ECs prior to undergrad?

[IlyaR]

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I'm currently stacking up volunteering hours, as well as shadowing experience, but I was wondering whether 4 years of working in a clinic prior to undergrad would hold any sort of weight, or would it be laughable to mention it?

 

[Solaire]

I don't think it's very relevant to mention in your main application unless you continue it through undergrad (they want to know what you did while in college), but it's definitely something you could bring up during an interview when they inquire about some of your roots and what not.

When I was your age, I was thinking about xbox games, girls, and how not to study for my AP classes. You're doing fine Patrick, have fun in college 😉

 

[GopherMD]

I believe that most, if not all, medical schools restrict ECs to during and after undergrad.

Edit: as pointed above, you can put in activities you started in high school and continued to do during college.

 

[Planes2Doc]

If it's important to you. List it. Four years is a long time, especially at a clinic! This should be good source material to answer the age old question, "why do you want to be a doctor?" Typically, the rule of thumb is that you should include it if you continued it into undergrad. Even if you didn't, four years is still a long time and definitely deserves to be mentioned. Even if it ultimately doesn't help your application, I doubt it would hurt!

 

[nemo123]

If you continued the activity into college, it would be fine to put it on there (though it might be a better idea to group it with one of your other more recent clinical experiences).

I put some of the research that I didn't during high school on my app because I got a couple of posters and a pub out of it. It all depends on how significant this experience was for you.

 

[IlyaR]

I don't think it's very relevant to mention in your main application unless you continue it through undergrad (they want to know what you did while in college), but it's definitely something you could bring up during an interview when they inquire about some of your roots and what not.

When I was your age, I was thinking about xbox games, girls, and how not to study for my AP classes. You're doing fine Patrick, have fun in college 😉

Haha I should have specified that I'm a non-trad. I've graduated undergrad a couple of years back. I was just wondering if pre-college experience would help. It's been such a long time that I forgot that I actually spent 2 years there during freshman/sophomore year hah.

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

[gobigorgohome22]

I talked about mine during applications and didnt have any problems.

 

[Jennyfishy]

I had 2 experiences listed on my application that were primarily from high school (but continued a little bit into the beginning of undergrad + the summer prior to entering). Relatively speaking, they weren't as significant as my other activities, but I felt it was important to indicate that I was entering college with 100+ hours of shadowing and had worked in a restaurant for 3+ years. I wrote a small note for the restaurant job under my lumped employments and the shadowing under my other clinical experiences with the date, hours, etc.

Like others have said, if it's not relevant or strictly from high school, you'll be wasting a spot you could use for a college experience 😀