EC "Tiers"

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Walter Raleigh

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"Cookie cutter" ECs:
100 hours of clinical and nonclinical volunteering, 20 hours of shadowing. Mediocre to subpar, won't sink your application on its own. The bare minimum.

"Good" ECs, one step above "Cookie cutter" ECs:
  • 400+ hours of volunteering, with no less than 100 hours in either the clinical or nonclinical category.
  • 50+ hours of shadowing.
  • 400+ hours of research, maybe one poster presentation.
"Excellent" ECs. One step above "good":
  • 1,000+ hours of volunteering, maybe with leadership in said volunteering organization
  • Athletics, though not Division I or pro
  • 1,000+ hours of research with poster presentations or pubs in small journals as other than first author
"Killer" ECs. One step above "excellent"
  • Founder of successful nonprofit or small business.
  • Division I athlete
  • Peace Corps
  • Teach for America
  • First-author publication, or any author in Nature, Science, or Cell.
"Rockstar" ECs. One step above "killer" and extremely rare.
  • Military service.
  • Professional athlete.
  • Refugee.
  • First-author publication in Nature, Science, or Cell.
  • Founded a large, impactful (regional or national) nonprofit or business.
  • Any other world-class achievement: concert pianist, Pulitzer Prize winner, Olympic medalist, full tenured professor at elite university.
"God Tier" ECs. Extraordinarily rare; may come once or twice per generation.
  • Medal of Honor.
  • Nobel Peace Prize.
  • State governor.
  • World-renowned athlete - think Michael Jordan or Michael Phelps.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Not sure how "refugee" is a 'killer' EC
 
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Members don't see this ad :)
"Cookie cutter" ECs:
100 hours of clinical and nonclinical volunteering, 20 hours of shadowing. Mediocre to subpar, won't sink your application on its own. The bare minimum.

"Good" ECs, one step above "Cookie cutter" ECs:
  • 400+ hours of volunteering, with no less than 100 hours in either the clinical or nonclinical category.
  • 50+ hours of shadowing.
  • 400+ hours of research, maybe one poster presentation.
"Excellent" ECs. One step above "good":
  • 1,000+ hours of volunteering, maybe with leadership in said volunteering organization
  • Athletics, though not Division I or pro
  • 1,000+ hours of research with poster presentations or pubs in small journals as other than first author
"Killer" ECs. One step above "excellent"
  • Founder of successful nonprofit or small business.
  • Division I athlete
  • Peace Corps
  • Teach for America
  • First-author publication, or any author in Nature, Science, or Cell.
"Rockstar" ECs. One step above "killer" and extremely rare.
  • Military service.
  • Professional athlete.
  • Refugee.
  • First-author publication in Nature, Science, or Cell.
  • Founded a large, impactful (regional or national) nonprofit or business.
  • Any other world-class achievement: concert pianist, Pulitzer Prize winner, Olympic medalist, full tenured professor at elite university.
"God Tier" ECs. Extraordinarily rare; may come once or twice per generation.
  • Medal of Honor.
  • Nobel Peace Prize.
  • State governor.
  • World-renowned athlete - think Michael Jordan or Michael Phelps.

Didn't know being a "refugee" was considered an EC.
 
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@Goro What do you think?

@gonnif
I'm not going to indulge such juvenile pre-med thinking. Walt is particularly egregious at this. I may have to put him on Ignore again.

Different EC wil have different weights to different screeners, interviewers and Adcom members. For example, some people love student-athletes. But I have plenty of colleagues who think D1 is a vitamin.

Jeeze, refugee indeed.
 
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I’m really motivated to get into Med school. Who should I talk to at my school about getting a Nobel Peace Prize? I know pre med advisors aren’t the best.
 
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I'm not going to indulge such juvenile pre-med thinking. Walt is particularly egregious at this. I may have to put him on Ignore again.

Different EC wil have different weights to different screeners, interviewers and Adcom members. For example, some people love student-athletes. But I have plenty of colleagues who think D1 is a vitamin.

Jeeze, refugee indeed.
To you, what EC's are meaningful to you? I don't think "tiers" is the proper terminology, and longevity is also a factor, but what would say are the ECs of the top 10-25% of applicants that you see?
 
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To you, what EC's are meaningful to you? I don't think "tiers" is the proper terminology, and longevity is also a factor, but what would say are the ECs of the top 10-25% of applicants that you see?
I personally like:
Habitat for HumanityT
Military service
Teachers
Teach for America
Americorps
Hospice
Working with the elderly in retirement homes
Big Brothers/Sisters
Working with the mentally ill, or disabled
Working with the developmentally disabled
Counselors at camps for sick kids.
 
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I personally like:
Habitat for HumanityT
Military service
Teachers
Teach for America
Americorps
Hospice
Working with the elderly in retirement homes
Big Brothers/Sisters
Working with the mentally ill, or disabled
Working with the developmentally disabled
Counselors at camps for sick kids.

And that should be /thread. Listen to the wisest cat.
 
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If the adcoms don't approve of this I feel like we should close it :/

I nearly jumped on this and panicked about what extra volunteer opportunities I should take up next semester.
 
I nearly jumped on this and panicked about what extra volunteer opportunities I should take up next semester.

Nah that's just premed neuroticism ;). I'm on the same boat lol.
 
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Thank you, I’ll keep these in mind. Do you have an opinion on volunteering for crisis hotlines? Is that a generic activity? Or something you’d approve of?
I personally like:
Habitat for HumanityT
Military service
Teachers
Teach for America
Americorps
Hospice
Working with the elderly in retirement homes
Big Brothers/Sisters
Working with the mentally ill, or disabled
Working with the developmentally disabled
Counselors at camps for sick kids.
 
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