MD & DO Worried about my EC's..

[Boopis]

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[SkipJunior]

Yes you are being overly concerned, you will receive several MD and DO interview invites.

 

[Catalystik]

Hi everyone! First post here. I'm fairly worried about my application for two reasons: I finished secondaries late-ish (early august), and I'm concerned about my EC's. I applied to 15 MD schools and 5 DO schools. I have a 32 mcat, 3.81 cGPA and 4.0 sGPA, degree in classical piano performance.

My ECs related to medicine I feel are somewhat limited:

I shadowed 1 surgeon for 20 hours. (mostly concerned that I only shadowed 1 doctor)
I volunteered at a hospital for 280 hours over the course of 9 months
I worked in Relay for Life one year and was involved a few times in another charity organization.

With these, I included my music ECs (Certified Sound Engineer, accompanist, etc.)

I also don't have research, but I will be doing research in the fall and mentioned that in the secondaries. Am I being overly concerned about my EC's? Thanks in advance!

Strongly consider getting in more shadowing before interview time. Ideally, this would be with a primary care doc who is interacting with (awake) patients. Aim for a minimum of 20 more hours (30 is better).

Besides the research, in order that you will have pertinent activities to include in your fall update letters, I'd suggest you continue with regular nonmedical community service and additional time in a clinical environment for a few hours a week. Longevity counts.

 

[Boopis]

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[Catalystik]

If I didn't have a concern, I wouldn't have posted my comments. If you didn't have a concern, you wouldn't have asked. Whether you'll be "OK" will depend on each school's expectations which vary widely (fortunately), whether the Secondary covers your plans for the application year, and whether excellence in another field of endeavor makes you interesting enough to compensate for deficiencies.

I'm happy to see that you're already being proactive about filling the holes in your application. You're doing exactly what you need to do.