Hey Guys and Gals,
Starting this trip at 35 years of age. I’ve been a nurse for 5 years. I finished my Bachelors with a 3.1 GPA. Im going back to my local college for the next 18 months to take Chemistery, O Chem, and Physics. I may have to take a quarter of BioChem again because I remember less than I think. I minored in Psychology with my Bachelors. In theory my post-bac classess will bring my bachelors level gpa up to 3.4. The deal with my wife is that I have to get A’s in all my sciences in order to take the MCAT and apply for medical School. I’m doing all of this while I work 11am to 11pm in a critical access Emergency Room. By the time I apply I’ll have Closer to 20,000 hours of Clinical time as a Nurse and Tech. Ill have worked In mental health (over all 6 years), Surgeons (general, Urology, EENT, Endocrinology) for two years, and 3-4 years in The Emergency Room.
I’m going to apply EVERYWHERE as long as i can pull 510 on my MCAT (probably not harvard or anything that elite but pretty much every where else.) I don’t care if I end up DO or MD.
I don’t have volunteer hours, but I don’t think I need them with my clinical experience. As far as extra curricular activities go, I was a Corporal in the USMC, I run a small Blacksmith/Farrier business on the side and manage a few houses I’ve managed to buy over the years.
I work 7 days on and 7 days off. So pretty much from now on it’s just study time to make up for lost time. What do you guys think I need to hear?
Thanks, Kart
Yay! I adore ED nurses. You’re the best kind of people and have to deal with so much clinically, and also politically from other departments. My only feedback would be to look into where you are applying, because some schools require volunteer hours. My #1 choice requires a minimum of community service hours because they want physicians who are invested in giving back to the community. If those schools aren’t on your list, then of course don’t worry about it, but you’re going to be busting your tail and it would be awful to do all that work and discover you’re lacking in this one area for your top choice schools. Good luck to you!
@NarcissticBalogna wrote:
Yay! I adore ED nurses. You’re the best kind of people and have to deal with so much clinically, and also politically from other departments. My only feedback would be to look into where you are applying, because some schools require volunteer hours. My #1 choice requires a minimum of community service hours because they want physicians who are invested in giving back to the community. If those schools aren’t on your list, then of course don’t worry about it, but you’re going to be busting your tail and it would be awful to do all that work and discover you’re lacking in this one area for your top choice schools. Good luck to you!
Good point about volunteering. Does it have to be medical? I volunteer with Boy Scouts. I have for years.
I also teach Sunday school at my church to kids, but I’m not sure how that would come across on the application.
Now that I’m signed up for classes I’m really nervous. Time to put up or shut up.
@NarcissticBalogna wrote:
Yay! I adore ED nurses. You’re the best kind of people and have to deal with so much clinically, and also politically from other departments. My only feedback would be to look into where you are applying, because some schools require volunteer hours. My #1 choice requires a minimum of community service hours because they want physicians who are invested in giving back to the community. If those schools aren’t on your list, then of course don’t worry about it, but you’re going to be busting your tail and it would be awful to do all that work and discover you’re lacking in this one area for your top choice schools. Good luck to you!
That totally counts. I listen to the podcast put out by the University of Utah’s school of medicine, and they frequently talk about how your volunteer work should be something you care about. You’ll get the clinical hours, and the physician shadowing hours. The volunteer stuff is a different facet of showing who you are.