My D, undergrad '23, is applying to med schools. Looks like she is likely to be shut out this cycle. A bit of background:
3.9 GPA from Wake Forest
517 MCAT
Applied to 19 med schools (UNC, Wake, Emory, MUSC, Medical College of GA, Tulane, UVA, VCU, etc.)
Currently employed as a medical scribe at an underserved clinic focusing on elderly patients
She’s trying to figure out whether a different job this next year would make a difference in her applications for the next med school cycle. She was talking to a friend who mentioned an 8-week CNA training starting soon. I wanted to see if those with med school admissions experience thought this would be a good path to explore. Thank you in advance.
Eons ago, the number worked to be that an “average” school will admit twice the number they have seats for due to yield. They will usually interview 3x that number. Applicants know they are competitive if they get at least 4 invites. This is what was told to me from casual conversations with professors who are on admission committee and not hard and fast by any means. But a lot of acceptance are with people who got only one interviews. So she is definitely a competitive applicant having interviewed with Emory.
I know a lot of kids going through the med school process right now. it’s brutal and I don’t understand it. these are good kids, like yours, and they are grateful to just get one lower-tier admission.
her scribe gig sounds like an excellent experience for a pre-med, to me. that MCAT and GPA (especially from WF) seems very competitive, but you might need to cast a wider net and apply to med schools further down the list.
is she a senior in college now, with a part-time job? or is this already her 1st year post-grad? def seems like med schools like the older applicants with more work and life experience (which is silly since in other countries you go to med school at 18).
A friend’s D worked as a medical scribe and got into med school the next year - but she applied to DO programs in addition to MD programs and ended up getting into a few of those.
Hope things work out. Your D seems very qualified.
She graduated last May and has been working as a scribe full-time since July. I’ve told her lots of folks don’t get in the first go-around, but she’s frustrated.
I think she definitely may need to look at some slightly lower ranked schools this next cycle. I think she figured her GPA and MCAT were competitive based on historical averages at a lot of the schools to which she applied. I guess it’s not too dissimilar to undergrad admissions where there are way more qualified candidates than spots in the class.
This doesn’t sound right. Those stats should have gotten her in somewhere. Something is wrong here - her letters? No research? Poor interviewing skills?
I don’t think that becoming a CNA is a good idea for her. She’s working as a scribe already, and from what you’ve described, it’s in an environment where she would be exposed to a wide variety of conditions seen in the elderly. If she can move to scribing in the ED, I think she should, to get exposure to a different medical setting. Personally, I feel that scribing is a much more valuable experience for a prospective medical student than being a CNA.
Her GPA is great. That’s not the problem.
Her MCAT of 517 is 94th%, but it could be improved upon. I have heard that some med schools “tier” applicants according to their MCAT score. First tier is 522 or above. 2nd is 518-521. 3rd is 515 to 517. MCAT score is HUGE in med school admissions. So although she won’t like to hear it, re-prepping for the MCAT to the max, and getting a higher score, might help - but only if she’s willing to do this. If she’s not willing to give it her absolute all, she should not do this, since she could just get the same or even a lower score.
The other things that med schools want to see are research and volunteer work. I don’t know if she could get any research done over the next year, what with her being out of the academic setting. Perhaps she could collaborate with MDs at the geriatric clinic for a clinical demographic research study with the patient population there? As for volunteer work, she certainly could find a way to do that, and with a different population - homeless shelter? Drug rehab?
The last thing is a coherent, believable story for why she wants to be an MD. And she could get some practice in interviewing, so that she can convert interviews into acceptances. I think that she is overqualified for DO schools, but if she were willing to apply, she could get in.
Student doctor network is a good place to do more info gathering.
And the Med school advisors at her undergrad- who have experience getting kids into med school- can help as well.
I think this is a brutal year. The only successful applicant I know (so far) is four years out of undergrad with 2 years in a lab and almost 2 years in an organization which provides primary care to the homeless. The medical director of this organization wrote one of his references (according to his mom) which the parents thought was overkill but I guess not.
The other “fantastic scores, grades, and neat EC’s” who are either seniors or one year out- crickets. I think it’s THAT competitive right now.
The Wake advisors may tell her she’s done everything right and she just needs another year. Or they may tell her that her list is overreach, and that there’s a whole somewhere in her narrative. But they do this for a living and I’d encourage her to reach out to them ASAP.
I don’t think being a CNA will improve her chances for admission. She has clinical exposure.
And I don’t think it’s her stats that are keeping her out.
What do the rest of her ECs look like? Research? Does she have non-clinical volunteering with those less fortunate than herself? Do her ECs show she has volunteered/worked outside of her comfort zone?
How well do her her ECs, LORs, personal statement match the mission of the schools she applied to?
Mission-fit is commonly overlooked by med school applicants, but with 100+ applicants for every seat, med schools can afford to be picky. Some of the schools you mentioned are research-focused; others are community health and social justice/equity in health care focused. At least one is hoping to develop future leaders in healthcare. Tulane, for example, very highly values a service orientation and expects several hundred hours of hands-on community service in applicants.
How well do her ECs and personal statement reflect the core values of each school? (And can they even do so? There isn’t a lot of overlap in some of the mission-statements.)
State of residence? Wake strongly favors SE region residents. MUSC seldom accepts OOS applicants. So does Medical College of Georgia.
She had a variety of volunteering during undergrad (Ronald McDonald House, etc.). Conducted research with a Health and Exercise Science professor (co-authored a paper that is in the process of being published). She’s also shadowed at least 5 doctors in a variety of fields (low income private practice, clinical psychiatrist, OBGYN, anesthesia).
We are in North Carolina. I think she would like to eventually settle back in the SE, but isn’t limited to this geography for school.
I think she has good rec letters from professors and at least one doctor she shadowed. She received a strong committee letter as well.
Back to your title question. Med Scribe and CNRA are both looked favorably as long as you have enough time on the job (a number I was given is 500+ hours) and can discuss favorably the experience.
I’m leaning toward suggesting to her that she stay in her current job. She works 40 hours/week, so will have significantly more than 500 hours when she re-applies. Recently she helped diagnose an elderly patient with disordered eating - the provider hadn’t noticed some clues that my D picked up on.