How are my EC'S going into sophomore year

[FutureDOCTORR123456789]

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got inspo from another user,

Medical Assistant-50

SHADOWING ONCOLOGIST/NEUROLOGIST- 28 hours

EMT- in training

church secretary-100

Hospital Volunteering (Nonclinical)- 400 hours

Hospice Volunteering- 50

research internship- 50 hours

am I missing anything? or am I being busy!

 

[candbgirl]

What did you do to amass 400 hours of nonclinical volunteering?

 

[FutureDOCTORR123456789]

What did you do to amass 400 hours of nonclinical volunteering?

a mainly running the gift shop but helping plan events (baby showers, food drives etc)

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Previously, you received advice:

Thread 'What are some benchmarks in terms of hours I should be hitting by the time I apply no gap'

May 28, 2025

like volunteering(nonclinical and clinical), shadowing, research, leadership etc? thank you

• FutureDOCTORR123456789
• Replies: 10
• Forum: Pre-Medical (MD)

You're significantly deficient in non-clinical service orientation.

 

[eigen]

a mainly running the gift shop but helping plan events (baby showers, food drives etc)

I won't say this isn't potentially important, but I wouldn't say it shows that you have the experience, willingness, and ability to work with people who need help and are different from yourself. A breadth of service is good, but you need to think about what competencies you're trying to show with each particular activity and what they say about yourself.

If you haven't done so, I strongly recommend sitting down with AAMC's Anatomy of an Applicant and thinking through all of the competencies and how you are / will be demonstrating them.

Service hours aren't a box to check, they're a way to show your empathy, compassion and service orientation. They also often show that you have interpersonal skills and are reliable/dependable, depending on the service work.

When I see students early on who are posting about hours for ECs like a series of boxes to check, I often worry about their eventual application because it is often hard to turn check boxes into a coherent and compelling narrative. Students who have a coherent narrative for why they want to be a physician are often drawn to do the types of things needed to show that they will be good at it (like volunteering their time to help those in need in their community). The reverse isn't always true: some people rack up lots of hours but don't have a narrative and can't articulate why they're doing those things or what they mean.