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When is the best time to start ECs for medical school?
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Ecs for medical school
- Thread starter med17g
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Preschool.
But seriously, start exploring your interests as soon as you get to college. Not all of your activities might end up on your application, but it's good to start early and have the potential for commitment and longevity in an activity rather than scramble to do stuff in your junior year before applying.
But seriously, start exploring your interests as soon as you get to college. Not all of your activities might end up on your application, but it's good to start early and have the potential for commitment and longevity in an activity rather than scramble to do stuff in your junior year before applying.
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just start now...
either you will have more experience which will look good or you will find out you don't like it which will save you time.
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This.
You don't need to be involved in a million things. Get involved in one or two things that you like and commit. Try to get some meaningful experiences under your belt.
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Long term commitment is key, get involved early so that you can eventually earn some leadership positions. Adcoms are smart enough to realize you are just trying to fulfill requirements if you jam in a bunch of ECs during Junior year just before applying.
Survivor DO
Survivor DO
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I started as an embryo.
Just kidding. There's a pretty big disconnect between the SDN world and the non-SDN world. SDNers have a "ZERO to Mother Teresa" mentality, where they start with a huge laundry-list of ECs the moment they become officially pre-med. On the contrary, people that aren't on SDN typically average about 100-150 hours of clinical volunteering in an ED combined with a decent number of hours shadowing. They don't have a huge laundry-list of ECs yet still get in.
My suggestion is to do an activity that starts before a year from applying to medical school, and that you nail over 100 hours. Also, make sure that when you apply, your volunteering is listed as a "present" activity. It'll look better since it will not look like you did it as a checklist item, and quit once you hit the magic number of hours.
Also don't even think about a short-term mission trip. It's a waste of money that will not help your chances.
If you wanted to beef up your ECs to the max realistically, you can start a non-profit. It can get expensive depending on how much you care or don't care, but this appears to be a hot item these days on applications. I'd have to say it's like the quadruple bypass burger from the Heart Attack Grill. The burger was decent. A little too seasoned for my tastes. I think the ADCOMs would eat it right up though. 😉
Good luck!
Just kidding. There's a pretty big disconnect between the SDN world and the non-SDN world. SDNers have a "ZERO to Mother Teresa" mentality, where they start with a huge laundry-list of ECs the moment they become officially pre-med. On the contrary, people that aren't on SDN typically average about 100-150 hours of clinical volunteering in an ED combined with a decent number of hours shadowing. They don't have a huge laundry-list of ECs yet still get in.
My suggestion is to do an activity that starts before a year from applying to medical school, and that you nail over 100 hours. Also, make sure that when you apply, your volunteering is listed as a "present" activity. It'll look better since it will not look like you did it as a checklist item, and quit once you hit the magic number of hours.
Also don't even think about a short-term mission trip. It's a waste of money that will not help your chances.
If you wanted to beef up your ECs to the max realistically, you can start a non-profit. It can get expensive depending on how much you care or don't care, but this appears to be a hot item these days on applications. I'd have to say it's like the quadruple bypass burger from the Heart Attack Grill. The burger was decent. A little too seasoned for my tastes. I think the ADCOMs would eat it right up though. 😉
Good luck!
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If you wanted to beef up your ECs to the max realistically, you can start a non-profit. It can get expensive depending on how much you care or don't care, but this appears to be a hot item these days on applications. I'd have to say it's like the quadruple bypass burger from the Heart Attack Grill. The burger was decent. A little too seasoned for my tastes. I think the ADCOMs would eat it right up though. 😉
Good luck!
This activity should be seriously scrutinized, as should the short-term medical mission trip. It is highly likely that there is a better-established, better-funded, and better-run organization doing the exact same thing that your new non-profit hopes to accomplish. Clinic in slums of India? It exists. Tutoring poor kids in the inner city? It exists. Teaching science to low-income kids? It exists. Sending toothbrushes to Africa? Have you heard of USAID?
Unless you truly find a niche and are capable of making the organization effective, you should be seen as someone who is either not a team player, someone who doesn't know how to do research on the internet, or someone who was just looking to boost their credentials with a useless corporation.
I started a 501(c) 3 during college and will not put it on my application because it turned out to be a stupid idea that was not financially viable. I didn't do my homework and should not be rewarded for that.
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I agree that it should be scrutinized. But I've heard things on this site about people starting non-profits, and then getting accepted into medical school. So if people are looking for an in to medical school, this is a pretty good way up until it becomes just like short-term mission trips.
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Well, I suggest starting pretty early.
For me, I started competitive swimming (AND WINNING) at a very early age:
It's all about quality, though. If I hadn't won those races back in the day, it wouldn't have been worth listing "swimming" as one of my ECs.
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Well, I suggest starting pretty early.
For me, I started competitive swimming (AND WINNING) at a very early age:
It's all about quality, though. If I hadn't won those races back in the day, it wouldn't have been worth listing "swimming" as one of my ECs.
lol very nice
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Sooner is better than later because long-term commitments are key. However, you don't have to start everything right away, especially medical things. It's important to do something that you find interesting, keep balance and maintain your GPA/MCAT, and then add and subtract activities as you find time and your interests change.
I started doing research because I wasn't interested in med school when I began college (more interested in grad school). I continued that and that added a science education program sophomore year. I ran study groups for bio students and I also began tutoring ESL adults for a GED program. Then I started to get interested in med school, so I found a predominantly Spanish-speaking clinic to work in (I was a Spanish major too so I wanted practice), and I added the local hospital too during the summer between junior and senior year. I hated the hospital so I stopped that after three months but maintained my clinic volunteering and did some shadowing at a couple different hospitals. I then took a year off after graduation to work at the clinic.
I go over my history because it shows that you don't need to do too much, too fast. Ease into it and explore your interests. I ended up having some long term activities (research, education, Spanish) that I have incorporated into my future goals as a physician.
Edit: I added some school years to give a better idea of timeline.
I started doing research because I wasn't interested in med school when I began college (more interested in grad school). I continued that and that added a science education program sophomore year. I ran study groups for bio students and I also began tutoring ESL adults for a GED program. Then I started to get interested in med school, so I found a predominantly Spanish-speaking clinic to work in (I was a Spanish major too so I wanted practice), and I added the local hospital too during the summer between junior and senior year. I hated the hospital so I stopped that after three months but maintained my clinic volunteering and did some shadowing at a couple different hospitals. I then took a year off after graduation to work at the clinic.
I go over my history because it shows that you don't need to do too much, too fast. Ease into it and explore your interests. I ended up having some long term activities (research, education, Spanish) that I have incorporated into my future goals as a physician.
Edit: I added some school years to give a better idea of timeline.
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