ECs/Leadership

[kk123]

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Ok, so I have a lot of questions about how to organize my ECs. I'm not sure how I should categorize these activities since they are a mixture of ECs and leadership. I want my application to look as good as possible but I don't want to look like I'm double dipping or just adding fluff to beef up my application.

1. My job is an is one of my strongest ECs (over five years and ~4500hrs). I love my job, and it stimulated my interest in medicine. Over the years, I helped train volunteers, and let them shadow me while I work. Do I just mention this when I describe my job or do I list it separately as leadership?

2. I have a very strong leadership role in an organization at my school. I organized a lot of events where our organization helped the community. I also created opportunities for pre-health students (such as MCAT study groups and mock interviews). We are also starting a biology/public health journal which I will help edit and possibly submit an paper about my research. Our organization also has hosted a science conference which I helped organize. Should I put these all under one EC and expand upon it in the description or should I should list these all as separate ECs?

3. I am helping my professor with his research. He asked me to show a volunteer what we are doing with the research and teach her more about research (I will be doing this over the next few months). Should I mention this when I describe research, or is it not worth mentioning?

4. I have done a lot of private tutoring over the past 3 years. It has been unpaid, and I would like to put it on my application. However, it was not through an organization. Should I put one of the students I tutored as a reference?

5. While volunteering at a hospital, I helped another volunteer learn how to perform various tasks. Should I mention this when I describe what I did at the hospital, or should I focus on the more medically related things I did there?

6. I am helping my professor with his book, but I don't know whether or not I will receive any sort of credit when the book is published. Can I mention it under publications and put my professor as a reference, or can I only do that if my name is mentioned?

7. Are hobbies even worth mentioning? If so, how do you record hours for them and get a reference number?

I would greatly appreciate any advice on these ECs! Thanks!

 

[SnakeOilForSale]

1) Falls under paid work. Mention duties herein.

2) You may list this as leadership and describe all the activities under the description. Note: if you publish anything through the journal, it can be listed separately under publications.

3) If you are doing research with the professor and not just helping with training, list it under research and describe your mentor role within. If you're just helping out and not performing the research, can be listed under either volunteer nonmedical/extracurriculars/leadership.

4) Should be listed under teaching/tutoring and in the description explain that it was volunteer. You can use a long-time student's number for a reference, yes.

5) Listed under volunteer medical and you should mention both aspects within the description.

6) Ask the professor first if it's okay to put him down as a reference for the book. If he says yes, you can list it under publications. Also maybe directly ask him if your name will be included somewhere to clarify completely.

7) Structured hobbies are worth mentioning if it is something you're passionate about and have pursued for a long period of time. You can be a little lax with the hours, but if it's a long-term hobby you will likely have some sort of reference through an organization/partner/person who knows about it. Don't mention hobbies just to beef up the application if they're not serious.

 

[kk123]

Thank you for the advice! This really helps clarify where should put everything! 🙂