Application Booster

[Miss155]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi

I was wondering, what can I do for EC's for my application. I will be a sophmore this upcoming fall semester. I have only did about 35 hours volunteering at my local hospital and I want to extremely boost my EC's. Could anyone give me suggestions to do, such as studying aboard. Thanks. God bless.

 

[idq1i]

Originally posted by Miss155
Hi

I was wondering, what can I do for EC's for my application. I will be a sophmore this upcoming fall semester. I have only did about 35 hours volunteering at my local hospital and I want to extremely boost my EC's. Could anyone give me suggestions to do, such as studying aboard. Thanks. God bless.

Check with academic advising (or whatever else you have) to see if they have shadowing programs with local hospitals/doctors.

Studying abroad= no, Focus on maintaining a higher GPA instead

 

[Alleria]

Depends on where you are. At my institution, fellowships for all sorts of stuff (counts as pseudo-ECs) are very easy to get. So it's nice to be able to say you're an X fellow and a Y scholar and a Z award winner.

The other thing is that _starting_ a service-oriented club or campaign, especially if you manage to get anything accomplished (and even if you don't) seems to look really nice on a resume from an initiative, leadership, etc., point of view. And since not a lot of people have _started_ clubs, you stand out. Again, this depends on how easy it is to do this at your institution.

To be utterly cynical but also very correct: the jist is to look for whatever is easiest to milk, and then repeatedly milk it like crazy!

 

[Jonkst]

If you look at it that way, you're not helping yourself at all.

Extra-curriculars are supposed to be outside of your curriculum... I.E. not premed. Go do something you enjoy, and do your best at it. It really doesn't matter that much what it is. They want to see that you have a life outside of school, because if you don't now, you won't make it through med school. I know a number of people who had only academically oriented EC's and got negged pretty hard when it came to applications.

 

[Jonkst]

Originally posted by Alleria
[B
To be utterly cynical but also very correct: the jist is to look for whatever is easiest to milk, and then repeatedly milk it like crazy! [/B]

And I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be a troll or anything, but this is the worst thing I've ever heard. This kind of comment and idea is where premeds get such a bad rap.

Enjoy your life, enjoy college, and you'll be okay.

 

[ATPase]

Notice that posts on other threads have mentioned the importance adcoms place on unique extracurricular activities and interests. So whether you're into sports, music, rock climbing, political activism, whatever - do something that you will enjoy. And resist the impulse to sign up for 15 different things. Extensive involvement in one area looks better than somebody trying to check off items on a list of requisite premed activities.

 

[quideam]

Ok, so let's be serious here: there is SOME truth the importance of having the "right" ECs, but there is also quite a bit of truth to the importance of doing whatever suits YOU best. Do the activities that you are interested in, but keep in mind some things that are important for adcoms. Somewhere in your busy life, try to fit in a little medical volunteering, maybe some shadowing, and if you're interesting in going to a top school, definetly some research (clinical or wet lab).

However, DO make sure that you enjoy your undergrad... I have known a lot of people who start out as pre-meds and buckle under the pressure. This entire process, I think, is almost sadistic... the adcoms want us to get awesome grades, get involved in medical activities, do research... and still have a life! Sometimes I wish they really would just say: GPA? check. MCAT? check. Ok, you're in! But it will never be that simple... 😉

- Quid 😎

 

[moviefreak]

don't forget to consider research. true, it may seem nerdy but it does help to get you focused and appreciate what you study in class. also, you may be able to find mentors and people/co-workers who later on will serve as some sort of support system.

 

[Miss155]

Hi

Thank you for all your great advice. I really want to go into the obsetrics/infertility/women care field. Are there any research for that field? Is summer programs hard to attend? Is there any major called Embrology? God bless.

 

[zzeyfzz]

of course there's research in obstetrics.

since you are taking premed classes, you can ask your science professors and see if they have any suggestions. if your school is associated with a med school or has some kind of graduate school, then you should be able to search online for professors in obstetrics, etc.

emailing professors and asking if they're interested in having a student work for them doesn't hurt. i know that at my school, profs loved having students (especially work-study students) work for them during the school year and during the summer.

 

[sunflower79]

welcome lil' miss.

Listen to Jon. He's right, that was total BS by that other cynical poster. When adcoms look at your app, they want you to be YOU. Your unique self, whatever that is. NOT some cookie-cutter shape that you THINK they want to see.

In order to guide you, we need to know more about what you like to do. You mentioned women's health. Some things come to mind:

Are there women's health organizations you can join? or start on campus?
Or encourage women pre-meds to bond together? (though that is a tall order since women can be catty and competitive and pre-med femmes... good lawd.)
What about shelters for abused women? a free clinic for women? When I was in undergrad we ran a free clinic and developed separate clinics for women and youth.
That's for starters...

like someone else said, DON'T overcommit yourself! Your super-important gpa WILL suffer, believe me.

good luck 🙂
sunflower79