How important are extracurriculars?

[fingerscrossedpremed]

I have really average, maybe below average, EC's.

• have 70 hours of volunteering with underprivileged children and homeless people while I was in high school,

• played on a golf team that went to the state championship in high school,

• have 100 hours of combined shadowing and volunteer hours (it was literally a combination of shadowing physicians when the ER was slow and doing volunteer work when I could be of some assistance)

• essentially worked for a physician as a superintendent summer and cleaned his medical suite after he saw patients
• I am a member of the premedical honor society at my university

So I just really feel like I lack in this area. I focused a ton in my undergraduate education on keeping my GPA as high as possible and I'm just not the type of person to join an abundance of clubs or have a leadership role in one of them. I'm passionate about medicine, but not really anything else. I just hope my EC's aren't so bad that I don't get interviews. My lizzy m score is fine (68). I just feel like my EC's are inferior to the other applicants on sdn and its starting to worry me. So, how important are extracurriculars? Will mine keep me from getting into medical school? I've applied to mid and lower tier medical schools.

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[The Big Lebowski]

Extracurriculars are very important. There are many people with really good stats that get rejected every single year because of a lack of clinical experience. AdCom's want to know that YOU know what you're getting into. I'm no expert, but I would definitely say your EC's are below average. If you don't get in this cycle, spend the year getting some meaningful, active clinical experience.

 

[candbgirl]

Your ECs are very much below average. Adcoms aren't impressed with high school activities unless you have continued those activities into college. You need to start working on beefing up your ECs NOW! Don't wait for the end of the cycle to do something.

 

[fingerscrossedpremed]

.

 

[Doctor Dream]

An adcom member on this site named @Goro always says in regards to admission that your MCAT and GPA will get you to the door, but your EC's are what get you THROUGH the door. So to answer your question, yeah EC's are really important.

 

[alpinism]

I have really average, maybe below average, EC's.

• have 70 hours of volunteering with underprivileged children and homeless people while I was in high school,

• played on a golf team that went to the state championship in high school,

• have 100 hours of combined shadowing and volunteer hours (it was literally a combination of shadowing physicians when the ER was slow and doing volunteer work when I could be of some assistance)

• essentially worked for a physician as a superintendent summer and cleaned his medical suite after he saw patients
• I am a member of the premedical honor society at my university

So I just really feel like I lack in this area. I focused a ton in my undergraduate education on keeping my GPA as high as possible and I'm just not the type of person to join an abundance of clubs or have a leadership role in one of them. I'm passionate about medicine, but not really anything else. I just hope my EC's aren't so bad that I don't get interviews. My lizzy m score is fine (68). I just feel like my EC's are inferior to the other applicants on sdn and its starting to worry me. So, how important are extracurriculars? Will mine keep me from getting into medical school? I've applied to mid and lower tier medical schools.

Agreed with the above.

HS ECs really don't count unless its something very impressive or continued into college (not that going to the state championship isn't cool).

Your shadowing is good.

Besides that you need more clinical experience, community service, leadership, and possibly research.

 

[user12]

real important

 

[user12]

more important than a1 steak sauce.

 

[FutureDoc1988]

You are weak in your ECs. It sounds like you already applied though? How many did you apply to? MD or DO?

Also anything you did in high school doesn't count for medical school applications.

 

[fingerscrossedpremed]

You are weak in your ECs. It sounds like you already applied though? How many did you apply to? MD or DO?

Also anything you did in high school doesn't count for medical school applications.

I applied to 8 MD schools and 2 DO schools. I was limited as to how many places I could apply. I'm currently looking for a physician to start shadowing. I've called a few of the medical schools that I applied to, and they basically said they're primarily interested in my clinical experience and not so much my other extracurriculars.

 

[FutureDoc1988]

I would look for volunteering experiences in the medical field.