I’m currently finishing my last semester of undergrad, and had decided to take a gap year to finish up all the med school requirements before I realized how the application timeline worked.
I currently have a 3.99 cGPA with a 4.0 major GPA. I’m scheduled to take the MCAT in late June, but as of right now (mid-March) I don’t have any shadowing or clinical experience.
My plan was to work on shadowing doctors during my gap year, but I really need to get some experience at least before I’d be applying. Add to this initial poor planning/lack of knowledge about the app cycle, the COVID-19 pandemic is currently (and understandably) preventing me from getting any shadowing experience for the time being.
I’ve been trying to get as much insight into the life of a doctor as I can from my rural college campus (no hospitals within an hour and a half radius that allow shadowing), mostly by watching “day in my life” videos by a variety of doctors on YouTube just so I can get at least a slightly better idea. Up until now, I’ve been spending all my free time during school breaks working as I am one of the main providers for my family.
Is it even worth applying during this cycle (in only a few months), knowing I’ll be spending the next year getting as much experience as I can? Or should I push off my applications yet another year so I can actually write about a years’ worth of experiences in my applications?