I agree with this advice.
Honestly my first three years of undergrad I was immature, lost, didnt know what I wanted to do, had some family issues + messed up mental health, my bad grades are completely on me. In my senior year, I finally realized that I wanted to become a doctor after doing some shadowing, so I got my **** together and got straight As on all my classes. I took an extra year and graduated a year later because I had to finish some pre requisites and re-took any class I did bad in and got straight As that year too. During my last two years, I shadowed and worked at the hospital consistently and also studied for the mcat at the same time.
I wasn't actually asking you to reveal the nature of your journey here, but was suggesting you be prepared to discuss when you are interviewed. If personality issues were a factor, be ready to demonstrate how you are not that person now. Also, GPA and mcat aren't the only factors. Make sure you have adequate volunteer and clinical hours too.
For sure, thank you for the advice. I did work as a scribe for about 6-7 months. I'm not sure if that counts as clinical experience? and I also haven't done any volunteering yet.
Working as a scribe for a physician absolutely does count as clinical experience. In fact, it is often viewed as one of the most valuable clinical experiences that you can get as a pre-med student because of how direct and thorough your interaction with physicians is. If you do not have any voluntary experience, that definitely could definitely hurt your application. However, it does not have to necessarily be clinical.
@Goro has said many times students should seek volunteering opportunities with people less fortunate than yourself.
