Bringing this up in case anyone with younger teens interested in med school is here reading: The best route to med school is to be a superstar high school student but go to a lesser ranked public university that offers pre-admission to med school. There are several, think University of Toledo and the like. Otherwise, med school application is cut throat and top school for undergrad does not help at all.

OP here, forgot to add the GPA noted is the science GPA

OP here. Thank you again for all the replies. For those asking for more details, I’m hesitant to give too much detail but DS has shadowed three different doctors at a teaching hospital, with the shadowing extending throughout the 3 years; volunteered at the hospital throughout the past three years, also clinical work throughout the past three years, including all three summers. And has published in a journal. Also has lots of hours volunteering with a nonprofit that serves underprivileged youth.

I truly appreciate all the kind responses and encouragement. It is still very early so I will reiterate that with DS. TY.

Anonymous wrote:Still early. He’ll get in.

+1

Still early. He’ll get in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applying as a senior.

Have heard it’s really hard for these applicants as so many kids are taking an additional one to two years to dedicate solely to research. I think all you can do is be patient, and think about what the student can do next year if they don’t get accepted this cycle.

Not from a top school, where they do the research as they go, often starting after freshman year or during sophomore year. OP said they are published. From a top undergrad OP should have all they need, depending on the details of the coursework and the details of the clinical experience.
I think it is still very early, OP. Hang in there.

This is quite funny based on the lack of details we have about the research, clinical experience, grades, shadowing etc. . , The devil is in the details.

This. I am the one who asked for the details. Although OP has been back to post, she didn’t answer my post. 1000 hours doesn’t tell is the distribution, the longevity, the type of hours, etc. without that, the post is akin to posting on here asking if the mole on my back is cancerous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applying as a senior.

Have heard it’s really hard for these applicants as so many kids are taking an additional one to two years to dedicate solely to research. I think all you can do is be patient, and think about what the student can do next year if they don’t get accepted this cycle.

Not from a top school, where they do the research as they go, often starting after freshman year or during sophomore year. OP said they are published. From a top undergrad OP should have all they need, depending on the details of the coursework and the details of the clinical experience.
I think it is still very early, OP. Hang in there.

90 percent of the class at Emory Medical School took at least one gap year, as I’d 72 percent of ALL first year U.S. medical students admitted in the 2022-23 cycle. https://www.emorywheel.com/article/2024/02/medical-school-gap-year-rates-continue-to-rise-at-emory-nationally#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Association%20of,57.9%25%20of%20respondents%20who%20reported

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applying as a senior.

Have heard it’s really hard for these applicants as so many kids are taking an additional one to two years to dedicate solely to research. I think all you can do is be patient, and think about what the student can do next year if they don’t get accepted this cycle.

Not from a top school, where they do the research as they go, often starting after freshman year or during sophomore year. OP said they are published. From a top undergrad OP should have all they need, depending on the details of the coursework and the details of the clinical experience.
I think it is still very early, OP. Hang in there.

This is quite funny based on the lack of details we have about the research, clinical experience, grades, shadowing etc. . , The devil is in the details.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applying as a senior.

Have heard it’s really hard for these applicants as so many kids are taking an additional one to two years to dedicate solely to research. I think all you can do is be patient, and think about what the student can do next year if they don’t get accepted this cycle.

Not from a top school, where they do the research as they go, often starting after freshman year or during sophomore year. OP said they are published. From a top undergrad OP should have all they need, depending on the details of the coursework and the details of the clinical experience.
I think it is still very early, OP. Hang in there.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, DS has 3 years of clinical exp - started working in a hospital freshman year and continued each year and summers. But sounds like folks are saying that’s not enough.

What undergrad, and is there any science research? and what is the STEM gpa, not the overall? Mine is at a top 10 and they have an entire system for getting students in, most of it availible on campus or on the med campus. A 3.9 if it is also a stem 3.9, with that mcat, 1.5-2 full years of science research and also clinical experience that has allowed hands on(EMT, etc): they all get in to top-25 med schools.
They show the premeds charts with gpa and mcat from this undergrad. 3.6s get in somewhere, usually with a couple yrs off but still.
This undergrad says as long as there are no C's, and they follow the med advising plan of research as well as intense clinical experience, not just dabbling here and there for 500 hours, they get in somewhere in the US. The ones with Cs usually spin off to take an extra year/post bac or so and then more than half of them get in eventually. The ones with a 3.9-science and 515+ go straight in to med school all the time, unless they choose an extra year(such as a fellowship to study abroad or something similar).

Anonymous wrote:It is still very early. My DS is in his last year of med school now, applied to about 20 schools with similar stats (high GPA from top 10 school, 522 MCAT). My DS did not go directly from undergrad but worked for two years in a non-medical field. He had shadowing experience but no research experience and was not a science major. At this point in the process, he maybe had one interview. Interview notices can come all the way through January (or even later), so please tell your kid to relax and stay off the message boards. Worst case, your kid will need to be a scribe or something similar for a year and then apply again, but he will find a spot because his stats are great. If this cycle does not work out (but it likely will), make sure the application list includes many schools that are not considered top schools. No matter where they graduate from, they are all called doctors at the end.

Great advice, thank you for sharing your son’s experience.

It is still very early. My DS is in his last year of med school now, applied to about 20 schools with similar stats (high GPA from top 10 school, 522 MCAT). My DS did not go directly from undergrad but worked for two years in a non-medical field. He had shadowing experience but no research experience and was not a science major. At this point in the process, he maybe had one interview. Interview notices can come all the way through January (or even later), so please tell your kid to relax and stay off the message boards. Worst case, your kid will need to be a scribe or something similar for a year and then apply again, but he will find a spot because his stats are great. If this cycle does not work out (but it likely will), make sure the application list includes many schools that are not considered top schools. No matter where they graduate from, they are all called doctors at the end.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, DS has 3 years of clinical exp - started working in a hospital freshman year and continued each year and summers. But sounds like folks are saying that’s not enough.

Can you clarify:

Number of clinical hours and in what areas of med

Number of shadowing hours and in what areas of med

Number of volunteering hours

They don’t need to clarify this.

— not OP

Then don’t ask why a kid isn’t getting interviews- directly related to the answer to these questions.

Anonymous wrote:How long ago did he send in the secondary essays? Student doctor network.com has message boards for potential students. There used to be a lot of activity on that board. They will mention when their secondaries were sent and when they were invited to interview. The med school application process is a totally different beast compared to undergrad. Hang in there.

Thank you - yes, horribly long! He sent all secondaries in back in early July.

How long ago did he send in the secondary essays? Student doctor network.com has message boards for potential students. There used to be a lot of activity on that board. They will mention when their secondaries were sent and when they were invited to interview. The med school application process is a totally different beast compared to undergrad. Hang in there.