Acceptance into Medical Schools with only One EC - but no shadowing or clinical experience.

[PraiseTheLord]

My man and I applied to medical school this cycle for the 2015 year. We applied to the same schools. I was just wondering how much attention medical schools pay to EC's if at all any for he has not done any research, volunteer work, clinical work or shadowed in his life.(I know that these are important so I'm not advocating against them). He has a 4.0 cGPA, a 4.0 sGPA with a 32 MCAT, and his only EC was that he head of the students council committee on campus. We applied to 15 schools each, and he so far has 1 MD acceptance, 2 II to MD schools and 2 acceptances in DO schools.

There are also 2 DO schools that have tried to recruit him via email despite the fact that he did not even apply to either of them, but they state that he got that recruitment message for he sat for the MCAT. We have both been accepted to at least 1MD school, and interviewed differently in others and hoping to get acceptance into the same schools but we just can't help but wonder if Medical school is more about numbers than all the other EC's they expect us to engage ourselves in? Neither of us are URM.

(I will not be stating the schools we have applied for we don’t need any backlash or put any school on the spot light as this is not our intention).

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[gettheleadout]

I find this completely believable.


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[Dr. Retractor]

If this isn't a troll, I'm willing to bet that the school he got into was a new and/or low-tier school (or in the Caribbean) that just wanted to increase their average stats. How was he able to articulate that he wants to go into medicine without ever having experienced anything having to do with medicine? Med school acceptance, in general is not all about the numbers. robots with 4.0s and no ECs are super common and they don't get in because they think their stats will carry them through the admissions process. You can't possibly know if you're making the right decision if you've never shadowed or been in a clinical setting before.

 

[Dr. Retractor]

I find this completely believable.


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/s?

 

[Lamel]

I find this completely believable.

 

[Goro]

Goro's BS meter is going off!

If this isn't a troll, I'm willing to bet that the school he got into was a new and/or low-tier school (or in the Caribbean) that just wanted to increase their average stats. How was he able to articulate that he wants to go into medicine without ever having experienced anything having to do with medicine? Med school acceptance, in general is not all about the numbers. robots with 4.0s and no ECs are super common and they don't get in because they think their stats will carry them through the admissions process. You can't possibly know if you're making the right decision if you've never shadowed or been in a clinical setting before.

[/QUOTE]

 

[FutureOncologist]

My man and I applied to medical school this cycle for the 2015 year. We applied to the same schools. I was just wondering how much attention medical schools pay to EC's if at all any for he has not done any research, volunteer work, clinical work or shadowed in his life.(I know that these are important so I'm not advocating against them). He has a 4.0 cGPA, a 4.0 sGPA with a 32 MCAT, and his only EC was that he head of the students council committee on campus. We applied to 15 schools each, and he so far has 1 MD acceptance, 2 II to MD schools and 2 acceptances in DO schools.

There are also 2 DO schools that have tried to recruit him via email despite the fact that he did not even apply to either of them, but they state that he got that recruitment message for he sat for the MCAT. We have both been accepted to at least 1MD school, and interviewed differently in others and hoping to get acceptance into the same schools but we just can't help but wonder if Medical school is more about numbers than all the other EC's they expect us to engage ourselves in? Neither of us are URM.

(I will not be stating the schools we have applied for we don’t need any backlash or put any school on the spot light as this is not our intention).

 

[PraiseTheLord]

I have been married to this man for 6 years I know what I am talking about and no they are not low/Caribbean schools either. Why would I come here and troll? It was an honest question but oh well.

 

[What's Up Doc]

I totally believe this. My woman was also accepted to med school (all top 10) without even ever taking any college classes or the MCAT, and doesn't really have any EC's either, but she was also the head of the students council committee on campus so that's probably why she got in.

 

[alpinism]

My man and I applied to medical school this cycle for the 2015 year. We applied to the same schools. I was just wondering how much attention medical schools pay to EC's if at all any for he has not done any research, volunteer work, clinical work or shadowed in his life.(I know that these are important so I'm not advocating against them). He has a 4.0 cGPA, a 4.0 sGPA with a 32 MCAT, and his only EC was that he head of the students council committee on campus. We applied to 15 schools each, and he so far has 1 MD acceptance, 2 II to MD schools and 2 acceptances in DO schools.

There are also 2 DO schools that have tried to recruit him via email despite the fact that he did not even apply to either of them, but they state that he got that recruitment message for he sat for the MCAT. We have both been accepted to at least 1MD school, and interviewed differently in others and hoping to get acceptance into the same schools but we just can't help but wonder if Medical school is more about numbers than all the other EC's they expect us to engage ourselves in? Neither of us are URM.

(I will not be stating the schools we have applied for we don’t need any backlash or put any school on the spot light as this is not our intention).

Either,

a) your man has done some research/volunteering/shadowing/clinical work and he just never told you

or

b) he lied on his application and put down some fake activities

or

c) you're trolling

In any event, that doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of med schools expect the above ECs and reject hundreds of applicants each year because they don't have them. Most applicants also don't have a 4.0 GPA, so doing ECs is in their best interest in order to get an acceptance.

 

[godawg300]

How did he answer the question of why medicine?

 

[Itisneverlupus]

Hmm...your 'man' sounds too good to be true. Manti Te'o, is that you again? Didn't you learn the first time?

 

[mik30102]

Must of been a miracle from god that he got in! PRAISE THE LORD.

 

[MrLogan13]

When Goro calls BS and LizzyM likes it, you know you're reading some grade A fiction.

 

[sunflower18]

I honestly believe that getting into med school is about much, much more than how you scored on the MCAT or what grade you got in organic chemistry. Of course stats matter, but I think that ECs and fit are just as if not more important. I really hope that SDN moves in the direction of emphasizing activities and motivation instead of just assuming that your LizzyM score is the only important factor for applicants selecting schools to apply to and for schools choosing applicants to interview/accept.

 

[AlphaKY1]

obviously, he decided on medicine because of giving OP mammograms. That counts as clinical experience, though, correct?

 

[Ace Khalifa]

My troll senses are tingling!

 

[Earl Simmons]

Reading this was a great study break

 

[shtumpa]

My cousin got in two years ago with only two ec's listed on his application:

-About 50 hours shadowing
-Volunteered as a clown to entertain sick children (many years)

He was a non-trad, 27 YO.

Results: 1 acceptance at good mid-tier school (he really hit it off with the interviewer and knew he was accepted early august, so didn't bother finishing too many other apps), 2 rejections pre-interview, 2 rejection post-interview

He did have a 36 MCAT and 4.0

What can you learn from this? Probably not much...

 

[Lamel]

My cousin got in two years ago with only two ec's listed on his application:

-About 50 hours shadowing
-Volunteered as a clown to entertain sick children (many years)

He was a non-trad, 27 YO.

Results: 1 acceptance at good mid-tier school (he really hit it off with the interviewer and knew he was accepted early august, so didn't bother finishing too many other apps), 2 rejections pre-interview, 2 rejection post-interview

He did have a 36 MCAT and 4.0

What can you learn from this? Probably not much...

Well his stats are amazing, and at least the 2 activities have direct relevance to medicine and are the most basic ones you need. This is way more believable because at least he can convincingly answer "why medicine". I dunno how someone in OP's husband's situation would answer that. "I watched a lot of scrubs and..."

 

[Afford]

My cousin got in two years ago with only two ec's listed on his application:

-About 50 hours shadowing
-Volunteered as a clown to entertain sick children (many years)

He was a non-trad, 27 YO.

Results: 1 acceptance at good mid-tier school (he really hit it off with the interviewer and knew he was accepted early august, so didn't bother finishing too many other apps), 2 rejections pre-interview, 2 rejection post-interview

He did have a 36 MCAT and 4.0

What can you learn from this? Probably not much...

How did he know he was accepted in August?

I kind of believe OP's story. There are some state schools that are really easy to get interviews if you're an in-state resident and a good interview could lead to an acceptance. This wouldn't work in top-tier schools.

 

[gettheleadout]

How did he know he was accepted in August?

With formal acceptance it would have to be early decision, otherwise it's either speculation or an adcom member told him the vote result unofficially.


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[Silverflash]

The way I see it, either he has EC's that you don't know about; he lied on the application; he intimately knows some very high-up people in admissions at those schools; you're lying; or the entire admissions committee at each school to which he was accepted all had complex partial seizures at the same time and accepted him without realizing.

Listen, if you're somehow telling the truth, feel free to sit at home with your fella and scoff at all those stupid SDNers who have no idea what it takes to get into medical school. But no one here is going to believe you.

 

[estanton]

I think the real tell is that she says she married someone who had never volunteered a day in his life.

 

[allantois]

Quitting all my ECs today!

 

[PraiseTheLord]

obviously, he decided on medicine because of giving OP mammograms. That counts as clinical experience, though, correct?

You don't have to be rude. Have some respect for other bloggers.

 

[PraiseTheLord]

Well I know the truth about this and this is all that really matters. i also know for a FACT that some schools do not look at the EC's and are all about numbers. This post was not meant to stir emotions and I am now glad that I did not mention the schools that we have been accepted to on here. All those saying that if @Goro says its BS then it is, I know he/she is faculty and since their BS meter is going on too as they mentioned, I can if you want, send you proof of the acceptance + recruit letters, (with all the schools names + any identifying school info blurred out of course).

I know what I'm talking about and I'm too grown and mature to come onto the internet with a made up story. PS We read each others PS and still have access to these on our AMCAS. Why would he lie on his application? He stated the reasons as to why he chose medical school, went to the interview, defended his reasons there too. We had no idea that DO schools recruited students who had not even applied to their schools, via email, we politely asked how they knew an applicant was applying for DO school when they had not sent in an application to their school and one response was cause one had sat for the MCAT, the other school had this message listed in their email, about receiving the email because we took the MCAT and received a passing score. I'm sure our cases are not isolated.

 

[totu22]

My friend had extensive research, a 36, and a 4.0 from an ivy but no clinical or volunteer experience and got accepted to a top 10 school.

 

[PraiseTheLord]

The way I see it, either he has EC's that you don't know about; he lied on the application; he intimately knows some very high-up people in admissions at those schools; you're lying; or the entire admissions committee at each school to which he was accepted all had complex partial seizures at the same time and accepted him without realizing.

Listen, if you're somehow telling the truth, feel free to sit at home with your fella and scoff at all those stupid SDNers who have no idea what it takes to get into medical school. But no one here is going to believe you.

Believe what you want to believe, or choose to be a doubting Thomas until you see the proof with your own eyes one day. The fact that no one believes me here does not change the FACT that there are some schools that do NOT look at an applicants EC's and they are not low tier or Caribbean schools either.

 

[totu22]

My friend had extensive research, a 36, and a 4.0 from an ivy but no clinical or volunteer experience and got accepted to a top 10 school.

Or maybe like 10-15h of clinical, I can't remember. He put down volunteering he did in high school

 

[godawg300]

Believe what you want to believe, or choose to be a doubting Thomas until you see the proof with your own eyes one day. The fact that no one believes me here does not change the FACT that there are some schools that do NOT look at an applicants EC's and they are not low tier or Caribbean schools either.

Curious, so what did he talk about during interviews? Does your man have hobbies? What activities does he do outside of school? What were his reasons for medicine? Did he just sit in his room and study all day!? Your hubby had EC, I'm sure of it. Maybe he didn't list them, but maybe they came up in an interview. Otherwise he seems super boring and robotic.

 

[Doctor W]

I love this thread. Just reading everyone's posts has made my day

 

[Doctor W]

In my opinion, people should've gave her the benefit of the doubt and just answered "wonder if Medical school is more about numbers than all the other EC's they expect us to engage ourselves in?" . My response to this question is that it is a balance.

 

[Doctor_Nope]

OP, keep in mind that many med school applicants have a hard time letting go of the idea that getting into medical school is an entirely fair and holistic process (hence the doubt). From my observations, though, while overall it may be a process that looks for a balanced applicant in all fields, there are always outliers (as well as variations between schools). There are a some applicants with decent numbers but little or no experience that get in and some with great experience and not very competitive scores that get in. In my opinion, probably all of the schools that you and your man applied to care about EC's. But at the end of the day, the adcoms that look over the applications are human and I suspect the ones that made the decision to accept your man decided to look beyond his lack of experience and give him a chance. I don't think they don't care about experience, but due to perhaps a well articulated PS supported by decent stats, they figured that he has the potential to become a good doctor. There is an element of gambling for both the applicants and the admissions committee in this whole process and a few schools have decided to bet on him.

At the end of the day, the whole admissions process has an element of chance in it. Can you get in with decent stats but no experience? Yes. Can you get in with great experience but sub-3.0 GPA and/or sub-30 MCAT? Yes. But the odds are not in your favor. So the idea is to give yourself the best possible odds by building up as much experience as you can while achieving as high GPA and MCAT scores as possible.

At this time, since your man already has an acceptance this whole point is moot. But keep in mind that his acceptance is not regardless of whether he had any EC's, but most likely DESPITE the fact he had any EC's. Basically he beat the odds.

Congratulations to him and I wish the best for both of you!

 

[PraiseTheLord]

Curious, so what did he talk about during interviews? Does your man have hobbies? What activities does he do outside of school? What were his reasons for medicine? Did he just sit in his room and study all day!? Your hubby had EC, I'm sure of it. Maybe he didn't list them, but maybe they came up in an interview. Otherwise he seems super boring and robotic.

He is neither boring nor robotic. He was extremely honest about himself and his decision to pursue medicine. We have all encountered boring and robotic doctors on more than one occasion. I'm sure they all had very great EC's on their AMCAS applications too. Your robotic and boring statement is therefore far fetched.

 

[PraiseTheLord]

OP, keep in mind that many med school applicants have a hard time letting go of the idea that getting into medical school is an entirely fair and holistic process (hence the doubt). From my observations, though, while overall it may be a process that looks for a balanced applicant in all fields, there are always outliers (as well as variations between schools). There are a some applicants with decent numbers but little or no experience that get in and some with great experience and not very competitive scores that get in. In my opinion, probably all of the schools that you and your man applied to care about EC's. But at the end of the day, the adcoms that look over the applications are human and I suspect the ones that made the decision to accept your man decided to look beyond his lack of experience and give him a chance. I don't think they don't care about experience, but due to perhaps a well articulated PS supported by decent stats, they figured that he has the potential to become a good doctor. There is an element of gambling for both the applicants and the admissions committee in this whole process and a few schools have decided to bet on him.

At the end of the day, the whole admissions process has an element of chance in it. Can you get in with decent stats but no experience? Yes. Can you get in with great experience but sub-3.0 GPA and/or sub-30 MCAT? Yes. But the odds are not in your favor. So the idea is to give yourself the best possible odds by building up as much experience as you can while achieving as high GPA and MCAT scores as possible.

At this time, since your man already has an acceptance this whole point is moot. But keep in mind that his acceptance is not regardless of whether he had any EC's, but most likely DESPITE the fact he had any EC's. Basically he beat the odds.

Congratulations to him and I wish the best for both of you!

Finally a mature post that makes a lot of sense. All of you bloggers bashing me as the OP and my husband need to take a step back and ask yourselves if you will carry your very biased and judgmental attitudes into your medical practice. Thank you for your mature response. Point to carry home is that there are lots of people from different walks of life in the medical practice and this does not make them bad doctors. We have successful doctors with low undergraduate and MCAT scores, others with balanced scores and EC's and some with great scores and no EC's. Neither option determines a good/bad doctor. I also know of people who had great stats and EC's and still dropped out of medical school due to poor performance so don't be too quick to judge. I also know of several applicants who volunteered and shadowed just to boost their AMCAS application and increase their chances of getting into medical school, despite the fact that they hated volunteering and were not too excited about their shadowing experiences. Getting into medical school is the beginning of a LONG journey to a final destination and not a lottery ticket to get to a final destination. There is a lot to learn on this journey and I'm sure he will get the relevant training, shadowing and clinical exposure he needs in medical school to be a great doctor.

 

[gettheleadout]

He is neither boring nor robotic. He was extremely honest about himself and his decision to pursue medicine. We have all encountered boring and robotic doctors on more than one occasion. I'm sure they all had very great EC's on their AMCAS applications too. Your robotic and boring statement is therefore far fetched.

Oh man...

Applying without listing any work/activities experiences demonstrates at best an inability to read and follow the directions for using AMCAS, and at worst a person who actually has no experiences outside of classwork. How could anything but a very desperate medical school accept either?

 

[godawg300]

He is neither boring nor robotic. He was extremely honest about himself and his decision to pursue medicine. We have all encountered boring and robotic doctors on more than one occasion. I'm sure they all had very great EC's on their AMCAS applications too. Your robotic and boring statement is therefore far fetched.

You say he has no EC at all. And you didn't answer my question. What does he do outside academics? Does he have a job? Did he play sports? Music? I didn't say he was boring but you made it out to seem like he does absolutely nothing else or chose not to list anything else.

 

[PraiseTheLord]

You say he has not EC at all. And you didn't answer my question. What does he do outside academics?

I really don't want to answer any of your questions based on the fact that you were blatantly rude when referring to him as boring and robotic. Had you asked this question first and waited for me to respond without passing judgment on his character I would have been more than happy to give you a response. I also never said he had no EC's, I clearly stated that he had ONE EC. Please read the original post again. Thank you

 

[PraiseTheLord]

Oh man...

Applying without listing any work/activities experiences demonstrates at best an inability to read and follow the directions for using AMCAS, and at worst a person who actually has no experiences outside of classwork. How could anything but a very desperate medical school accept either?

Responding without reading and understanding the original post demonstrates at best your inability to also read and understand the main concept of the post. Once again I clearly stated that he had ONE EC yet you respond stating that no work/activities experiences were listed. Please read and understand the post clearly before jumping into conclusions. Communication is a key factor in medical school. Kindly improve on yours before throwing rocks at others (Sorry but I'm sick and tired of the negative energy from people whose responses show that they have clearly not understood the post)

 

[gettheleadout]

Responding without reading and understanding the original post demonstrates at best your inability to also read and understand the main concept of the post. Once again I clearly stated that he had ONE EC yet you respond stating that no work/activities experiences were listed. Please read and understand the post clearly before jumping into conclusions. Communication is a key factor in medical school. Kindly improve on yours before throwing rocks at others (Sorry but I'm sick and tired of the negative energy from people whose responses show that they have clearly not understood the post)

I read it correctly. One EC is basically none and only confirms the less fortunate option that the implication is he did nothing else.

Edit: Honestly this isn't hard to understand. Having one extracurricular activity only implies bad things about one's academic capability or outside interests, since it demonstrates that one could at least fill out AMCAS half-competently.

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[godawg300]

I really don't want to answer any of your questions based on the fact that you were blatantly rude when referring to him as boring and robotic. Had you asked this question first and waited for me to respond without passing judgment on his character I would have been more than happy to give you a response. I also never said he had no EC's, I clearly stated that he had ONE EC. Please read the original post again. Thank you

Again, go and read my post. I said he seemed boring from YOUR description. I'm entitled to form an opinion from your post. So I wanted to inquire further. You can choose to not answer my questions and that's fine, but I just can't imagine someone that only actually has one EC. My BS meter went off a long time ago, but I actually wanted to see if maybe he just chose to list one EC. Anyhow, I don't think your story here is going to add much to other applicants. There are always exceptions.

 

[gettheleadout]

Ultimately, the veracity of this story is a non-issue. People get in to US MD schools with MCAT score totals in the teens. That is a true statement, but it has basically zero relevance to the typical applicant or the great majority of atypical applicants. In the same way, there is nothing to be gained from knowing one person got in with only one average EC.

At the same time, OP should understand that refusing to respond to actual questions and criticism only undermines her own credibility. We have no reason to believe you and there is no benefit to us in doing so, so why should we if you won't even elaborate on the issue?

 

[ridethecliche]

Guys. The reddit trolls are coming!

 

[Ace Khalifa]

OP, I'm the type of person who calls them as I see them, and your post is garbage. No one will believe you unless you give us definitive proof (including the name of the schools) of acceptance. Also, refusal to answer questions directed at you concerning the validity of your statement only further undermines your argument. Your statement is NOT true because YOU think it is. That's not how the world works. A statement is only defined as "true" if it has enough hard evidence to support it, and the majority of people accept and agree with that supporting evidence. How are you going to become a good doctor if you can't even understand this basic tenet of evidence-based medicine?

Also, you argued LIKE A STONEWALLING CHILD with 2 highly successful applicants who have amazing insight (and one of whom is a moderator). Your credibility was shot the moment you did that.

 

[PraiseTheLord]

I wish all you negative bloggers the best in your future goals. Doctor-Nope answered my question well and I'm satisfied with one mature answer. I however will NOT be publishing any further information (read - "elaborate further on the issue") that would tie him as an accepted medical student to this post. I think some of you (if this shoe fits) are just angry with your lives for one reason or another, such that it makes you feel empowered to bash others on a social setting. There is nothing that any of you say though that will change the FACT that there are some medical schools that will accept students who have no shadowing or clinical experiences. So if it pleases you to call them boring and robotic that's fine, bottom line is that they got interviewed and accepted at a well known and very reputable medical school for that matter. Again this post was not meant to imply that these experiences are not important. They are. I wish to meet some of you in the future just to see how you really are in person. Good luck to all the 2015 applicants. Sorry if this post rubbed some of you the wrong way.

 

[PraiseTheLord]

OP, I'm the type of person who calls them as I see them, and your post is garbage. No one will believe you unless you give us definitive proof (including the name of the schools) of acceptance. Also, refusal to answer questions directed at you concerning the validity of your statement only further undermines your argument. Your statement is NOT true because YOU think it is. That's not how the world works. A statement is only defined as "true" if it has enough hard evidence to support it, and the majority of people accept and agree with that supporting evidence. How are you going to become a good doctor if you can't even understand this basic tenet of evidence-based medicine?

Also, you argued LIKE A STONEWALLING CHILD with 2 highly successful applicants who have amazing insight (and one of whom is a moderator). Your credibility was shot the moment you did that.

We have no problem providing evidence to this. If you read above, I already said I was willing to provide this to Goro. You surely don't expect me to post such personal information for the whole world to see on a social network just to prove a point now, or do you? A moderator should not be judgmental. His original post was and I was not rude to him/her in any way while responding. I also don't understand why a lot of you are so angry and this is why I choose not to comment further on this post as it was never my intent to stir up any emotions. I did not come here to make anyone angry but evidently I somehow unintentionally rubbed a lot of you the wrong way.

 

[ridethecliche]

Fwiw, Carib schools are MD schools...

 

[Ace Khalifa]

Still stonewalling...so still no credibility. Either really immature or a really dedicated troll. Hey @moop, how would you rate this possible troll?

 

[ridethecliche]

Well given they haven't pulled a moop and gotten a time out yet, they're not so good.