Is unpaid tutoring an EC?

[abdosemaan]

Every week during the college semester I get countless requests for tutoring for my fellow colleagues, I always do at 2-4 hours a week of this unofficial tutoring , would this be a legitimate ec on a med school application since I spend a great deal of time doing this.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[The Buff OP]

Every week during the college semester I get countless requests for tutoring for my fellow colleagues, I always do at 2-4 hours a week of this unofficial tutoring , would this be a legitimate ec on a med school application since I spend a great deal of time doing this.

Just tutoring itself paid or not is an extra curricular activity.

 

[masaraksh]

charge money?

edit: describe it as "pre-revenue". lol, my fav term

 

[xnfs93hy]

Of course it is! And yes, you can put it on your application.

 

[abdosemaan]

Thanks for the response guys

 

[moisne]

Do you know what EC (extra curricular) is? It is not just volunteering... It is anything outside of what you need to do for class/degree. Working at Starbucks counts, research, RA, anything

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

Every week during the college semester I get countless requests for tutoring for my fellow colleagues, I always do at 2-4 hours a week of this unofficial tutoring , would this be a legitimate ec on a med school application since I spend a great deal of time doing this.

Just get ppl to sign an attendance sheet. That's what I do.

 

[mke520]

i got paid to tutor and i put it down as an EC...schools like to see tutoring as an EC

 

[Planes2Doc]

I thought unpaid tutoring is supposed to look nice on your app, especially if it's poor kids.

 

[LizzyM]

Service to the needy whether in soup kitchens, homeless shelters, tutoring inner city kids, etc does show that you are willing to give of your time to help those in need. Since that's what doctors do, it is good to show that you are service oriented.

The ability to teach is also a useful skill in medical training and medical practice. Whether it is for profit or unpaid, you can list "teaching/tutoring" as an "Experience" on the AMCAS application.

Also, the experience section of the AMCAS is not limited to extracurricular activities; you can list research for which you earned credit and other activities that were done as part of a class (e.g. sociology class has you volunteering in a homeless shelter as part of the course or a pre-med course that includes shadowing).

 

[ThisCouldBeYou]

@LizzyM, are there many colleges that offer a pre-med course that includes shadowing?

 

[LizzyM]

@LizzyM, are there many colleges that offer a pre-med course that includes shadowing?

I don't know. I do see it on applications from Washington University in St. Louis and I can think of some small local liberal arts schools that do it, too.

 

[tmn]

Every week during the college semester I get countless requests for tutoring for my fellow colleagues, I always do at 2-4 hours a week of this unofficial tutoring , would this be a legitimate ec on a med school application since I spend a great deal of time doing this.

Is the tutoring in addition to your curriculum?

 

[frosted_flake]

What if you do both paid and non-paid tutoring? Would you just put the hours in the same category on the application?
I have done about 100 or so hours of paid, and who knows how many unpaid/undocumented hours of unpaid tutoring.

 

[moop]

@LizzyM, are there many colleges that offer a pre-med course that includes shadowing?

???? what does this even mean

 

[MDforMee]

I call it "volunteer tutoring (unpaid)"

 

[ThisCouldBeYou]

???? what does this even mean

I was asking this because LizzyM mentioned it in her post, #10.

 

[sat0ri]

This goes in line with OP's question, but should we list tutoring our colleagues (or friends even) as that? I mean, should we say "I tutored my friends"? I've seen tutoring on some of my colleagues CV, but they make it sound fancier than helping a friend--in fact, they don't always mention it was their friends who they tutored or that it was relatively unstructured.

 

[sat0ri]

???? what does this even mean

For example, at my institution, there is a 2-part class where the first part teaches you the general (super-basic) structure of health-care and medicine, and in the second part, there are physicians who are part of the part program that you get to shadow. Are school has a massive pre-med population so our local hospital was always inundated with students wanting to shadow (there's a waitlist to volunteer there even), so this was offered as a way for pre-meds to get shadowing in.

 

[487806]

Service to the needy whether in soup kitchens, homeless shelters, tutoring inner city kids, etc does show that you are willing to give of your time to help those in need. Since that's what doctors do, it is good to show that you are service oriented.

The ability to teach is also a useful skill in medical training and medical practice. Whether it is for profit or unpaid, you can list "teaching/tutoring" as an "Experience" on the AMCAS application.

Also, the experience section of the AMCAS is not limited to extracurricular activities; you can list research for which you earned credit and other activities that were done as part of a class (e.g. sociology class has you volunteering in a homeless shelter as part of the course or a pre-med course that includes shadowing).

Just out of curiosity, when it's informal tutoring (i.e. helping out your peers without a formal coordinator like OP's case), who should be marked as the reference? Yourself? The people you tutored? The "secretary" you assigned ?

 

[Mr Roboto]

I've seen students following doctors at the hospital where I work as a class assignment. The docs would sign a little slip saying they'd been there for a certain number of hours. It was some kind of career exploration class.

 

[LizzyM]

I've seen people list themselves just as they would if they were self-employed.

 

[Zelda840]

Also, the experience section of the AMCAS is not limited to extracurricular activities; you can list research for which you earned credit and other activities that were done as part of a class.

When I had my exit interview for my state school, the lady seemed extremely annoyed that I'd listed my clinical hours done as part of a CNA class. I just assumed that the research I'd done as part of an advanced Neuroscience lab was going to get a similar reaction. So there's no hard and fast rule about not using things done as part of a class? That's relieving. I thought I'd missed an unspoken rule or something.

 

[MDforMee]

I think that there is a difference between tutoring your friends and volunteering with tutoring programs for no money.

If you really are tutoring your friends, it doesn't sound good on paper. And, if you're that interested in tutoring, maybe consider doing it through a legitimate tutoring service?

I do volunteer tutoring (unpaid) at local community colleges. I have a little name badge and everything. I may get a vest at some point, but I'm not 100% certain.

 

[Being]

Just get ppl to sign an attendance sheet. That's what I do.

Service to the needy whether in soup kitchens, homeless shelters, tutoring inner city kids, etc does show that you are willing to give of your time to help those in need. Since that's what doctors do, it is good to show that you are service oriented.

I teach 10-12 lessons per week (mostly piano, math, English). Would it be wise to start documenting my time with a sign-in sheet or similar?

On a similar note... To what extent do AdComs want/need to see proof of our activities? If it's all on the honor system, what is to stop people from greatly exaggerating? I guess you can pick up on this during the interview, IE somebody lists 1000 hours doing some activity but can't speak in depth about it or doesn't have any interest stories, etc?

As a semi-professional musician, I've started collecting concert programs and fliers that have my name/picture on them. Would AdComs be interested in seeing this proof or hearing recordings, or will they pretty much not care unless I tell them I play with the New York Philharmonic or something?

Thanks!

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

I tutor organic (for free) and I do a sign-in "just in case." The professors know I do it, but I feel it's best to have a record.

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

I teach 10-12 lessons per week (mostly piano, math, English). Would it be wise to start documenting my time with a sign-in sheet or similar?

On a similar note... To what extent do AdComs want/need to see proof of our activities? If it's all on the honor system, what is to stop people from greatly exaggerating? I guess you can pick up on this during the interview, IE somebody lists 1000 hours doing some activity but can't speak in depth about it or doesn't have any interest stories, etc?

As a semi-professional musician, I've started collecting concert programs and fliers that have my name/picture on them. Would AdComs be interested in seeing this proof or hearing recordings, or will they pretty much not care unless I tell them I play with the New York Philharmonic or something?

Thanks!

Forgot to quote this in my above reply.

 

[LizzyM]

I teach 10-12 lessons per week (mostly piano, math, English). Would it be wise to start documenting my time with a sign-in sheet or similar?

On a similar note... To what extent do AdComs want/need to see proof of our activities? If it's all on the honor system, what is to stop people from greatly exaggerating? I guess you can pick up on this during the interview, IE somebody lists 1000 hours doing some activity but can't speak in depth about it or doesn't have any interest stories, etc?

As a semi-professional musician, I've started collecting concert programs and fliers that have my name/picture on them. Would AdComs be interested in seeing this proof or hearing recordings, or will they pretty much not care unless I tell them I play with the New York Philharmonic or something?

Thanks!

Experiences are very much on the honor system although if something is fishy a dean of admissions might call one of your contacts to confirm that you did what you said you did.

I have had applicants who provide a link to a YouTube video of a performance. Sometimes it is fun to see the applicant that way in advance of the interview.

 

[Being]

I have had applicants who provide a link to a YouTube video of a performance. Sometimes it is fun to see the applicant that way in advance of the interview.

Sounds like a good way to stand out!

 

[mrh125]

yea, why wouldnt it be? I put it on my ecs.

 

[moop]

Experiences are very much on the honor system although if something is fishy a dean of admissions might call one of your contacts to confirm that you did what you said you did.

I have had applicants who provide a link to a YouTube video of a performance. Sometimes it is fun to see the applicant that way in advance of the interview.

How often does the calling because something is fishy happen?

So linking to YouTube would be considered okay? Yay!

 

[LizzyM]

We interview >500 /yr and I think we check in on one activity of one applicant every couple years because something seems fishy.