Hello everyone. I'm new to SDN and this is my first post, so please let me know if I omitted important information. I'm a reapplicant looking for advice.
I decided to go into medicine during my junior year of college, so I did a postbac program at WUSTL (1 year) to take the remaining prereq courses. Undergrad GPA: 3.787. Postbac GPA: 4.00. MCAT: 518.
Clinical experience: 495 hours as a patient care tech (basically a CNA who also did phlebotomy, EKGs, and point-of-care testing), 2670 as an oncology research assistant (working directly with patients). I also got certified as an EMT, which I mentioned in my personal statement, but I didn't include it in my activities list because I never worked as an EMT.
Other employment: 715 hours as a campus tour guide during college
Research: 245 hours as a research assistant in college
Shadowing: 36 hours, mostly in emergency med
Volunteering: 137 hours (outpatient surgical center in college, then Head Start program during my postbac year, and currently volunteering at food bank)
Hobby: 3800 hours backpacking/camping/hiking (the high hours are because I started in 2011, when I was in high school)
I applied to 22 schools: U Florida, Baylor, Tulane, Emory, Vanderbilt, UNC, Wake Forest, UCLA, USC, U Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth, U Maryland, George Washington, Georgetown, Ohio State, U Cincinnati, U Colorado, Penn State, U Penn, Boston University, Tufts, Brown.
Received 1 interview (UNC), was waitlisted, and ultimately didn't get in.
I spoke to an admissions counselor at UNC, who suggested I volunteer more and try to get clinical experience that's more current. (The patient care tech job ended in 2019. I put my current job in oncology research in the "clinical" category because I drew blood, collected saliva samples, and met with patients for MRIs and questionnaires, but the advisor said that I really need to emphasize the clinical nature of that job because when they see "research assistant," they don't consider it "clinical.")
I plan to reapply in the 2022-2023 cycle. Here's what I see as my shortcomings from the first time:
-Not enough volunteer hours
-Not enough shadowing, and didn't shadow enough specialties
-Lack of leadership experience
-List of schools is too top-heavy
-Hobby hours significantly outshadow my other activities
My plan for the upcoming year: Continue working as an oncology research assistant for the next few months, then enroll in a training program to become an orthopedic tech (Jan 2022 thru July 2022, so I'll be able to talk about it in my primary app), then apply for clinical jobs as an orthopedic tech. Also, my MCAT will have expired by the time I reapply, so I plan to take it again in March or April 2022.
I'm also focusing on volunteering: I'm putting significantly more hours into volunteering at the food bank, and am pursuing volunteer tutoring opportunities (I really enjoy teaching, especially working with kids).
I think I should apply to DO schools, but the challenge is that due to COVID, hospitals aren't allowing shadowing (I've been contacting DOs and asking). I will still keep reaching out to DOs and trying to find shadowing opportunities, but that's currently a roadblock.
I would greatly appreciate any advice or suggestions for improvement. Is my assessment of my shortcomings accurate? Does my plan for the next year sound good? Thanks for your help!
I decided to go into medicine during my junior year of college, so I did a postbac program at WUSTL (1 year) to take the remaining prereq courses. Undergrad GPA: 3.787. Postbac GPA: 4.00. MCAT: 518.
Clinical experience: 495 hours as a patient care tech (basically a CNA who also did phlebotomy, EKGs, and point-of-care testing), 2670 as an oncology research assistant (working directly with patients). I also got certified as an EMT, which I mentioned in my personal statement, but I didn't include it in my activities list because I never worked as an EMT.
Other employment: 715 hours as a campus tour guide during college
Research: 245 hours as a research assistant in college
Shadowing: 36 hours, mostly in emergency med
Volunteering: 137 hours (outpatient surgical center in college, then Head Start program during my postbac year, and currently volunteering at food bank)
Hobby: 3800 hours backpacking/camping/hiking (the high hours are because I started in 2011, when I was in high school)
I applied to 22 schools: U Florida, Baylor, Tulane, Emory, Vanderbilt, UNC, Wake Forest, UCLA, USC, U Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth, U Maryland, George Washington, Georgetown, Ohio State, U Cincinnati, U Colorado, Penn State, U Penn, Boston University, Tufts, Brown.
Received 1 interview (UNC), was waitlisted, and ultimately didn't get in.
I spoke to an admissions counselor at UNC, who suggested I volunteer more and try to get clinical experience that's more current. (The patient care tech job ended in 2019. I put my current job in oncology research in the "clinical" category because I drew blood, collected saliva samples, and met with patients for MRIs and questionnaires, but the advisor said that I really need to emphasize the clinical nature of that job because when they see "research assistant," they don't consider it "clinical.")
I plan to reapply in the 2022-2023 cycle. Here's what I see as my shortcomings from the first time:
-Not enough volunteer hours
-Not enough shadowing, and didn't shadow enough specialties
-Lack of leadership experience
-List of schools is too top-heavy
-Hobby hours significantly outshadow my other activities
My plan for the upcoming year: Continue working as an oncology research assistant for the next few months, then enroll in a training program to become an orthopedic tech (Jan 2022 thru July 2022, so I'll be able to talk about it in my primary app), then apply for clinical jobs as an orthopedic tech. Also, my MCAT will have expired by the time I reapply, so I plan to take it again in March or April 2022.
I'm also focusing on volunteering: I'm putting significantly more hours into volunteering at the food bank, and am pursuing volunteer tutoring opportunities (I really enjoy teaching, especially working with kids).
I think I should apply to DO schools, but the challenge is that due to COVID, hospitals aren't allowing shadowing (I've been contacting DOs and asking). I will still keep reaching out to DOs and trying to find shadowing opportunities, but that's currently a roadblock.
I would greatly appreciate any advice or suggestions for improvement. Is my assessment of my shortcomings accurate? Does my plan for the next year sound good? Thanks for your help!
