In HS I got torn a new one by adcoms when interviewing for a BSMD program without any shadowing experience outside of shadowing my dad. My two older brothers got in to the same program with ease and a similar gpa/ACT and less EC’s/no shadowing a decade before me.. but it’s gotten so much more competitive over the past decade, to where my class had 7x more applicants and I got waitlisted. The interviewer even said “how do you know you want to be a doctor, and not a PhD or a pharmacist if you ‘like science and want to help people’”. Just get the shadowing hours out of the way, it’s literally a checklist thing.

As for that early admissions program, I’m pretty sure you need an MCAT if I’m thinking of the same one (Mount Sinai). If you can take the MCAT by the deadline and shadow/volunteer 4hrs a week while preserving your gpa, you might be in good shape, which would likely mean taking a lighter semester load - but even then, it’s probably going to be competitive with kids who have a similar gpa and already have strong EC’s.

A lot of premed kids have a good gpa after sophomore year, I had a 4.0 after sophomore year with TA experience, varsity athletics, ~180volunteer hours and ~30hrs shadowing (but was in no position to study for the MCAT and didn’t end up applying to Mount Sinai) and graduated with a 3.87. I feel like a good chunk start strong like we did, a good chunk have an upward trend, and a good chunk keep a 3.6-3.7 throughout undergrad. I wish there was a study out there that assessed transcript trends haha.