in the next 6 weeks, and try to find some clinical experience. I am very concerned because of my lack of clinical hours, and these are my options:

1. Immediately begin the application process for both Texas and non-Texas schools. This would mean I would apply to Texas schools as an out-of-state candidate. I would have to drop everything and find 150 clinical hours stat.
2. Take a second gap year, move to Texas, and find a job that gets me more clinical hours. Now that I have established residency, I can apply for Texas and non-Texas medical schools.
3. Take a second gap year and acquire more clinical hours, but I don't establish residency in Texas and apply to both Texas and non-Texas medical schools as an out-of-state candidate.

If I can get into medical school now, I don't want to delay being accepted, but if you all think that my application isn't strong enough, I don't want to waste time and money because I live in a single-parent family and paying for secondaries two years in a row is an issue. I like the idea of attending a Texas medical school because my family wants to move there. The lower student loan debt is also very attractive. But missing out on a year's salary is also problematic. If my MCAT is as expected, do you think my EC and clinical hours are enough to get an acceptance this cycle, or would you recommend working a year, getting 2000 clinical hours, and then applying?

Thank you very much for all of your input. I really am trying to make the best decisions I can for my future. I realize this would be better if I waited for my official score, but I would not want to slam into PS writing if you recommended more clinical hours prior to applying. My top choices of schools are Baylor, UTMB, UT Southwestern, Tulane, USF, UCF, Loma Linda UCD. I would prefer to be admitted to MD rather than DO, and I would be fine with doing an MD/Ph.D. Although I have been dreaming of being a doctor since I received my first toy medical kit, I would accept whatever school would be willing to accept me, whether it is MD or DO. The point is to become a doctor, most interested in neurology.

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[chilly_md]

Take the gap year, schools will not view your app favorably if you squeeze in 150 hours of clinical experience at the last minute (if you are even able to manage to). The TX schools are very hard to get into as an OOS applicant as well and they typically go for high stat applicants.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You sound unfocused with your application plans.

Rushing an application is a recipe for chaos and lost money. Did you write secondary essays yet because the madness of filling out secondaries will make this time period feel like a Bahama cruise over Christmas?

Give yourself more time. Work on the deficiencies you know you must address. Plan properly and do this once.

Write Your Secondary Essays First - SDN

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