Am I on the right track? (advice please!)

[balambfishie]

Hi all! I'm new to this site, and I've read through some of the threads here but I figure I'd post my own stats here and see what you guys think.

UC student with BME major, 2nd year
(also working on anthro minor just because that's what I would have majored in had bio and chem classes not been impacted and really hard to get into)
cGPA: 3.94 sGPA: 3.89
MCAT: N/A - will take this August

--
EC's

Volunteering at hospital - 4hr/wk since high school (currently ~400+) in messenger/dispatch and recently this year, in ER

Clinical research with bariatric surgeon - 2 quarters so far, but expecting to maintain position for 1-2 yrs at least; position allows me to observe his laparoscopic surgeries and follow him while he treats patients (so...informal shadowing exp...?)
--one publication pending, 4th author

Shadowing - ~4-5hrs so far with primary care physician

Tau Beta Pi (engineering honor society) - running for board this quarter

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I really just wanted advice on how to up my EC's since they seem kind of scant compared to everything else I've seen on SDN. I would start tutoring, but because I'm BME, my major took me out of two bio classes that the bio students had to take and I'm completing my bio core right now so I can't start tutoring until next year unless I apply for math. And other than tutoring, I'm not really sure what else to do...

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[nadaba]

Hi all! I'm new to this site, and I've read through some of the threads here but I figure I'd post my own stats here and see what you guys think.

UC student with BME major, 2nd year
(also working on anthro minor just because that's what I would have majored in had bio and chem classes not been impacted and really hard to get into)
cGPA: 3.94 sGPA: 3.89
MCAT: N/A - will take this August

--
EC's

Volunteering at hospital - 4hr/wk since high school (currently ~400+) in messenger/dispatch and recently this year, in ER

Clinical research with bariatric surgeon - 2 quarters so far, but expecting to maintain position for 1-2 yrs at least; position allows me to observe his laparoscopic surgeries and follow him while he treats patients (so...informal shadowing exp...?)
--one publication pending, 4th author

Shadowing - ~4-5hrs so far with primary care physician

Tau Beta Pi (engineering honor society) - running for board this quarter

--

I really just wanted advice on how to up my EC's since they seem kind of scant compared to everything else I've seen on SDN. I would start tutoring, but because I'm BME, my major took me out of two bio classes that the bio students had to take and I'm completing my bio core right now so I can't start tutoring until next year unless I apply for math. And other than tutoring, I'm not really sure what else to do...

I would recommend that you stick with the shadowing, maybe branch out between a few different docs. I think people on SDN tend to overdo it, though, so don't make shadowing your mission in life (I had about 30 hours total with 4 doctors, and it hasn't hurt me at all).

Maybe you can take up some kind of non-clinical volunteering for a few hours each week. Animal shelter, soup kitchen, arts group, etc. Find something you're passionate about and it will really show in your app and interviews. Good luck!

 

[laxian]

Hi all! I'm new to this site, and I've read through some of the threads here but I figure I'd post my own stats here and see what you guys think.

UC student with BME major, 2nd year
(also working on anthro minor just because that's what I would have majored in had bio and chem classes not been impacted and really hard to get into)
cGPA: 3.94 sGPA: 3.89
MCAT: N/A - will take this August

--
EC's

Volunteering at hospital - 4hr/wk since high school (currently ~400+) in messenger/dispatch and recently this year, in ER

Clinical research with bariatric surgeon - 2 quarters so far, but expecting to maintain position for 1-2 yrs at least; position allows me to observe his laparoscopic surgeries and follow him while he treats patients (so...informal shadowing exp...?)
--one publication pending, 4th author

Shadowing - ~4-5hrs so far with primary care physician

Tau Beta Pi (engineering honor society) - running for board this quarter

--

I really just wanted advice on how to up my EC's since they seem kind of scant compared to everything else I've seen on SDN. I would start tutoring, but because I'm BME, my major took me out of two bio classes that the bio students had to take and I'm completing my bio core right now so I can't start tutoring until next year unless I apply for math. And other than tutoring, I'm not really sure what else to do...

I dunno why tutoring would help you. I would say shadow at least one more type of doctor and try to get another paper. This would help much much more than tutoring. if you run out of things to do shadow a third type of doctor. Papers > ec's unless you already have a ton of papers.

I did a lot of tutoring for the money and it was never mentioned once by anyone, even by interviewers who talked about every other part of my app.

But the answer is yes, you really are on te right track.

 

[flodhi1]

I dunno why tutoring would help you. I would say shadow at least one more type of doctor and try to get another paper. This would help much much more than tutoring. if you run out of things to do shadow a third type of doctor. Papers > ec's unless you already have a ton of papers.

I did a lot of tutoring for the money and it was never mentioned once by anyone, even by interviewers who talked about every other part of my app.

But the answer is yes, you really are on te right track.

To add to everything that has been listed before OP, tutoring shows leadership/mentoring which are qualities that an interviewer may ask about during an interview. I was specifically asked about it during my application cycle. There's nothing wrong with tutoring, it's better to be safe than sorry.

 

[balambfishie]

Thank you to everyone who replied to my post!

So I guess what I should work on now is more shadowing - but tutoring is a good option when I have time. Just wondering, but on average, how many doctors should one shadow and how many hours would be considered a good amount?

Also, what I've noticed is that a lot of people here on SDN are members of a lot of clubs on campus. I talked to my health advisor and she said that being in a club only helps on the application if you're on board or on a committee, or involved in the club somehow (so, just being a member is useless and if that's all you're going to be, she said to just skip the club). Does anyone know how true this is?

 

[nadaba]

Thank you to everyone who replied to my post!

So I guess what I should work on now is more shadowing - but tutoring is a good option when I have time. Just wondering, but on average, how many doctors should one shadow and how many hours would be considered a good amount?

Also, what I've noticed is that a lot of people here on SDN are members of a lot of clubs on campus. I talked to my health advisor and she said that being in a club only helps on the application if you're on board or on a committee, or involved in the club somehow (so, just being a member is useless and if that's all you're going to be, she said to just skip the club). Does anyone know how true this is?

It seems that clubs are not very useful unless you do something through them (like volunteer) or make a significant leadership contribution to them. Being on the committee/board does not necessarily equal good leadership. You still need to accomplish something. During college, I could always think of about a million things I would rather do than clubs, but it's your call

For the shadowing, I think that Catalystik (a respected poster in these parts) recommends 60-80 hours minimum spread among a few different docs, at least one of which is a primary care physician.

 

[laxian]

Thank you to everyone who replied to my post!

So I guess what I should work on now is more shadowing - but tutoring is a good option when I have time. Just wondering, but on average, how many doctors should one shadow and how many hours would be considered a good amount?

Also, what I've noticed is that a lot of people here on SDN are members of a lot of clubs on campus. I talked to my health advisor and she said that being in a club only helps on the application if you're on board or on a committee, or involved in the club somehow (so, just being a member is useless and if that's all you're going to be, she said to just skip the club). Does anyone know how true this is?

I still think investing more time in your bariatric surgery research is a better investment than tutoring. A paper, especially a first author paper, will help you to get into med school and even beyond. Especially if you are considering top schools (which you should be, with your GPA and hopefully high MCAT). A lot of top programs are research heavy.

Before everyone gets on my case, this is said with full respect to the general opinion that "top" med schools are very subjective and more dependent on personal goals and fit for the particular student.