Extracurriculars

[mpa19]

Deleted for anonymity.

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[Catalystik]

I am a senior and I play D1 field hockey. In a couple of weeks my season will be over and I will have a ton more time on my hands. I'm planning on applying at the end of this year, and I want to make sure I'm using my extra time to make my application as strong as possible.

Clinical experience (~300 hours):
Scribe (50 hours)
Clinical Trial Center Intern (200 hours)
Shadowing (50 hours)

Research (~600 hours):
Summer Internship 1 (150 hours)
Summer Internship 2 (150 hours)
Research at college (300 hours)
Senior Thesis

Volunteering (~290):
ASB Team Leader (180)
Elderly center volunteer (50)
Peru Volunteer in Health Care (60)

Other:
Orgo tutor
Psych lab TA
Field hockey

Some of my stuff overlaps too. My internships were primarily research based but also had a clinical/shadowing component. I know I'm lacking in volunteering, and I'm planning on volunteering in a hospital setting after season. Is there anything else I should be doing? Am I lacking with anything else?

Perhaps peer leadership for something more long-term than ASB unless it was an annual recurring theme, and (as you said) nonmedical community service.

What was your role in Peru?

 

[Catalystik]

1) I've been a team leader for the past three years. I just helped in a health clinic where needed.
2) I took heights and weights and they take a lot of their medication with shots so I did stuff with that.

3) What types of peer leadership would be good?
4) So you think I need more non medical community service in addition to medical community service?

1) OK, that's good longevity then for leadership.
2) You gave injections of medication? Are you certified to do so in the US?
3) I think you're good to go with what you have through ASB (assuming you describe the leadership role well on your application).
4) I think that your total medical/clinical experience looks good (it doesn't matter if it's paid or volunteer). It's not clear how much non-medical volunteering you did (from what you wrote), beyond the 50 hours in a senior center. If that's all you have, you need more. What does the 290 hours of volunteering refer to?

 

[Catalystik]

1) I just prepared injections--I'm not certified to give injections in the united states. Is that bad? Should I leave certain stuff out of my application or in an interview?
2) 290 hours of volunteering is what I calculated as the total of my volunteer experience. So that's the 180 hours of ASB which was a really rough estimation. I wasn't sure to include weekly club meetings or fundraising or anything like that.
3) a) Then I did 50 hours at an elderly center near my college. I mostly just talked and played games with the people who went there.
b) And then the 60 hours of volunteering in Peru at the health clinic.
4) My other clinical experience is definitely not volunteer based. It was either a) shadowing/b) research based.

1) You might want to describe the experience as helping the nurse prepare patients for injections.
2) On the AMCAS application, you will be asked to break down each volunteer application and choose a label of clinical or nonclinical, rather than lumping it all together. Shadowing is a separate category, which is NOT considered to be volunteering (sine you do it for your own sake, not for a patient's). TMDSAS does some things differently, and I will not comment due to less familiaruity with their system.

You would not include general meetings in the "volunteer" category if you label the AFB as volunteer. Fundraising efforts can be included.
3) a) So you only have 50 hours of face-to-face interaction with senior residents with whom you volunteered. That leaves you perilously short of US-based nonmedical volunteering where you interacted with the US people in need that you served. I suggest that would be an important area for you to work on before you apply. Organizing international trips is not going to get you a lot of points, when people in the US, in your own community, are in need and could use some help.
b) Was the Peru volunteering nonclinical, or did you interact with patients? You have to decide.
4) a) Shadowing is a passive observational activity and not really in the same category as active/helpful interaction with patients. They shouldn't be lumped together.
b) Whether a research experience is judged as clinical experience depends on whether the research subject is a current patient, and whether you are providing any benefit for their condition/adding results to their medical chart.

So your active clinical experience is what? 50 hours scribing + 60 hours in a Peru clinic (if you dealt with the patients) + what else (maybe from the internships + research)? Maybe you do need to get more.

Your shadowing appears to be from multiple sources. You'll need to pull those hours out from internships, etc and decide how many you have. What do you think?