Medical What should I do for gap year?

[Mr.Smile12]

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Hi! I am currently finishing up undergrad and hoping to apply to medical school this upcoming cycle. I began getting clinical experience the spring of my junior year and with COVID my options have unfortunately been limited.

My current stats/activities are as follows:
4.0 gpa/MCAT will be 515+ hopefully🙏🏻
1 summer of lab research + 1 summer of remote literature research;
2 first author papers;
50 hours of hospital volunteering (right before COVID);
30 hours of shadowing (+a lot more hours of virtual shadowing);
150 hours of remote hospital volunteering (Talking to patients on the phone to address needs related to the social determinants of health);
200 hours volunteering for a healthcare nonprofit organization helping low income immigrants obtain affordable health insurance;
400 hours of telemedicine job this past year where I scheduled patients and worked with physicians and PAs to ensure that the video calls ran smoothly;
Many leadership positions (Resident assistant, president of a student club);
3 years of TA’ing and tutoring;
Many awards and scholarships…

I was recently offered a research technician position that I would love doing, but I am just worried that medical schools might think I have too much research on application rather than clinical experience. The only clinical job I could do is ScribeAmerica, and they pay too low which would make it financially impossible to pay for rent and other expenses.

I guess my question is, would it hurt to have a full time research position for my gap year, while also volunteering 8-10hours in a hospital setting once things start opening up?

First, where's your non-clinical community service?

The jury is mixed when it comes to virtual clinical experiences. I think people are accommodating given the past year, but it's still not clear what questions will pop up from faculty on admissions committees about what they would consider worthwhile. I'd give you the benefit of the doubt about it, but that may not be the case for anyone else with real decision-making authority.

To your question: no, I don't think it hurts to have a full-time position, but you need to keep all your ducks in a row when it comes to getting the experience and insight you need for community service and clinical exposure.

 

[GoSpursGo]

To answer your question, I think a research job would be fine.

I share the concern about how virtual experience will be seen. If you get the score you’re looking for then your stats and research would probably be enough to get people to give you the benefit of the doubt, but if you do “meh” on the MCAT you could be in trouble for this year.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

A research job would be fine as long as the rest of your app is up to par. You NEED to get non-clinical volunteering helping people less fortunate than yourself.