Advice for my future EC's

[Doctor Dream]

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Hey everyone,

I'm a sophomore looking for some advice with EC's. Right now I unfortunately don't have much, but I'm taking a gap year so I still have two years to build. I somewhat have a plan laid out for the next couple years, but I was wondering if I could get some feedback. I should also add I'm very interested in rural family medicine, and plan on applying both MD and DO.

So here's what I have so far...

• Hospital pharmacy technician - ~500hrs
• Volunteer at local hospital - about 70 hrs over 3 years
• Founder and president of university Running Club - 1 semester
• Shadowed a dentist (6hrs), podiatrist (6hrs), 2 pharmacists (8hrs), and a rural FM doc (16hrs)
• Registered for a CNA class this summer
• Have shadowing opportunities set up for the summer, just need to say what specialties and when
• Have a part time research position secured for the summer

And here's what I'd like to do over the next couple of years...

• Continue hospital volunteering
• Continue shadowing
• Continue hospital pharm tech job
• CNA part time the next 2 years
• Volunteer tutor/mentor for middle school kids struggling in school
• Coach track at a local middle school or high school
• Tutor bio, chem, ochem, writing, and/or calc at my university
• Engage in some more research. Nothing crazy, maybe one or two poster presentations
• Join some different campus clubs I like (not necessarily med related)

Does it look like I'm missing anything, or should I be doing more of something? Also are there suggestions for cool EC's I could do since I'm specifically interested in rural family med? Any thoughts or advice are appreciated!

 

[NP545]

You should probably extend the hospital/clinical setting volunteering as you mentioned.
Also, you should look into your city's First Aid Squad or EMS for additional clinical experience if you are interested in that type of work.
Might want to add about 10-15 more hours of shadowing to beef up your app too

 

[Doctor Dream]

You should probably extend the hospital/clinical setting volunteering as you mentioned.
Also, you should look into your city's First Aid Squad or EMS for additional clinical experience if you are interested in that type of work.
Might want to add about 10-15 more hours of shadowing to beef up your app too

Yea I definitely want to keep all the EC's I have going. As far as shadowing, I hopefully should have minimum 50 hours by the time I apply. I'm hoping I can find a DO family doc to shadow consistently actually.
Thanks for the EMS suggestion though, if I find out CNA isn't something I want to get a job in then I'll definitely look into that.

 

[Catalystik]

A quirky (which translates to "memorable") hobby would be nice to see.

 

[deleted535750]

A quirky (which translates to "memorable") hobby would be nice to see.

Would playing competitive hide and seek with blind children count?

 

[Catalystik]

Depending on the description you write, this could definitely help me remember you.

 

[Doctor Dream]

A quirky (which translates to "memorable") hobby would be nice to see.

Thanks for the reply Catalystik, I'm a self taught drummer, guitar and piano player, and have been playing all of those for at least 7 years. I only play for recreation though.

I also go disc golfing a lot in the summer. I search the water at disc golf courses, find people's discs and give them back (assuming there's a name or number on it) usually for free or a couple bucks. Some people insist on giving more because the disc I'm returning is expensive, or they know me because I've found a few of their discs before and they appreciate it. The discs I find though that don't have names or numbers I either give away, sell, or keep. A lot of people that search the water are shady and keep people's discs that do have phone numbers. It sucks losing a disc you like, so I make an effort to return the ones I find. People are really appreciative when you text them saying you found their disc, they usually assume someone else found it and kept it for their own.

I also have a red belt (about 1 year of training away from black belt) in tae kwon do and currently hold two track and field records at my old high school. Unfortunately, they're both things I did senior year in high school. I still hold the records though, and I informally practice tae kwon do on my own once in a while so I don't forget what I learned. Not sure if I should include these since they were in high school, but they're a couple of non-academic things that might make me unique.

Would those things I did in high school or the hobbies I mentioned be things you'd consider unique, quirky or memorable?

 

[Catalystik]

Thanks for the reply Catalystik, I'm a self taught drummer, guitar and piano player, and have been playing all of those for at least 7 years. I only play for recreation though.

I also go disc golfing a lot in the summer. I search the water at disc golf courses, find people's discs and give them back (assuming there's a name or number on it) usually for free or a couple bucks. Some people insist on giving more because the disc I'm returning is expensive, or they know me because I've found a few of their discs before and they appreciate it. The discs I find though that don't have names or numbers I either give away, sell, or keep. A lot of people that search the water are shady and keep people's discs that do have phone numbers. It sucks losing a disc you like, so I make an effort to return the ones I find. People are really appreciative when you text them saying you found their disc, they usually assume someone else found it and kept it for their own.

I also have a red belt (about 1 year of training away from black belt) in tae kwon do and currently hold two track and field records at my old high school. Unfortunately, they're both things I did senior year in high school. I still hold the records though, and I informally practice tae kwon do on my own once in a while so I don't forget what I learned. Not sure if I should include these since they were in high school, but they're a couple of non-academic things that might make me unique.

Would those things I did in high school or the hobbies I mentioned be things you'd consider unique, quirky or memorable?

While I like to see hobbies on the application, and enjoy reading about them, I have never seen a "Disc Finder" entry. You'd better explain Disc Golfing though. I had to ask my husband to explain.

 

[Doctor Dream]

While I like to see hobbies on the application, and enjoy reading about them, I have never seen a "Disc Finder" entry. You'd better explain Disc Golfing though. I had to ask my husband to explain.

Oh ok, will do Do you think "disc finder" is something I should include on my app along with disc golf, or is that maybe a little too odd or out there? I do it probably two or three times a week in the spring/summer.

 

[Catalystik]

Oh ok, will do Do you think "disc finder" is something I should include on my app along with disc golf, or is that maybe a little too odd or out there? I do it probably two or three times a week in the spring/summer.

I'd suggest keeping them together to keep the context.

 

[Doctor Dream]

I'd suggest keeping them together to keep the context.

Thanks for the advice, that makes sense. Assuming I explained them properly on my app, is disc golf/disc searching a hobby that would stand out to you personally as an adcom?

 

[Catalystik]

Thanks for the advice, that makes sense. Assuming I explained them properly on my app, is disc golf/disc searching a hobby that would stand out to you personally as an adcom?

Yes. Not just because I'd never heard if it before, but because I enjoyed reading what you had to say. And I learned something.

Even simple stuff can be application gold if you put the right spin on it (pun not intended) and use a new perspective.