EC question

[Jjkwest1]

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[AlteredScale]

Hey Guys, I posted a similar thread about my chances but wanted to get an opinion on something. I was working on my activities section yesterday and came up with a dilemma. When I was typing for my AMCAS and ACOMAS EC section I came to a stumble when trying to write about my hospital volunteer experience. Although I had 60 hours over there for 1 semester, I basically did nothing but clean beds and deliver magazine to patients. Thus I thought to myself that I would have a hard time trying to sell my experience there if I was ever asked about it. My question is should I still include it and if I don't would it severely weaken my list of EC? I feel like my EC list is very very weak but I still plan on applying this cycle with the goal of getting into ANY med school MD or DO. My cGPA is around a 3.94 with a sGPA of 4.0 while I have a very balanced 32 on my MCAT (no scores below a 10)

I have:

- around 40 hrs of non medical community service
- 100+ volunteer hours at a hospice (I volunteered at this place for a little over a year now and will still continue until I hopefully get an acceptance)
- 1 semester of being a TA for my psych class and 1 semester of being a tutor
- Started research last summer and am still continuing
- Shadowed an oncologist and a PM&R doc. Total hrs is around 30 ish (Planning on shadowing more maybe a PCP?)
- I'm also a part of PBK and just found out recently that I'm graduating salutatorian of my class
- couple of long term hobbies

I know the list of EC isn't impressive but do you think i'll be OK applying with them? Thanks!

I think you should really do some introspection about your hospital experience. Did you every communicate to a patient? Did you ever listen in on doctors and learn about the physician-patient interactions? What did you get out of that? If it truly was nothing, you are going to have a very hard time explaining what you got out of your clinical experience to AdComs which may be a red flag if you did not blow them away already. Really, take some time to think hard about whether you are ready to apply now, perhaps you need more time to go back to your clinical work and truly gain an insightful perspective to it.

I think if you just take some time to think hard about what you REALLY learned there beyond the job description, then you will find your answer! best of luck!

 

[Jjkwest1]

I think you should really do some introspection about your hospital experience. Did you every communicate to a patient? Did you ever listen in on doctors and learn about the physician-patient interactions? What did you get out of that? If it truly was nothing, you are going to have a very hard time explaining what you got out of your clinical experience to AdComs which may be a red flag if you did not blow them away already. Really, take some time to think hard about whether you are ready to apply now, perhaps you need more time to go back to your clinical work and truly gain an insightful perspective to it.

I think if you just take some time to think hard about what you REALLY learned there beyond the job description, then you will find your answer! best of luck!

Although I didn't really get anything out of the hospital volunteering, I definitely did get something out of my Hospice volunteering which I believe is also counted as clinical experience. It was probably the BEST decision I ever made to switch to doing that since I'm getting A LOT of patient interaction.

 

[AlteredScale]

Although I didn't really get anything out of the hospital volunteering, I definitely did get something out of my Hospice volunteering which I believe is also counted as clinical experience. It was probably the BEST decision I ever made to switch to doing that since I'm getting A LOT of patient interaction.

Hey that is also something you can bring about during interviews, really explain what made your hospice work so viable. And perhaps how your personality meshed well with interacting with those patients. I've seen here on SDN that some AdCom faculty want someone who can really have a down to earth conversation with patients while still having the mental capacity and work ethic of medicine. Still put down the other work though. One of the members on SDN have this quote to help you decide if something you did is worthy to put as clinical work, "if you can SMELL a patient, then it's clinical".

 

[Jjkwest1]

Hey that is also something you can bring about during interviews, really explain what made your hospice work so viable. And perhaps how your personality meshed well with interacting with those patients. I've seen here on SDN that some AdCom faculty want someone who can really have a down to earth conversation with patients while still having the mental capacity and work ethic of medicine. Still put down the other work though. One of the members on SDN have this quote to help you decide if something you did is worthy to put as clinical work, "if you can SMELL a patient, then it's clinical".

Thanks for the input! Also, I just checked your MD apps and I must say, you have some really impressive EC's, especially the musical performance. Wish I had something like that

 

[AlteredScale]

Thanks for the input! Also, I just checked your MD apps and I must say, you have some really impressive EC's, especially the musical performance. Wish I had something like that

Wow thank you so much! that really means so much to me and it's very very humbling to hear that
I'd say there has to be some passion or hobby that you have done in college that you absolutely love. Most definitely keep doing it! Once I transferred to a 4-year my live performing came to a halt but i still manage to spend maybe an hour a day just jamming out. It'll be a great talking point for AdComs and an even better when if you can somehow morph into something that shows you "fit the mold" of a great, unique, physician.

Please feel free to contact me with any other questions, and best of luck to you!