Extracurricular...

[Brandie28]

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I can't think of anything to put down for extracurricular activities on pharmcas. Can someone give me some ideas or examples?

 

[Farmercyst]

I can't think of anything to put down for extracurricular activities on pharmcas. Can someone give me some ideas or examples?

What have you done that's not related to class/work experience?

Volunteer work
Clubs/Organizations
Service projects headed by other individuals/groups with which you have no
formal ties.
Service Mission through religious organization

As an aside, do you realize you've got multiple threads that may have very good answers in old threads located by Search, or located in the FAQs? I'd go there first before starting 6+ threads. It's not that I mind helping answer questions that have been asked a multitude of times. I really don't. It would however help you narrow down your questions to something that may prove a little more useful to you and a lot more specific.

I'd suggest advanced search and narrow your search to just Pharmacy/Pre-pharmacy forums. Also a lot of what you are looking for is explained (sometimes in gross detail) in PharmCAS's application instructions.

 

[AntiviralsRule]

Here are a couple of examples that I'm putting on my applications:

-Volunteering at a hospital
-Pre-pharmacy clubs on campus
-American Cancer Society
-PAWS (Pets Are Wonderful Support)

 

[eddie269]

I can't think of anything to put down for extracurricular activities on pharmcas. Can someone give me some ideas or examples?

Did you get involved at school outside of academics? If not, it's not too late to join so you got something to write. But if everything is all done for the school year, then I don't know what to say.

Personally, I put down:

- community service chair for my fraternity
- Downtown Davis Business Association
- Intramural sports: basketball, flag football
- a few other ones I forgot.

 

[neopentane]

if you tutor some kinds from church what are you supposed to put under the name of organization?

 

[neopentane]

also its not required to put in the # of hrs....so is it ok to leave the # of hrs blank?

 

[tckc]

also its not required to put in the # of hrs....so is it ok to leave the # of hrs blank?

what i chose to do was list a total number for those activities that were done/finished and an average weekly hours number for the activities that were ongoing...i felt that listing hours would help them understand just how involved i really was and show honesty if the activity really only lasted a brief period of time...it's really up to you though!

 

[Torkey]

this may be a dumb question but what about community service from High School..I graduated in 02 from a private HS so we HAD to do volunteer work just to pass...however as soon as I hit college I was working full time with full classloads, so freetime to do this stuff kinda took a backseat...

 

[binghamkid]

this may be a dumb question but what about community service from High School..I graduated in 02 from a private HS so we HAD to do volunteer work just to pass...however as soon as I hit college I was working full time with full classloads, so freetime to do this stuff kinda took a backseat...

They generally want community service from college level up, but if high school's the best you can put down, go ahead and put it down. I'm sure if you think hard, you can find extracurriculars that you take part in (even if you don't consider them extracurriculars).

For example, being an officer of a cooking interest group would count.

 

[lee0539]

They generally want community service from college level up, but if high school's the best you can put down, go ahead and put it down. I'm sure if you think hard, you can find extracurriculars that you take part in (even if you don't consider them extracurriculars).

For example, being an officer of a cooking interest group would count.

would it be wise to include that I was in the state wide competitive speech and debate team for 4 years in high school? Only because speech is one of the things they actually look at? Maybe there was in college, but I dont think I was that good of a speaker lol.

 

[RxINform]

student research is always a good one.

 

[binghamkid]

would it be wise to include that I was in the state wide competitive speech and debate team for 4 years in high school? Only because speech is one of the things they actually look at? Maybe there was in college, but I dont think I was that good of a speaker lol.

You could, but you should really first focus on college-oriented material first. They're also interested in seeing how you balanced your ECs with your college coursework.

Also keep in mind that you don't need to fill in every slot for the ECs. If three ECs is all you've got, then just put down three. There's no need to stretch to find more (because if they ask you at the interview about them, you'll be in trouble). And definitely don't lie about them. They will find out.

 

[rx27563]

i know this might sound dumb but how would they know if people lied? i mean people could make up anything and make it an EC. how would they find out?

You could, but you should really first focus on college-oriented material first. They're also interested in seeing how you balanced your ECs with your college coursework.

Also keep in mind that you don't need to fill in every slot for the ECs. If three ECs is all you've got, then just put down three. There's no need to stretch to find more (because if they ask you at the interview about them, you'll be in trouble). And definitely don't lie about them. They will find out.

 

[binghamkid]

i know this might sound dumb but how would they know if people lied? i mean people could make up anything and make it an EC. how would they find out?

If you get to the interview, they will ask you about them. If you put down that you volunteered at a pharmacy for three years and worked about 8 hours a week, you'd better be able to answer in detail exactly what you did (more than "I talked to the pharmacist and thought it was the right profession for me.") If you did research, they may ask you to describe your research (like what procedures you used, what samples you were interested in, and what you learned from it. You're not going to fool anyone with a generic answer. The Adcoms and the faculty are professional enough to be able to judge the way you present your answer. It's not worth it. Don't lie. As an applicant, people will always have something worth talking about. They just have to believe in their own experiences.

 

[Farmercyst]

i know this might sound dumb but how would they know if people lied? i mean people could make up anything and make it an EC. how would they find out?

This may sound equally dumb, but if you don't lie, it doesn't matter.

 

[rx27563]

well i didnt say that i was going to lie personally...i just believe that others do and i dont see them getting caught either

 

[binghamkid]

well i didnt say that i was going to lie personally...i just believe that others do and i dont see them getting caught either

No, you just don't hear of them getting caught. Chances are they've just got rejected at the school they interviewed at where they were caught. There are a few cases where if you lie and they don't catch you and they find out afterward where offers have been rescinded. It's not worth it. Most of the time though, I'm pretty sure they just screen people out based on the interview performance.

 

[binghamkid]

This may sound equally dumb, but if you don't lie, it doesn't matter.

True enough.

 

[Farmercyst]

well i didnt say that i was going to lie personally...i just believe that others do and i dont see them getting caught either

probably because out of the 500-1000+ applications received they don't have the opportunity to police things like ECs. The other issue is, how many people would broadcast that they got cheating padding their hours. (Several people say they pad, not sure how many get caught and come back to report.) Either way the point is, just b/c someone else does it, even if they get away with it, if you don't cheat, you won't get caught. Quite frankly if you're going to pad something ECs are the easiest. My personal opinion is that they're ranked lower than GPA, LORs, and experience. So even if you did pad, the net benefit is probably in- consequential, at least if you don't grossly over-inflate (which would make it easier to get caught.)