Are there any other EC's that I need to work on?

[deleted667525]

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[Nomemal]

See if you can get some direct patient care. Idk how your clinical volunteering is but most hospitals don’t let you do much. You could do this at an elderly home, hospice, a job, or some free clinics let you do a lot more like triage.

 

[Catalystik]

Hey! So after lurking here for a while, there was this one question that I had about my current competitiveness. How are my EC's? I realize I can't do a WAMC because I haven't taken the MCAT (starting to study now to take in March/April hopefully) but I wanted to see if there was anything I should try to improve between now and next summer.

current uGPA: 4.0 (overall and science)
Public Health major (finished most of my science prereqs - currently taking biochem and genetics)

EC's:

Shadowing: I have 45 shadowing hours with a plastic surgeon and a primary care DO. I have a scheduled weekly shadowing opportunity starting this upcoming Friday with an ENT. I also have 50 hours from shadowing a neurosurgeon after classes were finished senior year of high school but before graduation. So I am not going to "count it" per say but I will talk about it due to the experience I had.

Volunteer: At the end of this September, I'll have 80 clinical hours at my school's clinic, I started volunteering last January (I am currently scheduled to do about 24 hours a month until April).
I wouldn't typically include this but I plan on volunteering more with a local non-profit after learning more about them this past summer. I currently only have 15 with them, but plan on volunteering at their events when they occur (not a weekly opportunity).

Research: I was not planning on doing research but there was an amazing opportunity this past summer that I was very interested in. I helped a professor in coordination with the county in conducting a community needs assessment. We presented it to the county (we will be presenting at the University research symposium in October). We interacted with local residents and performed service learning activities in order to gain a better understanding of the community. We will be submitting this data to the county so that they may use it in future decisions regarding the underserved community. I have about 250 hours.

Leadership: I am the founder and president of my school's photography club. I started this in Spring 2017, we have over 200 members. I was a paid tutor last year, working about 6 hours a week for 30 weeks.
I was recently appointed to be the scheduling officer for my school clinic's volunteering program.

To sum it up, these are the expected hours of each EC that I should have by the time I apply to med school next June.

Clinical volunteering: 200+ (started last January)
non-clinical volunteering: 80-100 (started doing it occasionally since Fall 2016)
Research: 250 (possibly more if a position opens up for the semester with my PI, signed up to present for my university's symposium) (this past summer)
Leadership: president of photography club (660 hours), started Spring 2017
tutor, paid position - last year: 180 hours;
clinic scheduling officer: 180 hours (new position, just appointed)


Any advice would be helpful! I'd like to do everything I can this year so that I dont have to take a gap year (obviously I will though if I need to!)

You didn't include total shadowing hours in your final tally.

What was the hypothesis for the research project you engaged in? Was it IRB approved (since you interviewed human subjects)? If there wasn't a hypothesis or IRB approval, the project may have been more of an internal process-improvement project than a scholarly inquiry resulting in new knowledge (which is what adcomms are looking for).

What is your role in the clinic volunteering? To what extent have you interacted with patients? What does a scheduling officer do?

 

[candbgirl]

You have enough shadowing. Use the time to get some nonclinical volunteering. Get off campus and out of your comfort zone. Do something consistently that will help the underserved/unserved in your community. Find a soup kitchen, homeless shelter etc and go every week for a few hours. And I agree about getting some direct patient contact in a hospital or hospice or something of that nature.

 

[Catalystik]

1) It was IRB approved, there were surveys handed out to people to determine their level of need. The hypothesis for my community prior to going there and investigating (talking to residents, looking up data, etc.) was that there was a high level of need due to the extreme lack of transportation.

2) So I actually end up scheduling all of the volunteers, basically in order for anyone to take a shift at the clinic they have to go through me. I have to coordinate with our staff member and director for missed shifts (penalties against the volunteers) and whether they are even cleared to work due to HR. So I actually have a first responder's medical license, which is required by the clinic to volunteer. I assist the nurses with patient intake (vitals, basic questions), reset and restock rooms, assist patients/nurses as needed.

3) Edit: So for shadowing, I expected to have about 150ish (including the extra 50 hours from right before graduation) because I was not going to count those extra 50. The prehealth advisor at my school said I would need 100+ hours with at least 3 different doctors (in addition to those 50).

1) Then you're good to go for research.

2) So it sounds like a mixed leadership and Clinical experience. What percent of the projected hours would you say covers each of those categories?

3) Anything over 50 hours is not necessary in my opinion. But if you're having fun, go for it.

 

[ak-aka-dak]

What do you do as a leader for the photography club? That sounds like an awful lot of hours for 5 semesters on top of everything else you have going on. I don’t think you can count taking photos (as a hobby as leadership). You can count those hours as a hobby though. The leadership hours would be things you did as a club leader for and with the club during club meetings and outings. Let’s say your club meets for 3 hours a week every single week for 5 semesters including the first week of school AND finals week (doubtful you meet then) which very is generous for a school club, and then you planned for an hour a week (emails, phone calls, etc). That’s 4 hours a week for 5 semesters and only adds up to 320 hours (4hrs/wk x16 weeks/sem is 64 hours/sem x 5 semesters which seems extremely generous). Are you meeting for 8 hours a week every single week? It just seems like a lot for a full time student who is also doing several other EC’s and may raise some eyebrows from ad comms.

Also, you only need 50 hours of shadowing, but that 50 hours should include a variety of docs including primary care. You might want to get 15 hours of primary care shadowing and then focus on other EC’s like increasing clinical hours that have direct patient exposure (not desk work) and some community service for the underserved.

Other than that you’re EC’s are looking good!

 

[Catalystik]

Oh the leadership and clinical hours for each, I have kept separate. So I project to have about 5 hours of leadership work each week for a total of 180 hours just doing leadership. I actually just do my officer duties on my own time.

The 200 hours of clinical experience that I previously listed as volunteering in the clinic are specifically the hours that I will have in-clinic patient interaction, not the time that I am performing my officer duties.

There is no reason you can't list the split-out leadership hours in their own space on the application, especially since you've been keeping track of them. Would you have a Contact who can attest to your ballpark figure? (A Contact is required, BTW).

 

[Catalystik]

Hey so with my photography club, I estimated those hours based off of my current time spent on the photography club per week. I spend about 6 hours a week, including summer (I've been taking classes over summer) on my club. It took awhile to get it up and running since I started it from the ground up. I have to coordinate with my marketing committee, plan events, we are starting a fundraising committee too (been working off of no money). Honestly, I am the founder and president but I do a lot more work for it than a normal president of a club would. I based it off of 110 weeks of work since I honestly have to do a lot of stuff for the club every week. It was a rough estimate though, like you're right I could take away a few hours a week but even then it would still be 4 hours/week for 110 weeks (for 440 hours) as I don't just do work for it during the semester but on breaks too.

As a side comment: growing your photography club to 200 members is an impressive accomplishment. Be sure to include that factoid. And in keeping with my previous post, you'll need a Contact for this leadership activity, too. A faculty advisor or co-officer are usually used. Be sure someone else knows how much time you dedicate to this activity and can attest to it. I agree with @ak-aka-dak that you need to take care that the hours are believable.

 

[Catalystik]

Shadowing: I have 45 shadowing hours with a plastic surgeon and a primary care DO.

How many hours for each doc?