<p>Currently I am a 1st semester sophomore. I have nothing to add to my med school resume to stack up against everybody else. Is there anyway I can catch up in time to add to my resume like volunteering, shadowing and other stuff for when I apply in less than 2 years.
I feel like everyone else has been preparing for years and I am just starting now and there's no way I can ever catch up.</p>
<p>It’s not too late. </p>
<p>What you need to do right now is make a plan and not mope around feeling sorry for yourself. You have 2 years (or more–there’s no rule that says you have to apply immediately after graduation) so make the most of them.</p>
<p>—Start volunteering at both clinical and non-clinical sites. </p>
<p>—Start talking with your professors (and other biology/chemistry/public health faculty) to see who is willing to take you on as a lab assistant in the spring. </p>
<p>—Go talk with pre-health advisor at your college to see if they have any suggestions for you. </p>
<p>—Start making plans for the summer. Most REUs and other research internships have deadlines in mid-January.</p>
<p>—Get involved with any activities at your school that interest you. (They do not have to be medically related.)</p>
<p>—Start reaching out to any physicians you or your parents know to see if any will allow you to shadow them this spring or over the summer.</p>
<p>Don’t feel like you have to apply before you graduate, in less than 2 years. You want to have the best possible application you can before applying. That can often mean taking a gap year (even for students who started out planning to be pre-med). There’s absolutely no shame in that. The problem with med school applications is that you apply so early that if you’re applying while still in college, nothing from your senior year even shows up on your application yet.
I have heard that the average age of matriculating med school students is 24 and rising slightly. It’s not too late if this is what you really want to do.</p>
<p>Nano is absolutely correct in everything he said</p>
<p>At D1’s state med school, only about 1/3 of the class came directly out of college. Most are in 24-25 range; some are 30+. Both my kiddos took gap years after college and before applying: one because she didn’t decide she wanted medicine until she was a college senior and had almost pre-reqs or medical ECs; one because she wanted a break before she had to dive back into the intense academics.</p>
<p>Don’t despair. There are many paths to medical school. Not all of them are straight.</p>