How are my EC's so far?

[canmed96]

Hey guys, just finished second year university and planning to take the MCAT summer third year.
Just wanted to know what you guys think about my ECs so far

1) Founder and President of charity club at university- goal is to raise $5000 to underwrite a water project in Africa

2) Started youtube channel for self-help/self developement videos

3) Hospital- Cardiac Wellness center volunteer- helping patients get moving after they have recovered from a heart condition

4) Youth mentor-book buddy- 1 hour a week- help kids read and guide them

5) Peer Support Volunteer- talking to peers in need of education/personal support- starting in third year, 4 hours per week

For fun- gym, anything sports/fitness related

Feedback and any suggestions on what else i should do would be appreciated.

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[heybubbaa]

Have you done any shadowing or research?

 

[canmed96]

Have you done any shadowing or research?

No research, but i plan on doing some shadowing this summer. What is a good amount of hours to shadow a physician? I dont want to linger but i want to get the most out of it.

Thanks

 

[mimelim]

As with everything extracurricular related, everything depends on the details of each of those. As a one liner, they are all completely meaningless. This isn't a snipe at you. This is just how these things are 'evaluated'.

Fundamentally, unless you have a very high level of production (ie raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, organized hundreds of people, first author publications etc.), what you actually did doesn't mean a ton. It all ends up blurring together and it really comes down to how people describe their ECs, so most adcoms don't put a tremendous amount of stock into them.

What DOES matter is what you got out of the ECs. For example, in the research realm, you don't need a first author publication to learn lab techniques or how to critically evaluate prior literature, or how to design a hypothesis and experiments to test them etc. When volunteering, you don't need to found an organization to demonstrate compassion, empathy or altruism. When working in the clinical realm, you can learn what a physician does day in day out. You can appreciate the difficulties of working in a healthcare environment and how legislation and the actions of others can have a profound impact on how healthcare is delivered.

For specific things that schools look for, it is unusual to see applicants without some sort of research experience, and this is NOT only at the top schools. While people will certainly not have robust research experiences everywhere. Most adcoms appreciate the learning/experience that spending a summer or two in a lab can bring. There are also many adcoms, including myself (though probably not most) who consider shadowing to be an essential component. We consider it to be bar none the best clinical experience that one can get because it is unadulterated reflection time for a student without distractions of a job or other responsibilities.

 

[canmed96]

As with everything extracurricular related, everything depends on the details of each of those. As a one liner, they are all completely meaningless. This isn't a snipe at you. This is just how these things are 'evaluated'.

Fundamentally, unless you have a very high level of production (ie raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, organized hundreds of people, first author publications etc.), what you actually did doesn't mean a ton. It all ends up blurring together and it really comes down to how people describe their ECs, so most adcoms don't put a tremendous amount of stock into them.

What DOES matter is what you got out of the ECs. For example, in the research realm, you don't need a first author publication to learn lab techniques or how to critically evaluate prior literature, or how to design a hypothesis and experiments to test them etc. When volunteering, you don't need to found an organization to demonstrate compassion, empathy or altruism. When working in the clinical realm, you can learn what a physician does day in day out. You can appreciate the difficulties of working in a healthcare environment and how legislation and the actions of others can have a profound impact on how healthcare is delivered.

For specific things that schools look for, it is unusual to see applicants without some sort of research experience, and this is NOT only at the top schools. While people will certainly not have robust research experiences everywhere. Most adcoms appreciate the learning/experience that spending a summer or two in a lab can bring. There are also many adcoms, including myself (though probably not most) who consider shadowing to be an essential component. We consider it to be bar none the best clinical experience that one can get because it is unadulterated reflection time for a student without distractions of a job or other responsibilities.

Thanks a lot for your input. I will be looking to add research and shadowing but like you said, its how i explain my EC's that matters?

 

[mimelim]

Thanks a lot for your input. I will be looking to add research and shadowing but like you said, its how i explain my EC's that matters?

What matters is two fold.

#1 Your time is precious. What you do with it is completely up to you. What you do with your time dictates how you will grow as a person and how you will be shaped for any future career. Your academics are a part of that, your extracurricular activities are another. The objective of looking at people's ECs as a part of the application process is because you want to get a sense of what they have gotten out of the last several years of their life. It is a very imperfect lens, but it does shed light on people's motivations, priorities etc. People with 3.9 GPAs and 42 MCATs don't universally make good physicians. It is fair to say that poor students make poor physicians, but it is a mistake to think that good grades make good physicians. So, in short, doing things that broaden your horizons more than 'hanging out with friends' help.

#2 We aren't watching you every step of the way. We are not your advisers or your mentors. How you translate what you got out of those activities to paper matters. Obviously, if you have several high impact publications and glowing LOR from PIs, you don't need to say a ton, people will understand your value and the skills that you likely possess in the research realm. But, if you are like the majority of students that don't have easily verifiable productivity, how you explain your experiences makes a big difference.

 

[7331poas]

Your ECs could mean a lot or a little.

What exactly is your viewership on your YouTube channel? Any experiences with your viewers?

How about your "plan" to underwrite a project? What experiences did you have related to that? How much have you raised?

 

[Toutie]

1) Founder and President of charity club at university- goal is to raise $5000 to underwrite a water project in Africa

Do you mean funding to build a well? What are your plans to keep the well operating after it's built? Will you also be providing the funding for maintenance for the next 10-20 years? Do you know how many wells in Africa are currently non-functioning?

http://www.theguardian.com/society/katineblog/2009/mar/26/water-projects-wasted-money

 

[canmed96]

Do you mean funding to build a well? What are your plans to keep the well operating after it's built? Will you also be providing the funding for maintenance for the next 10-20 years? Do you know how many wells in Africa are currently non-functioning?

http://www.theguardian.com/society/katineblog/2009/mar/26/water-projects-wasted-money

was looking at this https://thewaterproject.org/

 

[canmed96]

Your ECs could mean a lot or a little.

What exactly is your viewership on your YouTube channel? Any experiences with your viewers?

How about your "plan" to underwrite a project? What experiences did you have related to that? How much have you raised?

Its a pretty small channel, but i feel the content does help the people who view it and i do enjoy doing it if that means anything.

 

[Toutie]

was looking at this https://thewaterproject.org/

Okay, after looking quickly at that site, it does seem like they have a plan in place to keep the wells running in the future. You might want to contact them for further details of planned future upkeep of their wells.

 

[eteshoe]

No research, but i plan on doing some shadowing this summer. What is a good amount of hours to shadow a physician? I dont want to linger but i want to get the most out of it.

Thanks

I typically like to recommend 5-15 hrs per specialty over 3-5 specialties.