Medical What should I do for gap years?

[AlteredScale]

Hello, I apologize as this is a well discussed topic, however I'm hoping for more specific guidance.
Background: Senior in college at a top 15 school majoring in Economics and a Pre-health supplementary major. My freshman year I attended a top 50ish school and received a 3.94, I transferred and my GPA has dropped. At my current, more academically rigorous school my GPA will be around a 3.5 (due to a D in Orgo 2, B's or better in all other courses).

Stats:
cGPA - ~3.6
sGPA - ~3.4

I plan to take two gap years before matriculation at hopefully an MD school. I'm wondering how I might best spend this time.

I will continue to volunteer (hopefully around 200 hours by application) and gain shadowing experience (hopefully around 40 hours by application). I have yet to take the MCAT but will spend several months dedicated to (hopefully) receiving a good score.

As my sGPA is on the lower side, should I take more science classes at a local 4 year to boost my BCPM? (I've taken 16 BCPM courses so another 5-7 courses could boost my sGPA but that might be overkill?)

I was planning on registering for an EMT course and working as an EMT, would this be a good option? Or would there be a better alternative?

Should I try to gain research experience as I have none?

Any answers or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Well the drop isn't ideal. But sounds like you have a good plan. Agree with the EC's. Focus on getting a good MCAT.

Take courses if you know that you will do good in them. If it plays out that your GPA keeps dropping you will probably suffice better from SMP.

With regards to the EMT, it's up to you. Is it going to eat your time up? It's good clinical work but your already volunteering and you'll only be exposure to pre-hospital medicine which is quite different.

If the medical school you are eyeing is a research-intensive school, then you would benefit from getting some sort of research exposure. If you absolutely cannot stand the idea of being in a lab or working on excel projects, then nix the research and focus on growing in a another area of leadership or community service.

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[GoSpursGo]

I agree with @AlteredScale . Ideally, a DIY post-bacc where you keep doing science classes would really help IF you can get a 4.0, but if you aren't ready for that then don't shoot yourself in the foot. Everything else you said sounds fine, but bottom line you will need to repair your GPA and get a strong MCAT.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

I would advise you to complete a DIY post-bac and try to get that sGPA up if you want a solid shot at MD schools. You obviously need to do well on the MCAT, so make sure you are scoring at least 511-513 on your practices so you have a good shot at scoring competitively on your real test day. Not sure how long it takes to become an EMT, but it may be more time-efficient to gain clinical exposure a different way (ex. scribing). If you want to be an EMT, then do that. Wouldn't really focus much on research at this point as you have holes in your app that can be improved that carry much more weight than research.