Advice on Building a Stronger Application

[jenzhang636]

I just started my gap year and I only very recently realized that I want to go the MD/PhD route.

Stats

GPA: 3.76 BME from #1 undergrad program in the nation (~3.5 first two years, ~4.0 the last two years when I started taking mostly major related classes)
MCAT: 514 (128/131/127/128) surprised at my CARS score and kinda disappointed at my B/B score

Research: 4 years undergrad (part time since freshman year with 2 full time summers, 2 years high school + currently working full time as a research tech/lab manager at Emory. No publications (was recently told that one should be close from the grad student I worked with in undergrad) but have presented at school and international conferences
Clinical experience: have started shadowing and will start volunteering at a women's clinic soon (have also applied to volunteer at several hospitals in the area)
ECs: 4 years at my school's theater + received a lifetime service award (not clinically related but it was a huge part of my life and something I was passionate about), worked part time for a year at the student success center at my school

Because my clinical experience is so lacking and I just don't think I'm ready to apply this cycle, I plan on taking another gap year in order to really prepare for a strong application. I'm already taking steps on building my clinical experience. I'm also considering retaking the MCAT. I know that my score is decent (though average for MD/PhD) but I honestly didn't study that much/well and I think that I could really bump it up now that I know what exactly I did wrong while studying.

I'm mainly wondering if anyone had advice about what else I could do to show that I'm dedicated to this path and to build a strong application. I would also appreciate any advice about building clinical experience! A problem I'm facing is that many of the places I've looked into only have shifts during the day Mon-Fri which is when I work. Thanks!

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[Microbug]

I am in the same situation as you, research since high school, no publication but close and and same MCAT/GPS. I have some more clinical things so I am applying this cycle. If you like, I can keep you posted on my progress so you can get some idea.

 

[jenzhang636]

I am in the same situation as you, research since high school, no publication but close and and same MCAT/GPS. I have some more clinical things so I am applying this cycle. If you like, I can keep you posted on my progress so you can get some idea.

That would be great! Since we have the same stats, I'd love to know what your selection process for choosing schools that your stats fit with. Also side question: what sort of clinical stuff did you do? I'm trying to focus on hospitals but there are just a lot more opportunities with hospices, health fairs, etc around me and I was wondering if those counted?

 

[Noctámbulo]

That would be great! Since we have the same stats, I'd love to know what your selection process for choosing schools that your stats fit with. Also side question: what sort of clinical stuff did you do? I'm trying to focus on hospitals but there are just a lot more opportunities with hospices, health fairs, etc around me and I was wondering if those counted?

Hospice counts. As long as you are interacting with patients, and they are called "patients" in the setting where you are volunteering- that's usually a good check for clinical volunteering as per LizzyM

 

[Microbug]

That would be great! Since we have the same stats, I'd love to know what your selection process for choosing schools that your stats fit with. Also side question: what sort of clinical stuff did you do? I'm trying to focus on hospitals but there are just a lot more opportunities with hospices, health fairs, etc around me and I was wondering if those counted?

Those opportunities certainly could count, i think there's a saying that if you're close enough to smell a patient, it counts as clinical. I did some ER/hospital outreach volunteering, nursing home, clinic and OR shadowing
and for schools, I applied really wide since my MCAT isn't really superb. I ended up applying to 25 schools.