atarayo_stan
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- Jun 18, 2023
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Hey there SDN,
Seeking some advice for applying to medical school. I intend to apply in summer of 2024. My stats are as follows:
cGPA - 3.75/sGPA 3.7
MCAT
First one was in 2019 which was a 510 (127/129/126/128)
Second one is at the end of summer this coming summer. Most recent practice FL was two weeks ago. 509 (127/126/129/127). I intend on increasing this to a 515 with the remaining 3 months of studying.
NV resident, USA. ORM Vietnamese American.
BS in Biology from my state school.
Clinical experience:
Paid:
2 years ED scribe while in college (~2000 hours)
2 years scribing at a neurosurgery clinic (~3000 hours)
2 years CLA at my local hospital laboratory (~3000 hours)
Unpaid
General hospital volunteer (~100 hours)
2x Medical missions to Cambodia (3 weeks each, probably ~200 hours per mission)
Research:
None
Shadowing:
~300 hours spread across different specialties. Emergency medicine, physiatry, neurosurgery, cardiology, pediatrics, family medicine.
Non clinical volunteering:
~400 hours spread across 3 years of food pantry volunteering
~200 hours of general food bank volunteering over 2 years
I finished my undergraduate degree in 2018 at the age of 19. Feeling like I was not ready to commit to medical school at the time and also going through some mental health issues, I decided to take some time off before applying. This break ended up significantly longer than what I had imagined, but I am doing a lot better now and feel like I am ready to apply to medical school. During my gap years, I worked as a self taught software engineer for a tech startup in the retail automation space. Although interesting and lucrative, I feel as though becoming a physician better aligns with what I'd like to do in the future. I've contacted many physicians that I used to work with and they are all still fine with writing me letters of recommendation and maybe starting some shadowing again.
My concerns for the upcoming cycle (and why I am posting to the nontrad forums) are as follows:
Given that I have been out of school for so long, I am concerned whether or not I should retake some classes for the upcoming cycle.
Additionally, since I've been out of school for so long, I don't feel like I have many professors to ask for letters of recommendation as many of them have since retired.
I am also concerned about a "gap" in my application. Although I've been employed in a healthcare adjacent role for the duration of my gap years, my current job offers little patient contact as I work in the laboratory. I was wondering if this would be a concern when applying. Also, there has been little volunteering since COVID happened.
Also, apologies if this is in the wrong forum. Given the time off, I feel more like a nontraditional applicant than a regular one.
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.
Seeking some advice for applying to medical school. I intend to apply in summer of 2024. My stats are as follows:
cGPA - 3.75/sGPA 3.7
MCAT
First one was in 2019 which was a 510 (127/129/126/128)
Second one is at the end of summer this coming summer. Most recent practice FL was two weeks ago. 509 (127/126/129/127). I intend on increasing this to a 515 with the remaining 3 months of studying.
NV resident, USA. ORM Vietnamese American.
BS in Biology from my state school.
Clinical experience:
Paid:
2 years ED scribe while in college (~2000 hours)
2 years scribing at a neurosurgery clinic (~3000 hours)
2 years CLA at my local hospital laboratory (~3000 hours)
Unpaid
General hospital volunteer (~100 hours)
2x Medical missions to Cambodia (3 weeks each, probably ~200 hours per mission)
Research:
None
Shadowing:
~300 hours spread across different specialties. Emergency medicine, physiatry, neurosurgery, cardiology, pediatrics, family medicine.
Non clinical volunteering:
~400 hours spread across 3 years of food pantry volunteering
~200 hours of general food bank volunteering over 2 years
I finished my undergraduate degree in 2018 at the age of 19. Feeling like I was not ready to commit to medical school at the time and also going through some mental health issues, I decided to take some time off before applying. This break ended up significantly longer than what I had imagined, but I am doing a lot better now and feel like I am ready to apply to medical school. During my gap years, I worked as a self taught software engineer for a tech startup in the retail automation space. Although interesting and lucrative, I feel as though becoming a physician better aligns with what I'd like to do in the future. I've contacted many physicians that I used to work with and they are all still fine with writing me letters of recommendation and maybe starting some shadowing again.
My concerns for the upcoming cycle (and why I am posting to the nontrad forums) are as follows:
Given that I have been out of school for so long, I am concerned whether or not I should retake some classes for the upcoming cycle.
Additionally, since I've been out of school for so long, I don't feel like I have many professors to ask for letters of recommendation as many of them have since retired.
I am also concerned about a "gap" in my application. Although I've been employed in a healthcare adjacent role for the duration of my gap years, my current job offers little patient contact as I work in the laboratory. I was wondering if this would be a concern when applying. Also, there has been little volunteering since COVID happened.
Also, apologies if this is in the wrong forum. Given the time off, I feel more like a nontraditional applicant than a regular one.
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.