Does having a non cohesive resume decrease your chances of getting into med school?

[LACMA]

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Hello people of SDN,

I just made my resume tonight and I noticed that none of my activities have "flow" or go together. For instance, I'm a licensed phlebotomist, involved in a club that has to do with children's surgeries, a bunch of religious/church volunteering, and your basic hospital volunteering stuff. I like to play piano and I like to paint and draw.

I've done this stuff because I've truly enjoyed it and was interested in it but I just read this "How to be Pre Med" book and the author said that we need to have "elevator pitches" that have a nice, cohesive story that goes well with our personal statement.

Basically,
I have no idea what kind of specialty I want to do, none of my activities are solely focused toward one goal/story I'm trying to portray, and I was just wondering if adcoms will look at this in a negative light? Thanks! 🙂

 

[AlteredScale]

Hello people of SDN,

I just made my resume tonight and I noticed that none of my activities have "flow" or go together. For instance, I'm a licensed phlebotomist, involved in a club that has to do with children's surgeries, a bunch of religious/church volunteering, and your basic hospital volunteering stuff. I like to play piano and I like to paint and draw.

I've done this stuff because I've truly enjoyed it and was interested in it but I just read this "How to be Pre Med" book and the author said that we need to have "elevator pitches" that have a nice, cohesive story that goes well with our personal statement.

Basically,
I have no idea what kind of specialty I want to do, none of my activities are solely focused toward one goal/story I'm trying to portray, and I was just wondering if adcoms will look at this in a negative light? Thanks! 🙂

If you don't create a well thought out story then your resume will come across as box checking. Dig deep and see what kinds of themes you can pull together with a majority of your ECs, whether that is community service, international outreach, how creativity fits into medicine and how your love for the arts along with your medical ECs come in to play with that. Find some examples of a medical school personal statement and see what types of themes come together and see if they stick with you in anyway. Good luck!

 

[LACMA]

This really helped. Thank you.