What is considered alot of EC's?

[markboonya]

So SDNers always love to put that they have done alot of EC's. I know quantity doesnt substitute for quality, but i would like to know what ALOT means to you. It seems like all the pre-medies at berkeley are super human, and when they say alot, it means research + publications + leadership in clubs/fraternities + shadowing + tutoring+ scholarships + regular hospital volunteer + feeding homeless people - in addition to their nifty 3.8/35 mcat. I think i have done half of those things and i have good experiences to talk about from each (which i think is the most important factor) but i want a reality check away from Berkeley pre-med mentality. ehhh who am i kindding, SDNers are all over achievers too.

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[JayQuah]

So SDNers always love to put that they have done alot of EC's. I know quantity doesnt substitute for quality, but i would like to know what ALOT means to you. It seems like all the pre-medies at berkeley are super human, and when they say alot, it means research + publications + leadership in clubs/fraternities + shadowing + tutoring+ scholarships + regular hospital volunteer + feeding homeless people - in addition to their nifty 3.8/35 mcat. I think i have done half of those things and i have good experiences to talk about from each (which i think is the most important factor) but i want a reality check away from Berkeley pre-med mentality. ehhh who am i kindding, SDNers are all over achievers too.

Medical schools generally don't let anyone in who has less than 25 items, lasting a year or more, listed on AMCAS.

 

[dsh]

For med school purposes, I just do research (published) and volunteer at a hospital. I also work volunteer ski patrol during the winters because it gives me an excuse to go boarding.

I'm co-captain of an ice-hockey team (#1 in league last season!!!!!) that practices twice a week w/ one game per week. Maybe twice a month I play the acoustic w/ a buddy of mine at lame coffee shop open mic things. Occasionally I get a paying gig playing classical guitar for some spending money.

Between all this and ~20 units/quarter at school I usually don't have much free time. I wish I could spend more time in lab but it's tough to fit in around my school schedule.

 

[Reimat]

So SDNers always love to put that they have done alot of EC's. I know quantity doesnt substitute for quality, but i would like to know what ALOT means to you. It seems like all the pre-medies at berkeley are super human, and when they say alot, it means research + publications + leadership in clubs/fraternities + shadowing + tutoring+ scholarships + regular hospital volunteer + feeding homeless people - in addition to their nifty 3.8/35 mcat. I think i have done half of those things and i have good experiences to talk about from each (which i think is the most important factor) but i want a reality check away from Berkeley pre-med mentality. ehhh who am i kindding, SDNers are all over achievers too.

People on SDN (as with med students everyone) know how to make their EC's sound amazing. Most people are busy, but when a lot of people say research, they mean 1 summer. When they say publications, they mean in their school science journal or that their professor basically allowed their name to be on his paper. When they say leadership in frat, they mean they were the historian/treasurer and put in 2 hours of work a week (but will say on their app 5). And so on. Don't scare yourself by other people's ECs because pre-meds here are practicing their embellishing for adcoms.

 

[jmazz12]

Medical schools generally don't let anyone in who has less than 25 items, lasting a year or more, listed on AMCAS.

does amcas only allow you to have 15 activies?

 

[Law2Doc]

So SDNers always love to put that they have done alot of EC's. I know quantity doesnt substitute for quality, but i would like to know what ALOT means to you. It seems like all the pre-medies at berkeley are super human, and when they say alot, it means research + publications + leadership in clubs/fraternities + shadowing + tutoring+ scholarships + regular hospital volunteer + feeding homeless people - in addition to their nifty 3.8/35 mcat. I think i have done half of those things and i have good experiences to talk about from each (which i think is the most important factor) but i want a reality check away from Berkeley pre-med mentality. ehhh who am i kindding, SDNers are all over achievers too.

Yes quality is far more important than quantity. At a minimum for most schools you need good clinical experience. Although not stringently required, in general you also want some exposure to research, and some sort of charitable/civic/ or volunteer experience in addition to the clinical experience. If you get these three types of things onto your app, you are probably solidly in the pack. But there will always be people who have managed to do more, (athletes, actors, published authors) and yes, they often stand out.
And you have to bear in mind that because there are so many non-trads applying these days, you are not only competing with people who have squeezed in activities during their college, but also people who have worked for many years, done things like peace corps, armed service, published many papers/articles/books, gotten awards/honors and/or other advanced degrees, etc. (And probably also still did all the college clubs, athletics and fraternity stuff back in the day). So I suspect its the nontrads, not the Berkley premed types, who are pushing the edges of the envelope when it comes to ECs. Speaking as a non-trad, I had to pare down my accumulated ECs to the best small fraction that fit onto the app. -- but nontrads have their own hurdles in the application process.

 

[thirdunity]

So suppose you're a non-trad and going to school means = working and school and time for nothing else. How do you squeeze in time for the ECs? I'm getting work that'll give me some clinical experience, but I don't know where to fit the ECs in - I'll only have time during the summer, if that.

Unlike other nontrads, I didn't do anything particularly cool before going pre-med. I was just a shiftless gamer/comic-book type dork for years, years, years, and I held a series of short-term jobs.

 

[Law2Doc]

So suppose you're a non-trad and going to school means = working and school and time for nothing else. How do you squeeze in time for the ECs? I'm getting work that'll give me some clinical experience, but I don't know where to fit the ECs in - I'll only have time during the summer, if that.

Unlike other nontrads, I didn't do anything particularly cool before going pre-med. I was just a shiftless gamer/comic-book type dork for years, years, years, and I held a series of short-term jobs.

The clinical experience will be adequate for most places. Obviously the research oriented schools like to see some research also (but not mandatory), and some of the more "touchy feely" schools I interviewed with specifically seemed to also want to see some sort of charitable or civic nonhealth volunteering or community service. I don't have any magic solution for adding more hours to a week unless you can do without sleep, or unless you want to push things out another year. Just squeeze in whatever you can and run for luck, I guess.

 

[JayQuah]

does amcas only allow you to have 15 activies?

I was kidding. Just trying to stir up ruckus...i'm sorry Phil.

 

[NapeSpikes]

So suppose you're a non-trad and going to school means = working and school and time for nothing else. How do you squeeze in time for the ECs? I'm getting work that'll give me some clinical experience, but I don't know where to fit the ECs in - I'll only have time during the summer, if that.

Unlike other nontrads, I didn't do anything particularly cool before going pre-med. I was just a shiftless gamer/comic-book type dork for years, years, years, and I held a series of short-term jobs.

A lot of nontrads do things after undergrad but not necessarily for med school admissions' sakes. So we graduate, do our humanitarian activities, then return to school. When application time comes, we count our activities we did when we weren't in school as EC's even though we never thought about them as EC's. That's how we fit more in--it's just because we had more time, years actually, to do them. For a non-trad already back in school, you just have to fit in whatever you can.

 

[45408]

ehhh who am i kindding, SDNers are all over achievers too.

Or maybe the word you were looking for is "passionate" or "motivated," chief.