Volunteer firefighter a respectable EC for med school?

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GregoryMD

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Reason I ask is because I've been thinking what kind of EC I really want to get involved with. The sterotypical cookie-cutter pre-med will have volunteering in hospitals and running gels in a research lab for theirs. But talking to various people, I've learned med school really likes it when people pursue EC's they are passionate about and show individualism. Firefighting has kind of been an intense hobby of mine (maybe interest is a better word choice). If physician wasn't my true calling, that is what I would be.

I figured since I'm already an EMT, I can put in the hundred or so hours for training, and volunteer at a fire department for the four years I'm in college. It is medically related because like 85% of the emergency calls in my state tend to be medical related anyway, but I'd also get to experience the occasional fire, and pursue an EC that takes a major amount of commitment.

I figure running into a burning building to rescue someone shows more compassion than delivering paperwork in the Emergency Room.

I mean obviously I'd still do a tiny bit of research here and there and maybe throw a few hours into an ER, but I would pretty much dedicate the firefighting as my main EC.

Would that be a significant advantage in my chances of med school? Regardless, I'd want to pursue it to get firefighting out of my system before I start med school.

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Reason I ask is because I've been thinking what kind of EC I really want to get involved with. The sterotypical cookie-cutter pre-med will have volunteering in hospitals and running gels in a research lab for theirs. But talking to various people, I've learned med school really likes it when people pursue EC's they are passionate about and show individualism. Firefighting has kind of been an intense hobby of mine (maybe interest is a better word choice). If physician wasn't my true calling, that is what I would be.

I figured since I'm already an EMT, I can put in the hundred or so hours for training, and volunteer at a fire department for the four years I'm in college. It is medically related because like 85% of the emergency calls in my state tend to be medical related anyway, but I'd also get to experience the occasional fire, and pursue an EC that takes a major amount of commitment.

I figure running into a burning building to rescue someone shows more compassion than delivering paperwork in the Emergency Room.

I mean obviously I'd still do a tiny bit of research here and there and maybe throw a few hours into an ER, but I would pretty much dedicate the firefighting as my main EC.

Would that be a significant advantage in my chances of med school? Regardless, I'd want to pursue it to get firefighting out of my system before I start med school.


Its not going to give you a significant advantage...almost no EC will do that. You know what will give you a significant advantage? A 4.0 and 35+ mcat. People always think ECs can make up for everything, they are very important but being an academic all star is the best way to improve your chances. That being said if its truly your passion then by all means do it. Interesting ECs are never a bad a thing and anytime you can talk with passion about an EC you do it will only help your chances getting into med school.
 
Reason I ask is because I've been thinking what kind of EC I really want to get involved with. The sterotypical cookie-cutter pre-med will have volunteering in hospitals and running gels in a research lab for theirs. But talking to various people, I've learned med school really likes it when people pursue EC's they are passionate about and show individualism. Firefighting has kind of been an intense hobby of mine (maybe interest is a better word choice). If physician wasn't my true calling, that is what I would be.

I figured since I'm already an EMT, I can put in the hundred or so hours for training, and volunteer at a fire department for the four years I'm in college. It is medically related because like 85% of the emergency calls in my state tend to be medical related anyway, but I'd also get to experience the occasional fire, and pursue an EC that takes a major amount of commitment.

I figure running into a burning building to rescue someone shows more compassion than delivering paperwork in the Emergency Room.

I mean obviously I'd still do a tiny bit of research here and there and maybe throw a few hours into an ER, but I would pretty much dedicate the firefighting as my main EC.

Would that be a significant advantage in my chances of med school? Regardless, I'd want to pursue it to get firefighting out of my system before I start med school.

Forget about "showing compassion". The ideal EC should show something about you. In this case, if you were to go for it and pursue volly firefighting, you'd be A) volunteering, B) getting clinical experience (as a VF EMT), and C) showing that you are volunteering because you actually get something from it, rather than just trying to check a box on an application.

I say do it. This is experience you'll never be able to get elsewhere, and it will, in fact, look good on your med school application.
 
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It's not going to hurt and sounds like you would enjoy it. Those should be the qualifications for volunteer activity. Very little volunteer activity will hurt, so pick something you will enjoy and can passionately talk about if asked in an interview.

Also, firefighters can handle themselves in a crisis, which might be a good quality as a doc...so it might look better than some
 
Volunteer FF should be fine as an EC. No need to overthink it-- you've sunk a lot of hours in, sounds like you enjoy it, and it's at least tangentally related to treating the sick and injured.
 
Reason I ask is because I've been thinking what kind of EC I really want to get involved with. The sterotypical cookie-cutter pre-med will have volunteering in hospitals and running gels in a research lab for theirs. But talking to various people, I've learned med school really likes it when people pursue EC's they are passionate about and show individualism. Firefighting has kind of been an intense hobby of mine (maybe interest is a better word choice). If physician wasn't my true calling, that is what I would be.

I figured since I'm already an EMT, I can put in the hundred or so hours for training, and volunteer at a fire department for the four years I'm in college. It is medically related because like 85% of the emergency calls in my state tend to be medical related anyway, but I'd also get to experience the occasional fire, and pursue an EC that takes a major amount of commitment.

I figure running into a burning building to rescue someone shows more compassion than delivering paperwork in the Emergency Room.

I mean obviously I'd still do a tiny bit of research here and there and maybe throw a few hours into an ER, but I would pretty much dedicate the firefighting as my main EC.

Would that be a significant advantage in my chances of med school? Regardless, I'd want to pursue it to get firefighting out of my system before I start med school.


I've thought about this too. I'm also an EMT-B, and work for my fire department. I haven't taken firefighting I, but know most of the basics in all that stuff anyways because of weekly training sessions. For fires, I have gear and can respond like everyone else, but just do things like hooking up the hose to a hydrant and providing EMS support outside. I'm not sure its worth it to go through the full 100+ hour course in firefighting, especially when its 85-90% Ems calls anyways (same at my dept.). Odds are if you join a FD, you will be trained in all the fire basics anyways, so unless you really are passionate and have a lot of time to commit, I would just join as an EMT. If after you learn all the basics at your dept. you are still interested in getting a firefighting I license, go for it.
 
I've thought about this too. I'm also an EMT-B, and work for my fire department. I haven't taken firefighting I, but know most of the basics in all that stuff anyways because of weekly training sessions. For fires, I have gear and can respond like everyone else, but just do things like hooking up the hose to a hydrant and providing EMS support outside. I'm not sure its worth it to go through the full 100+ hour course in firefighting, especially when its 85-90% Ems calls anyways (same at my dept.). Odds are if you join a FD, you will be trained in all the fire basics anyways, so unless you really are passionate and have a lot of time to commit, I would just join as an EMT. If after you learn all the basics at your dept. you are still interested in getting a firefighting I license, go for it.

Well the reason I want the full firefighting training is because I want to run into burning buildings, alongside the medical care. As just an EMT, I doubt they would send me in for rescues. I don't know....I just think it would be really exciting. I'm not trying to sound smug, but I do have more guts than most people. Essentially the danger sounds fun. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's part of the reason why I'm interested in it.

I probably won't be working a job the first year (I start college this fall), so it will give me some time to get the training done (Or I can do it next summer).

And I also understand my academics are the most important thing to focus on. I kind of made this discussion with that implied (Should have stated). Academics aside, I was merely curious if firefighting seems more impressive than the traditional ECs you tend to see.
 
Well the reason I want the full firefighting training is because I want to run into burning buildings, alongside the medical care. As just an EMT, I doubt they would send me in for rescues. I don't know....I just think it would be really exciting. I'm not trying to sound smug, but I do have more guts than most people. Essentially the danger sounds fun. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's part of the reason why I'm interested in it.

I probably won't be working a job the first year (I start college this fall), so it will give me some time to get the training done (Or I can do it next summer).

And I also understand my academics are the most important thing to focus on. I kind of made this discussion with that implied (Should have stated). Academics aside, I was merely curious if firefighting seems more impressive than the traditional ECs you tend to see.

It will definitely look more impressive than volunteering at a hospital, but no, it probably won't look more impressive than just practicing EMS. I would join your Fire Department and see what its like first. Maybe the first month do some EMS, and trust me you will learn plenty about firefighting, including responding to burning buildings,etc. After that, if you are still interested and like what you see, then sign up for the firefighter training. I think jumping right into firefighting training based on a notion that it is "exciting and danger sounds fun" may lead to dissapointment if you go through the whole course and find out its really not what you thought it would be. It's kind of like applying to medical school without doing any shadowing, thinking it is "fun and all about saving lives."
 
It will definitely look more impressive than volunteering at a hospital, but no, it probably won't look more impressive than just practicing EMS. I would join your Fire Department and see what its like first. Maybe the first month do some EMS, and trust me you will learn plenty about firefighting, including responding to burning buildings,etc. After that, if you are still interested and like what you see, then sign up for the firefighter training. I think jumping right into firefighting training based on a notion that it is "exciting and danger sounds fun" may lead to dissapointment if you go through the whole course and find out its really not what you thought it would be. It's kind of like applying to medical school without doing any shadowing, thinking it is "fun and all about saving lives."
Concur.
If you find you like it though, I think that you should go for it all out. People may be right (I don't know) that extracurriculars won't overcome bad grades. I think they can be a huge help though, and it doesn't matter in your case as you are just starting, so you can get both. I know that my extracurriculars came up in every interview, whether brought up by me or the interviewers. I would imagine that a firefighter would be an interesting one to talk about and give you some good content for secondaries. With that being said if you do go for it remember that you are a student first and don't let your grades and other academic obligations suffer for this job. Good Luck
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I think I'm going to go with what ronaldo suggested, and volunteer as EMS with a fire department to get a feel first. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go through with it, I've already had some exposure to it (Much like I've already had a large amount of exposure in a clinical setting of a hospital in at least 8 different departments), so I know medicine is for me. I share a similar passion with firefighting, but I would say it's more of a vain interest, rather than a calling, which is why ultimately I'm going the physician route.

This way though, I can definitely get firefighting out of my system before med school.
 
Reason I ask is because I've been thinking what kind of EC I really want to get involved with. The sterotypical cookie-cutter pre-med will have volunteering in hospitals and running gels in a research lab for theirs. But talking to various people, I've learned med school really likes it when people pursue EC's they are passionate about and show individualism. Firefighting has kind of been an intense hobby of mine (maybe interest is a better word choice). If physician wasn't my true calling, that is what I would be.

I figured since I'm already an EMT, I can put in the hundred or so hours for training, and volunteer at a fire department for the four years I'm in college. It is medically related because like 85% of the emergency calls in my state tend to be medical related anyway, but I'd also get to experience the occasional fire, and pursue an EC that takes a major amount of commitment.

I figure running into a burning building to rescue someone shows more compassion than delivering paperwork in the Emergency Room.

I mean obviously I'd still do a tiny bit of research here and there and maybe throw a few hours into an ER, but I would pretty much dedicate the firefighting as my main EC.

Would that be a significant advantage in my chances of med school? Regardless, I'd want to pursue it to get firefighting out of my system before I start med school.

There was a thread on this in the nontraditional forum. This is my 7th year (started June 2002) of VFD'ing, and likely the only volunteer opportunity I will engage in that I would list on the apps. Others replied to that thread thinking it was a good idea. Someone else started the thread. I just stumbled upon it. I've been a medic too, and that will be my application's clinical experience. I also started this in the midst of college, and it never interfered with my class schedules to any degree of significance. Sure, I skipped a few early morning classes to go to a fire, but once I was in class I was in class sans pager. And yes, I think it's more impressive personally than squirting junk in a test tube or wheeling around beds although I got into for community service and fun and not as a resume booster.

Although I probably wouldn't continue this venue as a physician I (a current law enforcement officer) would be interested in continuing the LE angle as a physician as a reserve (auxillary) officer. I just can't give this stuff up. :D
 
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i disagree with what most people here say.I feel that it will greatly improve your chances at acceptance. The reason being, not because they will look at your app and say "oh look at this savior" but it will help a ton on the actual interview. The interviewers love talking about interesting stuff and it gives you an opportunity to prove yourself and enlighten them at the same time. It was because i had interesting stuff to talk about that caused my interviewers to love me and give me acceptance.

However, i am weary of students just entering college and assuming they will get accepted to med school. There is so much you have to and so many steps you must take. Most people in my class still dream of going to med school even though they have no chance. So, just take it easy for now and just see how the classes go.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I think I'm going to go with what ronaldo suggested, and volunteer as EMS with a fire department to get a feel first. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go through with it, I've already had some exposure to it (Much like I've already had a large amount of exposure in a clinical setting of a hospital in at least 8 different departments), so I know medicine is for me. I share a similar passion with firefighting, but I would say it's more of a vain interest, rather than a calling, which is why ultimately I'm going the physician route.

This way though, I can definitely get firefighting out of my system before med school.

I'm a volunteer FF/EMT-P, although I don't ride the fire trucks since getting my -P. :thumbdown: If I wasn't interested in becoming a physician, I'd be a FF/EMT. I enjoy it so much that if some some reason I don't get into med school, I'll be happy working in Fire/EMS.

One reason I decided against career as a FF/EMT was because I'll eventually be able to do both with a career in medicine. With a career in the fire service, I'd never be able to be a physician.
 
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