Extracurricular Grade?

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nabilesmail

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Hey guys, so I participated in a program called JEP at my school. Pretty much what you do is take a class at my school and enroll in a "service learning project" and teach that material at a more elementary level to neighboring primary schools (usually they are underserved) because they are in Los Angeles.

A lot of the times teachers will offer a small amount of "extra credit" for completing the program. The program is 8 weeks long and varies depending on what you do. I did this program twice, once during Fall Semester and once this last spring. During Fall I taught an 8 week course to 5th graders on chemistry along with 3 other students. It consisted of 1 hour a week lesson planning (activities, subject, quizzes) , 1 hour a week teaching at the school, and writing a 1-3 page essay per week reflecting on the study or discussing problems in education,environment, and strategies to increase learning. We are graded liberally on the essays, attendance, and community evaluation. I did this project during Fall and received an A in the JEP grade (it does not count for credit, but usually teachers give extra credit if you passed the course).

This experience was extremely rewarding and I really enjoyed it. So much that I wanted to do it in the spring semester. The problem was that none of my classes were offering extra credit for JEP (not a problem at all) and therefore JEP does not allow you to participate in this kind of teaching. I was, however, able to land a Math Mentor position which was really awesome. The only dilemma was that I would be studying for my mcat+ full course load+ research+ all other activities. I had the busiest schedule I've ever had but still wanted to do this gig. I decided the most important aspect of this project would be teaching and tutoring the kids. So I decided to do it. The project was 8 weeks long and 2 hours a week on two different days. I would pretty much take handfuls of students at a time and teach them math and we all grew a nice bond. The thing is I didn't have time to complete the essays at all and despite full attendance + an A+ community evaluation I received a D in the project. Once again this does not go into my GPA or anything but when I write these experiences down in my Application this June I don't know how to go about this. If they call the reference all Jep will be able to say is "He got an A on his first project, and a D on his second'.

What should I do, do I explain this in the application? I did get a reference number from the teacher but don't know how sketchy it is to provide JEP reference for project 1 and Teacher reference for Project 2. And what JEP will say according to their records if a med school does decide to call.

Thanks for all the help!

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If the evaluation doesn't factor into your GPA, does it appear on your transcript? Is the work assigned a course number? If the answer to all of these questions is no, it sounds as though the "grade" is just a convenient way to provide feedback on your work using a familiar scale. I would suggest being honest and forthright about your experience, but focus on what you learned rather than the "grade."

Thank you, but how should I go about this on my applciation?
 
Use a teacher reference for both projects if you must, but don't make the experience a focal point of your application unless you want to spend most of your personal statement explaining away a poor evaluation that could've been omitted if you had alternative extra-curricular experiences to list. In other words, don't mention it on your application at all, or be prepared to spend a significant portion of your application explaining away a meaningless evaluation.

Ahh I really do want to put down both activities in my EC list. They were both very meaningful to me and my application will not be as strong without it. :/
 
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Then you'll have to explain the situation succinctly in order to conserve space in your personal statement and avoid suspicion should the grade be discovered.


Alrighty :] Thanks!

Any other advice?

Do you guys think these EC's will be okay for mid to top schools with a mcat/gpa in their range. Or should I not even both applying (to top schools) ? 3.7ish gpa/sgpa projected MCAT 37. Top 25 school.

-Math Mentor 8 weeks- teaching under served children 2 hrs/week

-Chemistry Teacher for 5 th grade class- also under served 2 hrs/week 8 weeks

-Hospice Volunteering about 130-150 hours by the time I apply Mid June (I have 80 now)

- Physician Shadowing - 30 hours with an Internal Medicine doctor, I was also accepted into a program that is 5 days long and 9-10 hours each day. I will be shadowing a variety of doctors in the pediatric field at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. This will add another 40-45 hours giving 70-75 total.

-Research 1 year (Does August to June count as a year :p?) in a lab dealing with heavy metal carcinogens (I'm also heavily considering Oncology). I didn't have a creative role, but I also didn't clean or make media. I usually helped prepare cell lines, counted cell colonies, did my own "plating efficiencies" and maintained my own cell line.

-Intermeural Football Fall 2011
-Intermeural Softball Spring 2012

-Physics tutor 6 hrs/ every 2 weeks in Fall for 1 quarterish.

-Gym Rat for 4-5 years. I don't have a GREAT body but I'm proud of my accomplishment. I use to be 5 ft 7 100 lbs, got to 5 ft 7 165 lbs. I use to carry a gallon of milk with me everywhere hahaa. 5k calories/day

- My girlfriend and I collected about 500 cans of food to donate

- I can play and read drum music (5 yrs-though I don't practice much anymore). I can play about 15-20 chords on the guitar (4 years) (So I'm not that good but I can somewhat play :p). And I like to go on youtube and learn how to play piano
(4 years) songs through memorizing (I can't read the music, But I'm taking a Piano class next semester for credit woot!)

How I do :p?
 
The only real weakness is your lack of research wherein you have a leading creative role. It sounds as though you work in a lab, but do you do research (not just bench work)? Do you still have time to get involved with your school's undergraduate research program? While research isn't necessary to get into medical school, it'll certainly improve your chances.

Ahh its too late now since im applying in june, but all the stuff i mentioned is for the research. Like i counted cell colonies after they were treated with carcinogens so we could graph survival rates vs dose. I also helped changed media for the cytotoxicities which could be 100 dishes and more. Ill be starting to help on my own cytotox after i apply. Im more of a senior member in my lab i guess. I think by the time im in an interview ill have some of my own projects :)
 
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