ECs good/bad/in between?

[autodf06]

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Here is my spill. Any advice would be appreciated.

3.63 GPA, 3.55 BCPM GPA. AAMC Practice MCATs ~30 (+/- 3).

3 semesters Dean's List.
Phi Eta Sigma and Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Societies
University of Pittsburgh Summer Undergraduate Research Program (w/ abstract)
Temple University Podiatry Winter Internship Program (shadowed docs for 3 days, ~25 hours shadowing)
Auburn University Undergraduate Research Program
Abstract/Poster Presentation at Bio/Chem Symposium
Member of SAAC and creator of new student section/student involvement for athletic events
SGA Senator and Judicial Board Judge
Blood Donor
Volunteer Tennis Instructor at various camps/programs (2 yrs. ~150 hours)
ER Volunteer (only about 10 hours over X-mas break but will continue once I get home for the summer)
Volunteer High School Football Coach (~20 hours with much more coming this summer)
Misc. Volunteer things ~20 hours
All-Conference First Team and All-Academic First Team for Men's Tennis and Cross Country (also won team conference championships in both).
American Sign Language Certification
Karate Black Belt

I have contacted some doctors about shadowing this summer. I plan on applying this summer for medical school after taking the MCAT in June. Will shadowing this late look bad? Any other suggestions on what can improve? Thanks.

 

[sarahl86]

Here is my spill. Any advice would be appreciated.

3.63 GPA, 3.55 BCPM GPA. AAMC Practice MCATs ~30 (+/- 3).

3 semesters Dean's List.
Phi Eta Sigma and Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Societies
University of Pittsburgh Summer Undergraduate Research Program (w/ abstract)
Temple University Podiatry Winter Internship Program (shadowed docs for 3 days, ~25 hours shadowing)
Auburn University Undergraduate Research Program
Abstract/Poster Presentation at Bio/Chem Symposium
Member of SAAC and creator of new student section/student involvement for athletic events
SGA Senator and Judicial Board Judge
Blood Donor
Volunteer Tennis Instructor at various camps/programs (2 yrs. ~150 hours)
ER Volunteer (only about 10 hours over X-mas break but will continue once I get home for the summer)
Volunteer High School Football Coach (~20 hours with much more coming this summer)
Misc. Volunteer things ~20 hours
All-Conference First Team and All-Academic First Team for Men's Tennis and Cross Country (also won team conference championships in both).
American Sign Language Certification
Karate Black Belt

I have contacted some doctors about shadowing this summer. I plan on applying this summer for medical school after taking the MCAT in June. Will shadowing this late look bad? Any other suggestions on what can improve? Thanks.

Another applicant who knows ASL! 👍 Be careful how you throw being "certified" around though. I for one get irritated when people say they know ASL and really only took 2 classes and can only spell their name. Too many people get in over their heads when they fib or exaggerate things like that.

You definitely need more clinically-related volunteer experiences. Find a hospital near your school. Now. You seem to be in good shape for research experience and community involvement.

Being a blood donor doesn't count for much of anything, neither do brief volunteer experiences (ie, less than 50 hours for the most part). Sports stuff is a bonus but don't make it a bulk of your ECs unless you're winning NCAA tournaments or something ridiculous like that. Almost everyone is in some sort of honor society and on the Dean's List. If you're going to mention that on AMCAS you should group it under one "Awards/Achievements" activity.

 

[DrMattOglesby]

remember, you can only list a maximum of 15 ECs on your AMCAS (as of the 2008-09 application).
With that being said, you might want to completely exclude or categorize some of those items you listed. And I didn't see any jobs listed--did you work at all during school? If so, try to list that, especially if it was something that took up a substantial amount of your time.

So I'd try to lump:
*the tennis and football stuff together...
*Maybe put your All-Conf. + All-Academic & Black Belt together as well under the heading of "athletic endeavors" or something like that.
*Put the Honor's Societies and Dean's List stuff together if possible.
*put the research programs together.
*not sure if I would bother listing being a blood donor and the ASL cert is pushing it...

maybe make a huge list of all the things you've been doing in college so far, and pick out the most critical ones to your advancement along your path towards becoming a doctor.

 

[Mobius1985]

It won't matter if you shadow physicans right before you submit, but you are seriously jeopardizing your application cycle if you only have ten hours of clinical experience 3 months before you should apply. Most average 150 hours of contact with patients spread out over 1.5 to 2.0 years. Your application will be classic of a last minute decision to go into medicine. You're saying you'll do more hospital volunteering over the summer, but then you'll end up applying later in the cycle and will still have a lower chance of getting seriously considered.