Do they verify extracurriculars?

[Pancho Villa]

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guys, i'm in a pretty pickly situation. a couple summers ago, i shadowed a dermatologist for about a month doing 8 hours a week (4 hrs a day) with him. I recently found out that he passed away (sucks...he was kind of old, but he didn't seem to have poor health or anything. he was an awesome person though. the world is gonna miss him)

anyway, back to my question, this presents a problem regarding the application process. I know for a fact that he didn't keep records of students that shadowed there with him. Originally, I was hesitant to put it in an application, but he said if the adcomms gave me any problems to just have them call him and he'd "straighten" it out. well, now that he's no longer around, should i still reference my experience with him in the application considering there is no way of verifying it? I'm only applying to TX schools, so i'm gonna be using TMDSAS, and it doesn't ask for contact information. However, I don't want the schools to think I'm lying about it. What would be the best thing to do?

 

[anon-y-mouse]

guys, i'm in a pretty pickly situation. a couple summers ago, i shadowed a dermatologist for about a month doing 8 hours a week (4 hrs a day) with him. I recently found out that he passed away (sucks...he was kind of old, but he didn't seem to have poor health or anything. he was an awesome person though. the world is gonna miss him)

anyway, back to my question, this presents a problem regarding the application process. I know for a fact that he didn't keep records of students that shadowed there with him. Originally, I was hesitant to put it in an application, but he said if the adcomms gave me any problems to just have them call him and he'd "straighten" it out. well, now that he's no longer around, should i still reference my experience with him in the application considering there is no way of verifying it? I'm only applying to TX schools, so i'm gonna be using TMDSAS, and it doesn't ask for contact information. However, I don't want the schools to think I'm lying about it. What would be the best thing to do?

Keep it in there. I don't think schools have the time to verify EC's for the thousands of people that apply... it's more of an honor system. If they call you on it, just tell them that he passed away, and I'm sure your parents (or friends or anyone else) can attest to it. It's no big deal.

 

[jjmack]

guys, i'm in a pretty pickly situation. a couple summers ago, i shadowed a dermatologist for about a month doing 8 hours a week (4 hrs a day) with him. I recently found out that he passed away (sucks...he was kind of old, but he didn't seem to have poor health or anything. he was an awesome person though. the world is gonna miss him)

anyway, back to my question, this presents a problem regarding the application process. I know for a fact that he didn't keep records of students that shadowed there with him. Originally, I was hesitant to put it in an application, but he said if the adcomms gave me any problems to just have them call him and he'd "straighten" it out. well, now that he's no longer around, should i still reference my experience with him in the application considering there is no way of verifying it? I'm only applying to TX schools, so i'm gonna be using TMDSAS, and it doesn't ask for contact information. However, I don't want the schools to think I'm lying about it. What would be the best thing to do?

Keep it in the application. If they have questions just explain the situation. I don't think they called any of my contact info. For some of my ec's I don't even think I put one down. Good luck.

 

[nibrocli]

keep it in, it's true and relevant to your app.

but to those who think they don't check ECs...

when i was working at a community clinic answering phones, i got a call from a med school admissions office asking to check dates of employment of another clinic staffer who worked there before me.

i'm sure they don't check every student's ECs, but they definitely do spot checks!

btw, the school she was calling from was VCU.

 

[willow18]

They don't ask for phone #'s on the AMCAS. It's not that hard to Google any organization etc, but that tells you that they rarely check up on it.

 

[8744]

They never tried to verify my Nobel Prize. I spelled it "Noble Prize" on the application so if they checked I could always pull a "My Cousin Vinnie" and say, "Nobel? No, it was the Noble Prize."

 

[funkless]

They never tried to verify my Nobel Prize. I spelled it "Noble Prize" on the application so if they checked I could always pull a "My Cousin Vinnie" and say, "Nobel? No, it was the Noble Prize."

You've been watching too much Bill "Peabody" O'Reilly.



The OP, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[usrael]

One of my main EC's is military experience. Today I do reserve duty quite often.

During one of my last operational tours I was crawling in the mud while bullets whistled over my head. Every few seconds rockets exploded causing debris and mud to fly everywhere.

I could barely hear or see, when suddenly, to my right, I notice a seemingly displaced soldier, struggling to keep his helmet on. He turns to me and yells: "Hey, are you David?" I couldn't hear anything, so I yell back, "Who? Huh?". "David, David Cohen...is that you?" he seconds.
"Ya, who the hell are you?" I shoot back quickly, as another mortar shell lands to my left, spraying my face in mud.
"It's Steve, Steve O'connor from VCU Adcom, just checking up on your application...I guess we'll be Seeing ya in the Fall" 🙄

 

[AggieJohn]

One of my main EC's is military experience. Today I do reserve duty quite often.

During one of my last operational tours I was crawling in the mud while bullets whistled over my head. Every few seconds rockets exploded causing debris and mud to fly everywhere.

I could barely hear or see, when suddenly, to my right, I notice a seemingly displaced soldier, struggling to keep his helmet on. He turns to me and yells: "Hey, are you David?" I couldn't hear anything, so I yell back, "Who? Huh?". "David, David Cohen...is that you?" he seconds.
"Ya, who the hell are you?" I shoot back quickly, as another mortar shell lands to my left, spraying my face in mud.
"It's Steve, Steve O'connor from VCU Adcom, just checking up on your application...I guess we'll be Seeing ya in the Fall" 🙄

well played.

 

[usrael]

well played.

Nice stats 👍

 

[omgwtfbbq?]

I don't think they'd verify something like that. And if they tried to, and found out the man passed away, I certainly don't think they would hold it against you or think that you were lying.

 

[George_Clooney]

keep it in, it's true and relevant to your app.

but to those who think they don't check ECs...

when i was working at a community clinic answering phones, i got a call from a med school admissions office asking to check dates of employment of another clinic staffer who worked there before me.

i'm sure they don't check every student's ECs, but they definitely do spot checks!

btw, the school she was calling from was VCU.

Yep, my boss told me that a couple of schools called to verify my dates of employment.... so I am sure that they do check the major activities on your app. Maybe they only check on the people they are interviewing and not every applicant.

 

[janedoe4]

What do they do about activities with entirely student-run organizations? Most of the people from one of my major ECs who would immediately recognize my name have also graduated and dispersed (I'm a slightly-out-of-college applicant). Do you actually have to put down a contact for those?

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

Pancho - Rule #1 to filling out any application - never worry about spinning something if the simple truth is enough. Which it is in this case.

You put down your shadowing activities with Dr. Derm. For the last sentence, you put "Dr. Derm passed away unexpectedly in March, 2006." Or you can put "expired" if you want to be clinical. Why would you not list a valuable shadowing experience just because the poor guy died? Also, if you acknowledge that he died, it shows that you kept in contact with him after you finished shadowing, which is nice.

Nobody is going to try to verify your shadowing if you disclose that he has passed on - and nobody will think less of you for listing the experience.

I'm a non-trad, but the administrator of one of the hospitals I worked for was my boss and he was less than 10 years older than I am - during my application process, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was gone in just a few weeks. Nobody asked about it, but if they had I certainly wouldn't have hesitated to talk about how sad I was to lose an old friend and that he didn't live to see me get into medical school. If you can discuss the situation with grace and compassion, you will look like a mature applicant in interviews.

Good luck in the upcoming season!

 

[njbmd]

guys, i'm in a pretty pickly situation. a couple summers ago, i shadowed a dermatologist for about a month doing 8 hours a week (4 hrs a day) with him. I recently found out that he passed away (sucks...he was kind of old, but he didn't seem to have poor health or anything. he was an awesome person though. the world is gonna miss him)

anyway, back to my question, this presents a problem regarding the application process. I know for a fact that he didn't keep records of students that shadowed there with him. Originally, I was hesitant to put it in an application, but he said if the adcomms gave me any problems to just have them call him and he'd "straighten" it out. well, now that he's no longer around, should i still reference my experience with him in the application considering there is no way of verifying it? I'm only applying to TX schools, so i'm gonna be using TMDSAS, and it doesn't ask for contact information. However, I don't want the schools to think I'm lying about it. What would be the best thing to do?

Hi there,
Put your shadowing experience in your record and make a notation that your mentor is not deceased. This should take care of the problem.
njbmd 🙂