Number 4 further widens the discrepancy between high economic tier applicants and lower ones. Many of the ECs done by high schoolers are either put together by their parents, heavily encouraged by parents, made possible by parents (think as basic as a ride to the volunteer place), and generally only available to students who have the free time t work without pay. There is no way a high schooler can be held responsible, in a positive or a negative way, for what they did or did not do in high school. Also, no job application or grad school cares about high school activities..
This is an absolutely terrific point. I kind of forgot about the whole helicopter parent mentality that you find on websites like College Confidential. I think that high schoolers who come from wealthier families will definitely have an advantage. But, I believe that anyone with more money will have an advantage anyhow in whatever process. For example, poor pre-meds that can't afford expensive MCAT preparation might do worse than those who can afford them. The wealthiest of pre-meds for whom money is no object can also afford some top-of-the-line tutoring, like Princeton Review which is over $10,000+ for their best tutors. If there is so much inequality at this point, then it would suck for people to have far larger advantages way earlier down the line.
So if someone wants to be a physician and does volunteer, but gets no enjoyment out of it and just to check boxes (happens, some people prefer to just donate money instead of time), he deserves to be punished?
Just trying to understand where you're coming from because every premed volunteers, but a lot genuinely don't like it but have to. Most of my engineering friends never volunteer except a few times a year at most, but if they had to volunteer to get that dream internship, then I'm sure they would receive the bad rap that premeds get.
So true. I think that pre-meds have unfortunately tainted an otherwise good and special thing. It's like I said in other threads. I've met people who were not pre-meds, who were doing similar things because they wanted to. I was absolutely blown away when I met these rare individuals, yet if they were pre-meds, their activities would only be considered around "average" on the WAMC forum. It also sucks that if you are someone who genuinely loves service and are a pre-med, your achievements are overshadowed by the piss poor reputation of pre-meds in general. Here's a hypothetical example... Have you heard of the "Route 29 Batman?" His story is amazing, and very moving. But... Would you perspective suddenly change if you realized he was a pre-med? Would you lose the respect for him that you might have had?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...tman-this-guy/2012/03/28/gIQA8nPjgS_blog.html
It sucks that something special like volunteering has become something that's expected. When someone tells you they volunteer, you should respond by saying, "Wow! That's great!" But instead, you already expect a pre-med to do it. If a pre-med doesn't volunteer, you would have this reaction:
That just seems wrong, doesn't it? Pre-meds are like King Midas, eventually ruining lots of things they touch. They have ruined the meaning of service a long time ago (though it's still getting people into medical school). They have ruined short-term medical mission trips. Pretty soon I'm sure they will ruin non-profits since those are apparently still wowing ADCOMs.
ADCOMs want to see REAL experiences. Volunteering is frankly a weak way to go. I will add my comments on what works well.
1) Real work experience
They love this. I worked retail in high school and customer service for a national company. in undergrad for 4 years. I have handled my own in the "real world". I know how to deal with people, deal with stress, talk to people etc. Many medical school applicants do not work part-time jobs outside of the university setting so it sets you apart. Like come on, if you worked as a CNA or phlebotomist in college ADCOMs know you're not just "padding". You don't pad 2, 3, 4 years of work experience.
2) Research
Research is important because many schools require it for scholarly projects and residency/fellowship programs may. require it. Not just playing around in a lab but substantial research experience preferably over 1 academic year or more that you can comment on and hopefully have an abstract or paper. You cannot fudge an abstract or paper.
3) Teaching
Lots of pre-meds already have work experience, but that's definitely not a golden ticket into medical school. ADCOMs see tons of applicants doing the very same entry-level clinical jobs over and over again. They don't make you stand out. Also, if you work an entry-level clinical job, ADCOMs will know that you were doing it for the sake of admissions (not that there's anything wrong with it) because I doubt many pre-meds have the ambition of working as
career ENTs, CNAs, phlebotomists, and etc. In fact, working so much can make it more difficult to juggle academics. If your grades and MCAT score suffer as a result, then having work experience (which is very common between traditional and non-traditional students) is unlikely to set you apart. If your grades suffer, I highly doubt ADCOMs will buy an excuse saying you had to work full-time, because guess what, there are people who work full-time and still manage to get good grades. It seems like devoting so much time might be too risky for some.
And then if you're a non-traditional student with previous work experience, you still need to work your butt off to get into medical school. No one is handing them golden tickets.
