What are my next moves as a pre-med?

[ush02]

Hi, all,

Currently a trad junior at a state school, planning to apply end of my senior year. As it stands right now, I know that I am very much behind the curve when it comes to ECs and whatnot. I have a 3.88 cGPA, and I'm registered to take the MCAT in September; already worried about this as I am taking biochem and one other class over the summer while I will be studying. In terms of ECs, I am currently lacking very much; I've only got about ~125 hours in non-clinical volunteering working as a visitor escort at my hospital. No shadowing hours, and no clinical hours either; I'm on the board of my school's meditation and mindfulness club, and have been for 1.5 years. I'm not sure how to improve my application to be competitive at all; I plan on volunteering at the cancer institute in my area, considering I've heard good things about the experience, and as for research I've started working with one of my professors from last semester in his lab, but it's only a few hours a week or so. I'll be doing some independent research come next fall with him as my PI.

I know the first question that will come to everyone's mind is "What were you doing these past few years?", and to be honest I ask myself that a lot; I hate myself for not doing anything these past two years beyond just volunteering a bit. I'm hoping that I can at least become somewhat competitive for MD, but I am very unsure as to where to begin for this process. Please do give me some advice on how to proceed from here. Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[klever]

Take a few gap years probably is my best advice. I'm no expert but I know that it'll be hard to get those hours up if you want to apply this/next cycle. Also, if you do take gap years be careful about when your MCAT may expire.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

A full time job is 2k hours per year. Get a half time clinical role, find 2 things you can do 3-5 hours a week for Non-Clinical volunteering and you're set with one year of full time effort.

 

[Fluidity of Movement]

You are planning to apply next year? You have plenty of time to get some hours under your belt. Especially with you taking the MCAT this year. You may want to push your MCAT to january if you aren't going to have enough time to study. Many will use winter break and take MCAT in their first week etc of classes. The ideal setup though is the 100 day plan over the summer, which you could do next summer.

I think a gap year could still be good, and honestly if we are talking strategy wise, it makes sense to just take the gap year now, apply, and then finish your senior year while doing interviews. But I have no idea if that is advisable, especially if you are worried about losing academic momentum, if your school will allow it, etc.

@Goro et al?