Are these appropriate extracurriculars for nontrad/mature applicants?

[PhysioMD]

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[SN12357]

Being a PT is an EC for med school purposes. I don't think listing the courses individually would be a good idea, though. You should mention them in the write-up for your PT job (I'm assuming this will be one of your 'most meaningful' entries). If you actually have official transcripts for them they will also be in your coursework section.

The council thing might be worth a separate entry if it convincingly isn't part of your regular job. Otherwise it probably needs to be folded into the PT entry.

Personal athletic involvement can be put in as a hobby and is a fine thing to list.

Remember it's quality over quantity. Don't worry about filling all 15 activity entries. Most people don't.

 

[PhysioMD]

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[PhysioMD]

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[DrMidlife]

So I don't really have "model UN club president" or "student council" on my list;

Those are what premeds who have no real world experience fill their apps with. It's good to show that you were an overachiever during college, didn't just study all the time, so whatever you did during college other than study is good to list. Being involved in a college club isn't impressive, just expected of traditional premeds.

however, I work in a health profession (as a PT) right now and as part of my job I take courses to improve my skills (e.g. tissue mobility, gait analysis, all PT related types of courses). I want to include all of these in the ECs section.

I guess my question is - do these things count towards ECs? If I took let's say 5 courses in 2013 related to my profession (all different courses), can I include these as 5 entries? I'm also on a "council" at work to look at different aspects of health delivery in my hospital, I'm assuming that counts. Or when I take students on clinical rotations?

Also in terms of courses, I'm not referring to courses related towards my PT degree. I graduated a few years ago. After graduation many PTs and even RNs or OTs or chiropractors will take additional educational courses e.g. acupuncture certification or active release therapy or vestibular therapy etc. All of these are courses done on weekends AFTER successful graduation from the professional program.

I'd use 3 EC slots to cover your professional experience. You simply can't approach this section like a normal premed. One is the fact that you worked as a healthcare professional, one is that you pursued continuing education, and one is that you took a leadership position at your hospital.

There are also other things that I do, a little less regularly, like volunteering etc.

Great - start working on a paragraph to describe each of these.

Lastly, what about personal athletic involvement? Like if you train for triathlons or marathons or sailing competitions? Do people put personal athletic achievements down (some of these things take hours of training each week)? I'm not an elite athlete here, but I do devote maybe at least 10-14 hours a week (~2hrs/day) towards my training during the peak season.

Definitely include this, and be ready to talk about it. I heard an anecdote about a guy who played serious ultimate frisbee who landed in front of an interviewer who played serious ultimate frisbee. What do you think happened? Yep, acceptance.

Also what about awards? I remember in undergrad I put in scholarships etc, so what about awards I may have received in the last 4 years (e.g. a teaching award from the university related to my teaching of students on clinical rotation)?

Yes, and feel free to clump these into "awards won during undergrad" and "awards won during career".

This looks like a killer app to me, but for better or worse your experience is only helpful/interesting to your med school app if your GPA and MCAT are strong. Study your target schools in detail by using the MSAR and school admissions websites and current/former student insights on SDN and AAMC facts tables. It's worth it to wait to apply if you need academic redemption.

Best of luck to you.

 

[QofQuimica]

I'd think carefully about including alt med certifications on your app. Medicine is a conservative profession, and a lot of docs view things like acupuncture as a joke at best and with outright hostility at worst. Not worth the risk IMO, especially if you're into really non-mainstream modalities like reiki or homeopathy that have no possible grounding in medical science. (I would totally have voted to reject anyone who claimed to believe in reiki or homeopathy as plausible therapeutic options, and I am probably more open toward alt med than many of my colleagues.)

The rest of your ECs sound fine. As others have said, quality matters more than quantity.

 

[PhysioMD]

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[Goro]

The coursework does not count to me as an EC. ECs are for displaying your humanism and altruism; signs that we want in a good doctor. Your athletics? A hobby or past-time.

Check out some of your local houses of worship for volunteer opportunities.

So I will be a non-traditional applicant in 2014. I'm in my late 20s. I'm about 4 years out of graduate school. So I don't really have "model UN club president" or "student council" on my list; however, I work in a health profession (as a PT) right now and as part of my job I take courses to improve my skills (e.g. tissue mobility, gait analysis, all PT related types of courses). I want to include all of these in the ECs section. There are also other things that I do, a little less regularly, like volunteering etc.

I guess my question is - do these things count towards ECs? If I took let's say 5 courses in 2013 related to my profession (all different courses), can I include these as 5 entries? I'm also on a "council" at work to look at different aspects of health delivery in my hospital, I'm assuming that counts. Or when I take students on clinical rotations?

Lastly, what about personal athletic involvement? Like if you train for triathlons or marathons or sailing competitions? Do people put personal athletic achievements down (some of these things take hours of training each week)? I'm not an elite athlete here, but I do devote maybe at least 10-14 hours a week (~2hrs/day) towards my training during the peak season.

 

[Mad Jack]

Coursework that gives you GPA credit goes into the education section of your app, and those that don't give GPA credits really don't count for much. If your courses lead to certification, you could include them as certifications/addictional qualifications, but not if said certification is just a certification of completion, i.e. EMT certification counts, but CEU certification of completions would not. Physical activities and hobbies could certainly be considered ECs if you are passionate about them. If you love it enough to talk about it, put it on your app, whether it's running, swimming, weight lifting, synchronized swimming, or skydiving. It gives some perspective of you as a person and helps make you less two dimensional to admission committees. I also agree with the above posters about where to place additional things related to your job, such as committee membership, teaching, etc. These are not separate things from your being a physical therapist, but rather things that show you are an exceptional physical therapist. Rather than having one entry that says, "Just some dude that does PT" and another that says "Some guy that teaches PT students" you've got one entry that says "Physical Therapist that cares for patients, teaches, leads, and contributes to his profession." Good luck on your app, I'm sure you'll do fine!