What else should I do?

[ImYourTwo]

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I'm currently a sophomore with lofty goals of an MD. I have a decently high GPA from a top 20 university (cGPA 3.94, sGPA ~3.92), but it may drop slightly after this semester (nothing drastic).

During the summer I plan on working full time as a paid medical scribe, hopefully getting about 400+ hours. I would most likely work next summer in the same position. Would this be under the same category as clinical volunteering? Should I also do clinical volunteering? Do I still need to shadow?

Next semester I plan on working on research with one of my professors, hopefully for a couple hours a week. I am not in any medical clubs at my school. What more can I do to enhance my chance at getting into an MD school?

 

[crazymedguy123]

Scribing is not clinical volunteering since you will be paid. You definitely need to volunteer, preferably in a non-clinical setting (tutor, coach, soup kitchen, homeless shelter, etc.) but another role in a clinical setting would not hurt either (local hospital, hospice, etc).

Even though scribing is pretty similar in a way to shadowing, you still need a distinct experience of shadowing. 50 hours should suffice, and try to make sure it is primary care.

Make sure your MCAT is really strong. If you want MD, shooting for 510+ is your best chance as the average matriculant is a 511 I believe. Keep up your grades as best you can.

 

[ImYourTwo]

Scribing is not clinical volunteering since you will be paid. You definitely need to volunteer, preferably in a non-clinical setting (tutor, coach, soup kitchen, homeless shelter, etc.) but another role in a clinical setting would not hurt either (local hospital, hospice, etc).

Even though scribing is pretty similar in a way to shadowing, you still need a distinct experience of shadowing. 50 hours should suffice, and try to make sure it is primary care.

Make sure your MCAT is really strong. If you want MD, shooting for 510+ is your best chance as the average matriculant is a 511 I believe. Keep up your grades as best you can.

How many non-clinical volunteer hours should I aim for?

 

[crazymedguy123]

How many non-clinical volunteer hours should I aim for?

I'm not the best source for this, but I would say at least 150? Obviously more is definitely encouraged, especially for something you are passionate about. If you do around 2-3 hours a week from now until when you apply to medical school, you will have at least that many (or more)

 

[DokterMom]

You want to demonstrate that you have some exposure to the medical field and understand what you're getting into, and also that you are a dedicated, compassionate person who cares about others and service to the less fortunate.

You can accomplish both goals with clinical volunteering if you're both lucky and smart about it. But there's also the risk of appearing self-serving and 'box-checking' if all of your volunteering is hyper-focused in the medical arena and you don't have an abundance of hours. You risk looking like the only reason you're 'helping' others is really just to help yourself.

If you've got paid work as a scribe, that will demonstrate exposure to medicine, so I'd suggest you focus your volunteer efforts on something peripheral -- ex. volunteer at/for a camp for sick or disabled children, hospice, suicide help line, homeless, AIDs, cancer patients, memory care unit, mentally ill, etc. Do something uncomfortable.

 

[LizzyM]

Agree with the above. Do it until the need no longer exists or until you no longer live nearby. In other words, if you do it for the right reasons, there is no reason to stop after a specified number of hours; you are doing it to help people. If you don't want to help people, but only want to help yourself get into medical school, spare the poor your efforts to improve your application at their expense and do something fun that demonstrates your abilitly to work in a team or with a group.

 

[Goro]

I'm currently a sophomore with lofty goals of an MD. I have a decently high GPA from a top 20 university (cGPA 3.94, sGPA ~3.92), but it may drop slightly after this semester (nothing drastic).

During the summer I plan on working full time as a paid medical scribe, hopefully getting about 400+ hours. I would most likely work next summer in the same position. Would this be under the same category as clinical volunteering? Should I also do clinical volunteering? Do I still need to shadow?

Next semester I plan on working on research with one of my professors, hopefully for a couple hours a week. I am not in any medical clubs at my school. What more can I do to enhance my chance at getting into an MD school?

Service to others less fortunate than yourself.