A few EC's but no clubs, is this a problem?

[UC pre med]

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Hey guys,

I'm in my second year at UCSD now and it's beginning to dawn on me that I'm not really a part of any clubs. When I say clubs I mean the standard pre-health clubs and fraternaties that every college campus has. And stuff like Biological Sciences club etc, you get the picture. I'm a bit worried that this might seriously affect my app in the future.
This isn't to say I haven't done any EC's at all, I've already got a hundred hours at the local hospital and hope to volunteer on the surgery or ER floor soon so I get a lot of patient contact. I am also doing undergrad research wth a professor and might get to publish something in a few months.
I haven't joined any clubs because none of them seemed interesting to me and i didn't want to pay many of their membership fees to listen to them give me boring seminars. Is this gonna hurt me later on? 😕

Thanks for your help.

 

[WingedOx]

do you have something in your college experience outside of med school to talk about in your interview? if yes, then you're cool. If not, then it's time re-evaluate your life existence. a classmate of mine was giving a student interview that went something like this:

interviewer: so what do you do for fun?

student: ummm, well I... read?

interviewer: what kinds of things do you like reading?

student: ....ummm.... science journals?

 

[nicolemeooow]

Hey guys,

I'm in my second year at UCSD now and it's beginning to dawn on me that I'm not really a part of any clubs. When I say clubs I mean the standard pre-health clubs and fraternaties that every college campus has. And stuff like Biological Sciences club etc, you get the picture. I'm a bit worried that this might seriously affect my app in the future.
This isn't to say I haven't done any EC's at all, I've already got a hundred hours at the local hospital and hope to volunteer on the surgery or ER floor soon so I get a lot of patient contact. I am also doing undergrad research wth a professor and might get to publish something in a few months.
I haven't joined any clubs because none of them seemed interesting to me and i didn't want to pay many of their membership fees to listen to them give me boring seminars. Is this gonna hurt me later on? 😕

Thanks for your help.

nope. I have absolute no club activities (don't see the point of paying fees & then just going to some unproductive meetings). Tutoring tho is fun. looks good on paper, too 😎

 

[Dr Ginger]

i have been told that your EC's should cover:
1. Volunteering (health related)
2. Volunteering (non-health related)
3. Shadowing
4. Leadership (ex. tutoring)
5. Research (not always necessary but important if you plan on applying to universities that emphasize it)

none of these categories requires that you be in any clubs. plus, it wont matter how many clubs you are in if you didnt get involved (i.e. if you didnt hold a leadership position)

 

[ILikeDrugs]

You don't need to join clubs in order to have non-academic ECs. I think my schools had clubs for the recreational outdoor activities that I enjoy, but I would never want to join them. I like to do outdoor activities by myself. The whole club thing just isn't my thing. A little to structured and organized for my liking. 🙂

 

[Catalystik]

Club membership wouldn't help you anyway, except as an opportunity to demonstrate leadership or gain community service time, both of which you can get in other ways. You can report sports, hobby, and artistic interests without membership in an official club to legitimate them.

 

[sustentacular]

i have been told that your EC's should cover:
1. Volunteering (health related)
2. Volunteering (non-health related)
3. Shadowing
4. Leadership (ex. tutoring)
5. Research (not always necessary but important if you plan on applying to universities that emphasize it)

none of these categories requires that you be in any clubs. plus, it wont matter how many clubs you are in if you didnt get involved (i.e. if you didnt hold a leadership position)

I would think tutoring would fall more under the "teaching" category unless you were the leader of some tutoring organization. Leadership could also come from a supervisory position at a job. There is no real formula for what your ECs should cover, do things that you're interested in and actually want to do!

 

[WorldChanger36]

Clubs are more trouble then they are worth... Anything you could do via a club you can do by yourself or with a group of friends. As long as you do it consistently it still counts too. Every month a group of friends and I call up our friends and get together and do all kinds of stuff. Sometimes we grab and few trash bag, pick a road with a good safe shoulder and clean up the side of the road. ( Found a winning scratch off ticket once) Some times we head off to a local homeless shelter, tutor kids, cook lunch, help clean up and other activities. There is all kind of stuff we do and believe me it counts and there is no club association. No fees to pay, no meetings and no school requirements.

 

[UpQuark]

i have been told that your EC's should cover:
1. Volunteering (health related)
2. Volunteering (non-health related)
3. Shadowing
4. Leadership (ex. tutoring)
5. Research (not always necessary but important if you plan on applying to universities that emphasize it)

none of these categories requires that you be in any clubs. plus, it wont matter how many clubs you are in if you didnt get involved (i.e. if you didnt hold a leadership position)

In what regard is tutoring counted as leadership?

 

[Dr Ginger]

In what regard is tutoring counted as leadership?

i have been told by premed advisors that tutoring could be counted as leadership. (then again, i have come to find that premed advisors at my school dont always know what they are talking about) i suppose you could argue it one way or the other. i was just throwing a random example out there. i tutor a large group of people, so i tend to think of it as leadership but obviously being the president of a club would be a more legitimate leadership experience than tutoring would be. what type of EC would you consider tutoring to be, just out of curiosity? is there a specific place on the AMCAS for tutoring? (i havent applied yet, clearly.)

 

[UC pre med]

i have been told by premed advisors that tutoring could be counted as leadership. (then again, i have come to find that premed advisors at my school dont always know what they are talking about) i suppose you could argue it one way or the other. i was just throwing a random example out there. i tutor a large group of people, so i tend to think of it as leadership but obviously being the president of a club would be a more legitimate leadership experience than tutoring would be. what type of EC would you consider tutoring to be, just out of curiosity? is there a specific place on the AMCAS for tutoring? (i havent applied yet, clearly.)

although I dont have much experience, I think tutoring would fall under something like community service? Giving back to the community? Things like that. I guess it would depend on the specifics though. like if you were getting paid, or what group of kids, what subject. Etc.

 

[KTownGT]

1) Start a fraternity on campus.
2) Get elected/appointed to some position.
3) Make pledges join the other organizations you're in to bolster support in those clubs.
4) profit

 

[Catalystik]

what type of EC would you consider tutoring to be, just out of curiosity? is there a specific place on the AMCAS for tutoring?

although I dont have much experience, I think tutoring would fall under something like community service? .

As Sustentacular said, you could choose Teaching as the category for tutoring (or TAing, or coaching, or mentoring). But some activities fit under more than one category, so you get to choose based on what makes your application the most well-rounded. So tutoring might also fit under Community Service-Nonmedical or Employment (or rarely even Leadership). Whichever you pick, you'd also want to make clear in the description that the other category applies too, either through the Name you give it or else in the narrative description.