Funnest/best resume boosters!

[theswordfish]

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What are the best ECs you've done?

Best as in you had the most fun, learned the most, most rewarding, etc...

What are the worst?

 

[dr zaius]

ER volunteering. The nurses and doctors were great. They let me do a lot of things that they probably shouldn't, but I guess that's what happens when the hospital is under-staffed and underfunded.

 

[mic2377]

1. I really liked the research that I did. Cool techniques, and end goal with a potential clinical therapy in sight. Most important, find a good PI who wants undergrads to be a contributing lab member.

2. EMT-I. Rather stressful, and an immense time commitment. There is no fun like running around in an ambulance!

3. Not sure if it is a resume booster, but I was a piano teacher for several months too. Some of my kids actually liked it enough to get further lessons after the end of the program. I would do it again if I had time!

 

[kami333]

Most interesting: taught computer skills at a prison

Most rewarding: worked as a tissue donation tech (eyes)

 

[ChinaDoll]

Best EC: Volunteer for 2008 Beijing Olympics as a translator...Volunteer at the Patient Floor Unit at a hospital (best experience ever!! lots patient contact)..

Funnest: None...(what a shame)

Worst: Earthquake rescue team to China in 2008..because it was such a emotionally stressful experience...you see dead bodies every hour being digged out...really horrifying...

 

[CyclistOK]

Founding the cycling team at my university.

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

observe operating room surgeries for trauma patients

 

[DeadCactus]

Best: I was Times Person of the Year 2006.

 

[mocha blanca]

Best: I was Times Person of the Year 2006.

Oh darn, forgot to put that one down...

 

[chemnerd89]

I enter a lot of film competitions and my team has won some awards.

 

[KippocalypsE]

BEST EC:

- Definitely joining a really cool epidemiology research lab. We were really close-knit. In addition to the pubs I got from my really cool PI we used to get to go on free lunches and dinners and really connected with each other (we worked with pharm companies and doctor's a lot so we got perks). All of us went to each other's places and chilled out, even the PI. Got to go on a lot of community service events since the lab had a tradition of contributing the skills we learned clinically. I think the combined experiences I accrued in my lab was what got me in.

WORST EC for kicks:

- Being part of the leadership team of my hospital volunteering committee. I joined to get more clinical exposure combined with administrative experience, and I achieved that. I met SOME cool people. However, it was unrewarding. Most of the people I worked with openly said that they were only doing it for a resume boost for Med School and thus neglected their roles because they really didn't have any interest. I had a different mindset so I took advantage of the public speaking, teaching, and recruiting opportunities I had so I could truly put myself out there in the real world. However I felt like I was doing it for nothing because only a few others worked as hard when a team effort was needed. Maybe your experience is different since I come from a city in California known for producing irresponsible pre-meds.

 

[MossPoh]

Best? Hmmmm. The one that was brought up the most at my interviews was my extensive traveling and study abroad experiences along with all the language tutoring I did. It was the most fun for me too. Kind of cool to get brownie points for speaking English or German with people while having a beer.


A lot of people were also impressed that I do stained glass...or did. One of the interviews asked if I'd make a window for his wife if I got in.

 

[theswordfish]

bump!

 

[theswordfish]

Most interesting: taught computer skills at a prison

Most rewarding: worked as a tissue donation tech (eyes)

how'd you get involved with the prison thing?

 

[LAman10]

Best: curing AIDS

Worst: curing prostate cancer (I feel like I helped less people, so I prob won't mention this on my AMCAS. I don't want them to think I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel or anything!)

 

[xcrunner01]

Best: curing AIDS

Worst: curing prostate cancer (I feel like I helped less people, so I prob won't mention this on my AMCAS. I don't want them to think I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel or anything!)

lol, you didn't cure cancer? slacker....

 

[apumic]

Best: curing AIDS

Worst: curing prostate cancer (I feel like I helped less people, so I prob won't mention this on my AMCAS. I don't want them to think I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel or anything!)

Yeah, prostate cancer's kind of a minor issue. I mean, as I recall from a lecture I went to at a conference, it has a 91% survival rate without tx... heck if you made that 100% with tx (it's about 95% now w/ tx), you'd still only be helping out 9% of your px! Stick with curing AIDS. You might also mention the Nobel prize you earned last year, even though it wasn't directly related to medicine...

 

[45408]

Yeah, prostate cancer's kind of a minor issue. I mean, as I recall from a lecture I went to at a conference, it has a 91% survival rate without tx...

Source? Prostate CA does tend to follow a more indolent, progressive course, but it's still fatal. It's just that many men tend to die WITH it, but not necessarily from it. It approaches 80% prevalence in 80+ year old men, based on post-mortem specimens.

 

[Mattabet]

how'd you get involved with the prison thing?

I'm crossing my fingers for an awesome answer such as, "I robbed a pawn shop."

 

[SysBio]

Yeah, prostate cancer's kind of a minor issue. I mean, as I recall from a lecture I went to at a conference, it has a 91% survival rate without tx... heck if you made that 100% with tx (it's about 95% now w/ tx), you'd still only be helping out 9% of your px! Stick with curing AIDS. You might also mention the Nobel prize you earned last year, even though it wasn't directly related to medicine...

hey guys i volunteered with a research group that invented a time-machine last year, do you think i should write about in my personal statement? I dont want to be grilled with all kinds of alternate universe questions at my interview (i just had a minor role, sweeping nuts and bolts off the ground etc, not really involved in all of the time-space continum bending)

 

[movax]

Best: I was Times Person of the Year 2006.

Well played sir.

 

[runrunrudolph1]

Best: I was Times Person of the Year 2006.

excellent.


Best: Working in a level 2 nursery, either that or volunteering in the ER

Funnest: shadowing a trauma surgeon, ems

Worst: Transporting at the hospital

 

[RavensGal]

Best: either Marching Band at my college or Shock Trauma volunteering (watched doctors deal with an amputated foot that arrived in a cooler, watched a bullet removal out of someone's skull, and tons of patient contact in the shock trauma PACU)

don't really think I've had a bad experience although Cath Prep is boring compared to shock trauma

 

[kevltp05]

I'm crossing my fingers for an awesome answer such as, "I robbed a pawn shop."

That's a job, not an extracurricular.

 

[Omni]

Best: EMS
Funnest: EMS
Worse: EMS