How do people have enough time in their schedules to do a bazillion MEANINGFUL EC's?

[streampaw]

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The "average" medical school applicants are all like "oh yeah, i have a 3.8 gpa, did 3 years of clinical volunteering there, 2 years of clinical volunteering here, 4 years community service here, travelled abroad to volunteer there (how are people so rich?), started like 3 clubs, was a leader in 2 other clubs, played a sport for 4 years, 100+ hours shadowing, 2 years research, tutored this tutored that, etc etc etc.)

Like, how are there enough hours in a day to do all the extracurricular activities in order to stand out, while keeping up with studying and getting all A's?

Can someone please tell me what is wrong with my schedule? Like, where do people get the extra 30 hours a day to do all the activities?
Monday: 9-10 ochem. 10-12: studying, lunch 12-3 bio lab. 3-4:30 studying, 4:30-6:30 physics, 6:30-8:30pm bio.
Tuesday: 9-2 computer tutor job. 2-3:30 take bus to college. 3:30-6:30or longer: research at lab. 6:30-7: bus home. 7+ studying+dinner.
Wednesday: 9-10 ochem. 11-4:30: research in lab. 4:30-8:30pm physics+bio
Thursday: 9-2 computer tutor job. 3-8 studying and doing homework.
Friday: 9-10 ochem. 11-2 physics lab. 2-4 physics workshop. 4-4:30 bus home. 4:30-8+ doing physics homework or studying.
saturday: 5-9 hours of physics homework. (It's a lot of homework).

How do people get time during the week to have a bazillion extracurricular activities WHILE having enough time to study to keep up their gpa?
My gpa is a 3.6 by the way, but I am trying to get all A's right now to get it up to a 3.8 when I graduate in 3 years.

But with this schedule, I only have TWO Ec's! Research+computer tutoring, and possibly will start volunteering at a clinic on thursday or friday. But that's like only THREE EC's! Not 6-10 like most people have. What is wrong with me? Is there a magic spell that increases the number of hours in a day, that only pre-med students have access to?

 

[pyrrion89]

Weekends and vacations, mostly. Often I'd push my studying to those times or cram my EC's into there. Also not attending lecture (watching them online) saved me a lot of time. I cut down on commuting as much as I could by living close to campus.

 

[LizzyM]

There are 24 hours in a Saturday (and 25 in this Sunday!) and you have only accounted for 5-9. Find an activity that meets over lunch (or dinner, or breakfast). Wake up earlier and get stuff done before 9 a.m. Stay up later than 8:30 at night. Find an intensive volunteer thing that you can do one day a month. Do service activities during Spring Break. Do research during the summer after 2nd yr and after 3rd year. Parlay that into a poster presentation and maybe a publication.

 

[Reckoner]

That sounds like an exceptional applicant to me, even among SDN users. Students who can balance that kind of work load while maintaining a great GPA tend to be efficient studiers, whereas you have 25 to 30 hours budgeted in every week for studying. Also it looks like you're done by roughly eight most nights. Couldn't you do activities during some of those afternoons and study at night?

 

[CarlosDanger]

Also remember that the average age of a first year med student is 24 (I think?), so people are taking significant time after college to do unique stuff - and that makes it harder for undergrad juniors to compete. While you're still in college, I would just recommend making the best grades and MCAT you possibly can, and invest in a couple ECs long term that you're really interested in, even a few hours each week adds up over time. Other than that, winter and summer breaks are really important to use wisely.

 

[chillaxbro]

Pshh not even any activities on sunday

 

[Aerus]

For me, my EC's just cut into my studying time. I usually don't finish classes and EC's til about 8-9 ish each day (12 AM on two days). That's about 6-8 hours of studying total for all my classes per Monday to Friday. Weekends are a nice time to study, but when you have EC's on the weekends too, it REALLY boils down to balancing your time incredibly well and being really efficient with the time that you DO have to study.

I do not recommend doing this unless you've had practice being efficient and understand your study habits well enough to skip out on a lot of studying time.

 

[Birdie89]

I like to cram all of my EC's during the week, so I can reserve the weekends for solid studying and work time. How I've managed to do so many things is by scheduling every hour of everyday, and having the self-control to commit to it.

 

[JuanPabloCastel]

getting done with everything you need to do by 8 seems to be the norm for a college student, but if you want to be an above average applicant, then you'll have to stretch yourself further than the norm. i might be biased tho. too much time spent on sdn and a bunch of hypercompetitive friends. i think most people's EC list is nowhere near what you see on SDN. just get some clinical volunteering in and maybe a few things over summer/spring/winter breaks and you'll be just fine, imo.

 

[Dylasa]

This may or may not be relevant to you, but while I was an undergrad, I didn't have a bazillion ECs. I had maaaaybe 6 over an 8 year period of time (yeah, it took me a while to graduate). I had to work, I was married, I was taking care of a sick family member, etc. However, there were three activities that I did over a period of years, and I ended up in leadership positions where I was able to help shape the direction of the places I was volunteering. I can tell you that if I were on an admin committee, I'd want to see real commitment and substantial growth in a person's skill set, and that's hard to do and demonstrate if you're spread too thin.

 

[ThisCouldBeYou]

streampaw, one way people have enough time to do things is by NOT posting a bazillion posts on multiple forums. And didn't you write that you work or do research at the time you posted? It's all about priorities.

 

[nOchemallday]

It's all about time management. You're gonna need solid time management skills throughout med school as well.

It's been posted a few times in different threads (primarily MCAT motivation) but here it is again:

You had better be prepared to give up some sleep. And if you think it's bad now, just wait until residency.

Get into the habit of waking up earlier. I'm not a morning person but I'm still up at 6:30 every day, even if I don't have anything to do until 9. Move up your study time, or pick up a volunteering gig 3 mornings a week. This gives you more free time during the day. You can use this time to work towards a research position, a volunteer position, or time to organize/create a club. Prime hours for ECs are during daytime hours. So move your studying to later at night. Also, study smarter not harder. But ultimately, reorganizing your schedule can help a lot in fitting in ECs. Everyone has his or her own limit though; the trick to maintaining grades is knowing when you can't handle anymore. And don't just do ECs for the sake of ECs, cover your clinical/nonclincal etc, but after that, do something that you like! That's how you make an EC MEANINGFUL!

Also, it looks like you're a commuter. My recommendation is to find something to do while you're on the bus/train/whatever. If you're like me and commute by bike (20min ride) wear extra deodorant and work harder to get to wherever you're going faster. I can cut my commute almost in half if I hustle the whole way.

But be aware: Get as much sleep as you can else your grades will slip. I usually try and force myself to bed by midnight to get a reasonable 6:30 hours of sleep. Stay physically in shape, this includes diet as well as exercise. And don't let your personal hygeine suffer...still take a shower and brush your teeth daily.

 

[Thego2guy]

Lizzy makes a fantastic point about being more flexible and really soaking in as many activities as you can out of the 24hr period.

On a separate note, as a commuter student who commutes for 2-3 hours a day, has a relationship, and serious family duties, I completely sympathize with you OP. Living in a large city and not dorming (to save that precious $$$$) means that you have to spend hours getting ready and commuting to and from school. Need to volunteer? Add in those precious minutes and hours to commuting to the volunteering location. Shadowing or research gig? Time to add more room for commuting there. Large campus and forgot something in your car? 15 minutes to walk across campus, 15 minutes to walk back. There is just SO much "white noise" taking up time throughout the day. Distances are long, coffee lines are long, traffic jams are long, and buses and trains NEVER come on time. Etc... These are just some daily time drains I notice on a weekly basis. This is not even to mention that you have to stay human and SANE and occasionally need to sleep in on a weekend in order to let your brain rest.

 

[Goro]

Relax... you don't have to cure cancer and find peace in the Middle East, but you do need to master the art of time mgt. This is a necessity in medical school .

 

[jm192]

First--keep in mind that you're on SDN--and you've got extremes of Rockstar applicants with ridiculous EC's and weaker applicants with tons of EC's trying to make up for a low MCAT or low GPA.

I did a lot of my EC's during the summer. I also did spring break trips with Habitat for Humanity--each one counted as 40 hours. We worked 8-4, then went out on the town, to the beach, and just treated it as a working vacation.

I also volunteered at a free clinic 2-3 hours every Thursday night. You do this most weeks over an extended period of time and it adds up pretty quickly.

 

[streampaw]

Lizzy makes a fantastic point about being more flexible and really soaking in as many activities as you can out of the 24hr period.

On a separate note, as a commuter student who commutes for 2-3 hours a day, has a relationship, and serious family duties, I completely sympathize with you OP. Living in a large city and not dorming (to save that precious $$$$) means that you have to spend hours getting ready and commuting to and from school. Need to volunteer? Add in those precious minutes and hours to commuting to the volunteering location. Shadowing or research gig? Time to add more room for commuting there. Large campus and forgot something in your car? 15 minutes to walk across campus, 15 minutes to walk back. There is just SO much "white noise" taking up time throughout the day. Distances are long, coffee lines are long, traffic jams are long, and buses and trains NEVER come on time. Etc... These are just some daily time drains I notice on a weekly basis. This is not even to mention that you have to stay human and SANE and occasionally need to sleep in on a weekend in order to let your brain rest.

Thank you. Yeah, the bus does take quite a lot of white noise out of the day. And I honestly can't even function if I get anything less than an 8 hours sleep, preferably 9 hour. If I don't get enough sleep, I need to read the textbook 5-6 times before actually understanding the first paragraph (not kidding). I am not sure if I have a learning disorder or anything, never been diagnosed, but I just know that if I get less than 8-9 hours of sleep, my grades slip, I have a hard time focusing, and an extremely hard time retaining information. Maybe I have a learning disorder? I am not sure, because if I get the full sleep, then I am all good.

 

[occams_razor]

just have to point out that the average applicant to US MD schools, according to AAMC data, actually has about a 3.4 BCPM GPA and 3.5 cumulative GPA.

The SDN average is not the same as the real world average

And yes the average matriculant does have higher stats (3.6 BCPM/3.68 cGPA) than the average applicant, but the applicant OP is describing is far from the average matriculant in terms of ECs

 

[Nena01]

OP, you don't need to do a "bazillion" EC's. Just do something you are passionate about. If you love research and enjoy spending most of your free time there, do so. Make sure you work hard at it and are able to get at least a poster presentation, something to show for your work.

If you can find a volunteering opportunity during the weekend, go for it! Even just 3-4 hrs/week over a long-term period will show your commitment.

Med schools want to see your passion for what you do, whether it's research or study abroad trips. There is no specific "checklist" that you need to do, just work your hardest and do as much as you can with the time you have. Good luck!

 

[streampaw]

OP, you don't need to do a "bazillion" EC's. Just do something you are passionate about. If you love research and enjoy spending most of your free time there, do so. Make sure you work hard at it and are able to get at least a poster presentation, something to show for your work.

If you can find a volunteering opportunity during the weekend, go for it! Even just 3-4 hrs/week over a long-term period will show your commitment.

Med schools want to see your passion for what you do, whether it's research or study abroad trips. There is no specific "checklist" that you need to do, just work your hardest and do as much as you can with the time you have. Good luck!

Thanks

 

[Planes2Doc]

First--keep in mind that you're on SDN--and you've got extremes of Rockstar applicants with ridiculous EC's and weaker applicants with tons of EC's trying to make up for a low MCAT or low GPA.

I did a lot of my EC's during the summer. I also did spring break trips with Habitat for Humanity--each one counted as 40 hours. We worked 8-4, then went out on the town, to the beach, and just treated it as a working vacation.

I also volunteered at a free clinic 2-3 hours every Thursday night. You do this most weeks over an extended period of time and it adds up pretty quickly.

Exactly this! A lot of SDNers look like they are ready to become the next Mother Teresa. I'm guessing the more "typical" applicant has one or two activities (covering the clinical requirement) that rack up many hours. ADCOMs like to see commitments, not doing a boatload of activities with minimal time devoted.

I think we're overlooking embellishment as well. As a lot of hospital volunteering experiences tend to suck, it becomes common to see pre-meds using their "volunteer" time as study time. Since these ECs are like Vegas (what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, just like your ECs), these experiences will be embellished up the wazoo on applications. Talk about killing two birds with one stone!

 

[kyamh]

I very much agree with previous posters whose posts boil down to "relax".

Not all students are the same. Many of these "superstar" applicants also don't need to study as much as others. There are plenty of talented students who can get away with just going to lecture and doing homework while not studying per se to get A's.

Does this mean these students will necessarily be better doctors? No. What it does mean is that these students are better at "school" and so have much more free time to do all the EC's they need to and still spend plenty of time partying/watching TV/going on trips etc.

There will always be someone who is a better worker (more efficient) than you are....unfortunately that's a fact of life. We all have limitations and hard work and dedication will not, in fact, help us achieve whatever dreams we have. Find your strengths and use them, find your weaknesses and learn to mitigate their detriments - at the end of the day we are all trying to make the best of what we can bring to the table.

 

[deleted407021]

Commitment is the most important thing, along with distinguishing yourself, making positive changes and, overall, having an impact on the organizations you are involved with. Use your strengths. I'm a good clarinetist, so I'm joining an Emmy award winning wind symphony at my school. I'm moderately athletic and agile, so I'm doing aikido. I am detail oriented and good at managing so I run the office at the clinic I work for. Those three things, I hope, have more weight by themselves than if I had a bunch of different stuff that didn't play off my strengths and interests. Using breaks to do a little research or really hit your volunteering hard is a very good idea as well.

 

[eliteeli]

I would just like to say that I think this whole thing has gotten quite a bit out of hand! Is there something wrong with having some free time to watch football and hang out? Why have we reached a point where you have to cram every free minute of your undergrad with "meaningful" experiences? We plan on going to med school and having extremely busy lives once we start (not to mention for the rest of our lives afterward) we really should not be penalized for wanting a little down time as an undergrad, and we shouldn't be asked "Oh why didn't you volunteer more?"

 

[Planes2Doc]

I would just like to say that I think this whole thing has gotten quite a bit out of hand! Is there something wrong with having some free time to watch football and hang out? Why have we reached a point where you have to cram every free minute of your undergrad with "meaningful" experiences? We plan on going to med school and having extremely busy lives once we start (not to mention for the rest of our lives afterward) we really should not be penalized for wanting a little down time as an undergrad, and we shouldn't be asked "Oh why didn't you volunteer more?"

I honestly wish more people saw it this way. You have an entire lifetime to "give back" to people as a physician, and sacrifice everything when you're in medical school. It's utter BS that you're expected to make such sacrifices when it's the only time left to enjoy yourself. 😡

 

[swolebrah]

Wish I had time for EC's. I spend all my time when not studying in the gym. (Currently trying to walk on to my college D2 Team ) So I have my morning gym workouts (6am) and then classes and studying and around 4-5 pm I go and do my basketball conditioning and pick up games till about 9pm or 10pm and then an hour or so doing misc things before bed.

Should I give up my hobby of basketball so I have much more free time to do ECs ? I see no point in doing them when I have no passion for them.

 

[milkandcereal]

Wish I had time for EC's. I spend all my time when not studying in the gym. (Currently trying to walk on to my college D2 Team ) So I have my morning gym workouts (6am) and then classes and studying and around 4-5 pm I go and do my basketball conditioning and pick up games till about 9pm or 10pm and then an hour or so doing misc things before bed.

Should I give up my hobby of basketball so I have much more free time to do ECs ? I see no point in doing them when I have no passion for them.

I don't think anyone in good conscience can tell you to stop doing something you love and to start doing something that you would get no enjoyment out of.

 

[occams_razor]

Wish I had time for EC's. I spend all my time when not studying in the gym. (Currently trying to walk on to my college D2 Team ) So I have my morning gym workouts (6am) and then classes and studying and around 4-5 pm I go and do my basketball conditioning and pick up games till about 9pm or 10pm and then an hour or so doing misc things before bed.

Should I give up my hobby of basketball so I have much more free time to do ECs ? I see no point in doing them when I have no passion for them.

Not at all. In fact adcoms seem to love athletes and of course people who follow their passions and interests. In terms of ECs the biggest thing seems to be having clinical exposure. people with really amazing stats have been known to get rejected because they had no shadowing and/or no clinical experience. Check out MSAR and you will find at most schools, about 90% of matriculants have some clinical experience. At the research heavy schools research is obviously important and there are schools where 90% of the students had research, whereas another school might have 70% of students with research experience

 

[swolebrah]

I don't think anyone in good conscience can tell you to stop doing something you love and to start doing something that you would get no enjoyment out of.

Not at all. In fact adcoms seem to love athletes and of course people who follow their passions and interests. In terms of ECs the biggest thing seems to be having clinical exposure. people with really amazing stats have been known to get rejected because they had no shadowing and/or no clinical experience. Check out MSAR and you will find at most schools, about 90% of matriculants have some clinical experience. At the research heavy schools research is obviously important and there are schools where 90% of the students had research, whereas another school might have 70% of students with research experience

Thank you for the replies. What does MSAR stand for? Sorry new to the forum and its abbreviations. I'm gonna get some clinical EC's in next semester.

 

[Si Se Puede]

Not at all. In fact adcoms seem to love athletes and of course people who follow their passions and interests. In terms of ECs the biggest thing seems to be having clinical exposure. people with really amazing stats have been known to get rejected because they had no shadowing and/or no clinical experience. Check out MSAR and you will find at most schools, about 90% of matriculants have some clinical experience. At the research heavy schools research is obviously important and there are schools where 90% of the students had research, whereas another school might have 70% of students with research experience

Obviously adcoms make a distinction between D1 athlete and intramural/club sport athlete but do they know how much time can be required to be competitive in certain club sports? I'm on the rugby team and I devote about 15 hours a week in the gym and practice sessions and it is a big drain on my time but I truly enjoy it...I've noticed my academics are slipping slightly (low As now). Lately, I've had to put in more time to work on footwork etc because there are many new students who are very talented and are trying to make the club team that competes intercollegiately. I'd imagine devoting ~20 hrs a week over 3 or so other meaningful activities would look better?

 

[IncognitoGuy]

Weekends. You don't have Sunday there. Also, I would be working long past 8PM most nights of the week, as well as all day on weekends.

Additionally, once you finish labs in introductory classes, you'll have a LOT (and I emphasize this, a LOT) more time, unless you're in a major that has a lot of labs, in which case you hopefully have figured out your schedule by then.

 

[Planes2Doc]

I don't think anyone in good conscience can tell you to stop doing something you love and to start doing something that you would get no enjoyment out of.

Well actually, people pretty much need to cut down or stop doing things they enjoy which don't help their medical school application, and instead do things they pretend to get a lot of enjoyment out of for the sake of their application. It kind of sucks for some of us, especially those (probably the majority) who wouldn't have been doing these things in the first place.

 

[jm192]

Exactly this! A lot of SDNers look like they are ready to become the next Mother Teresa. I'm guessing the more "typical" applicant has one or two activities (covering the clinical requirement) that rack up many hours. ADCOMs like to see commitments, not doing a boatload of activities with minimal time devoted.

I think we're overlooking embellishment as well. As a lot of hospital volunteering experiences tend to suck, it becomes common to see pre-meds using their "volunteer" time as study time. Since these ECs are like Vegas (what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, just like your ECs), these experiences will be embellished up the wazoo on applications. Talk about killing two birds with one stone!

I agree 100%. I'd be absolutely terrified to try it. But, think of how many applicants each school has. Think of how many applicants the AAMC has. There just isn't the time in the day to call each person. Odds are a lot of people will say whatever to help the student because they like them. They may not have kept the best track of the hours, and the student put whatever. But even if you did, are you really going to say, no, he only did 30 hours. He's lying. And at the end of the day---everyone is willing to put their faith in the notion of pre-meds being honest, trust worthy persons.

 

[medschoolmyname]

I agree 100%. I'd be absolutely terrified to try it. But, think of how many applicants each school has. Think of how many applicants the AAMC has. There just isn't the time in the day to call each person. Odds are a lot of people will say whatever to help the student because they like them. They may not have kept the best track of the hours, and the student put whatever. But even if you did, are you really going to say, no, he only did 30 hours. He's lying. And at the end of the day---everyone is willing to put their faith in the notion of pre-meds being honest, trust worthy persons.

Also be sure you are not overlooking something you may be doing in your spare time. It might well be an activity you can talk to in your applications. And u know like jm said above be aware that some ppl arent really being truthful. Like when I volunteered at a clinic for a while, I noticed some of my fellow volunteers when signing out would add a couple of hours, like it would be 6:00 they would put down 9:00, and the supervisor is just to busy to pay attention or care for that matter. I will personally admit that of the ten activities i listed two of them were things I did to help better my application, now I chose them based on that conviction but as it turned out those were not the highlight of my application they simply made it look nice. As long as you have more than a few activities (with some having to be medical, its practically a must to have some type of clinical experience) that you really spent time doing you should be good.

 

[MedGrl@2022]

The "average" medical school applicants are all like "oh yeah, i have a 3.8 gpa, did 3 years of clinical volunteering there, 2 years of clinical volunteering here, 4 years community service here, travelled abroad to volunteer there (how are people so rich?), started like 3 clubs, was a leader in 2 other clubs, played a sport for 4 years, 100+ hours shadowing, 2 years research, tutored this tutored that, etc etc etc.)

Like, how are there enough hours in a day to do all the extracurricular activities in order to stand out, while keeping up with studying and getting all A's?

Can someone please tell me what is wrong with my schedule? Like, where do people get the extra 30 hours a day to do all the activities?
Monday: 9-10 ochem. 10-12: studying, lunch 12-3 bio lab. 3-4:30 studying, 4:30-6:30 physics, 6:30-8:30pm bio.
Tuesday: 9-2 computer tutor job. 2-3:30 take bus to college. 3:30-6:30or longer: research at lab. 6:30-7: bus home. 7+ studying+dinner.
Wednesday: 9-10 ochem. 11-4:30: research in lab. 4:30-8:30pm physics+bio
Thursday: 9-2 computer tutor job. 3-8 studying and doing homework.
Friday: 9-10 ochem. 11-2 physics lab. 2-4 physics workshop. 4-4:30 bus home. 4:30-8+ doing physics homework or studying.
saturday: 5-9 hours of physics homework. (It's a lot of homework).

How do people get time during the week to have a bazillion extracurricular activities WHILE having enough time to study to keep up their gpa?
My gpa is a 3.6 by the way, but I am trying to get all A's right now to get it up to a 3.8 when I graduate in 3 years.

But with this schedule, I only have TWO Ec's! Research+computer tutoring, and possibly will start volunteering at a clinic on thursday or friday. But that's like only THREE EC's! Not 6-10 like most people have. What is wrong with me? Is there a magic spell that increases the number of hours in a day, that only pre-med students have access to?

Quality over quantity!!! What is the point of being involved in a million EC's when you don't really contribute to any of them? I think I was only involved in 2-3 EC's during undergrad, but I had big leadership roles in them. I was the president and founder of a chapter of a National Biological Honor Society on my campus. This took a lot of time develop and ended up being a huge time commitment for me and all the members as well because there were a lot of requirements just to maintain your membership. I was also an entertainment and education chair for a cancer fundraising event on campus as well. I did research and medical education programs during the summer. Senior year my course work got lighter so I took courses that interested me as well as did some independent research. I think you should focus on quality and not quantity, focus on doing really well in your pre-med courses and making sure that you actually understand and remember the material. It will come to bite you if you are just doing the minimum required to get straight A's and then forget most of the material after the course is over (trust me!). After you ace your MCAT you can take a year (or two) to do something fun that you enjoy and will look great on your medical school application and get into a top medical school.

Good luck! Keep up the good work. You will do awesome! 🙂

 

[derpie_sk8r_boy]

I hope that I'm still allowed to contribute to this thread even though it's been a bit dormant, for some months.

A couple of words: Perfectly Regimented Time Management

I'm still in high school, so not too sure on how it works in college, but I'm sure I'll adapt quite quickly.

Firstly, when I create my schedules etc.; I always place priority on biological needs: sleeping, exercising, eating, grooming/bathing, resting etc.

Then, I consider prime important things that need to be done on X day, say. If I'm an undergrad in college, I would highly prioritize sleeping, studying/writing/reading, attending class, and networking above anything else. And, here's the thing, I WOULD NOT allow anything else interfere with these activities. I love sleeping...and I will not allow anything to mess around with my sleep. Nothing, I say. Even if that means short 30 minute to an hour and a half naps across the day, I will NOT be sleeping anything less than 8 hours.

Secondarily, I would start listing in all other hobbies, activities, and ECs I'm interested in doing. I only do ones I'm very passionate for and enjoy doing. In other words, I don't waste my time with stuff I don't like. You're not going to see me at football-related activities, count on that!! But, you will see me doing things I really enjoy; singing, playing the guitar, skateboarding, playing the violin, writing satire, writing poems, volunteering for pensioners/seniors, tutoring younglings, labor-activism, reading obscure old books on mathematics, working at my full time job.....etc.

Now, do I crunch all of this into one day? Hell no. That is impossible. It's all spread across the week. For example, if I'm learning a new song on the violin that I'm having trouble with, I'll work on it for 30 mins-to an hour Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Then, I'll just concentrate my guitar playing on Tuesday Thursday.

I love love love singing. Even better: harmonizing with people! LOL. Do I ever really have a special set of time to sing? Yes and no. Since I ride the bus a lot and have to walk to places...I'll sing then! Sometimes I have to walk for 40 mins to get to some destinations. Guess what I'm going to do during those 40 mins? Work on developing my upper register mixed voice range...because I'm not the best tenor in the world. 😛

As a child, my mother would always force me to go to Church with her. I have always hated it. Been an atheist ever since I can remember.. LOL, so what I do instead; which my mother claims it compensates for my avoidance of attending mass; is I volunteer to do manual labor, cleaning, and doing errands for seniors/pensioners who are usually no longer able-bodied and can't do something like go buy cigs or milk at a local grocery store; or clean their living room. I pity them. And, it makes me sad that many of them live on their own, have barely much help from other people.... And, I'll do this every Sunday, for at least 5 Hours. Now, add that up! 5 hours of volunteering for seniors, each week, for 52 weeks. That, right there, is a very simple 260 hours of volunteering, in one year. Oh, and, seniors/pensioners/veterans tend to always have amazing stories to tell!! 🙂

Lastly, I stick to my schedule like carbon atoms stick to each other in a diamond. 😛 When my 30 mins of violin playing are up. I stop playing the violin, untune it, etc. and put it away and go on to my next thing. This what I mean by living on with a strictly regimented managed schedule. I don't bend it unless the need for this comes....but yeah. 😛

So....I hope that give you an idea of how my little world works, and maybe gives you some ideas on how to develop yours to get all of those ECs in. 😛 Best of luck. 🙂

 

[487806]

I hope that I'm still allowed to contribute to this thread even though it's been a bit dormant, for some months.

A couple of words: Perfectly Regimented Time Management

I'm still in high school, so not too sure on how it works in college, but I'm sure I'll adapt quite quickly.

Firstly, when I create my schedules etc.; I always place priority on biological needs: sleeping, exercising, eating, grooming/bathing, resting etc.

Then, I consider prime important things that need to be done on X day, say. If I'm an undergrad in college, I would highly prioritize sleeping, studying/writing/reading, attending class, and networking above anything else. And, here's the thing, I WOULD NOT allow anything else interfere with these activities. I love sleeping...and I will not allow anything to mess around with my sleep. Nothing, I say. Even if that means short 30 minute to an hour and a half naps across the day, I will NOT be sleeping anything less than 8 hours.

Secondarily, I would start listing in all other hobbies, activities, and ECs I'm interested in doing. I only do ones I'm very passionate for and enjoy doing. In other words, I don't waste my time with stuff I don't like. You're not going to see me at football-related activities, count on that!! But, you will see me doing things I really enjoy; singing, playing the guitar, skateboarding, playing the violin, writing satire, writing poems, volunteering for pensioners/seniors, tutoring younglings, labor-activism, reading obscure old books on mathematics, working at my full time job.....etc.

Now, do I crunch all of this into one day? Hell no. That is impossible. It's all spread across the week. For example, if I'm learning a new song on the violin that I'm having trouble with, I'll work on it for 30 mins-to an hour Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Then, I'll just concentrate my guitar playing on Tuesday Thursday.

I love love love singing. Even better: harmonizing with people! LOL. Do I ever really have a special set of time to sing? Yes and no. Since I ride the bus a lot and have to walk to places...I'll sing then! Sometimes I have to walk for 40 mins to get to some destinations. Guess what I'm going to do during those 40 mins? Work on developing my upper register mixed voice range...because I'm not the best tenor in the world. 😛

As a child, my mother would always force me to go to Church with her. I have always hated it. Been an atheist ever since I can remember.. LOL, so what I do instead; which my mother claims it compensates for my avoidance of attending mass; is I volunteer to do manual labor, cleaning, and doing errands for seniors/pensioners who are usually no longer able-bodied and can't do something like go buy cigs or milk at a local grocery store; or clean their living room. I pity them. And, it makes me sad that many of them live on their own, have barely much help from other people.... And, I'll do this every Sunday, for at least 5 Hours. Now, add that up! 5 hours of volunteering for seniors, each week, for 52 weeks. That, right there, is a very simple 260 hours of volunteering, in one year. Oh, and, seniors/pensioners/veterans tend to always have amazing stories to tell!! 🙂

Lastly, I stick to my schedule like carbon atoms stick to each other in a diamond. 😛 When my 30 mins of violin playing are up. I stop playing the violin, untune it, etc. and put it away and go on to my next thing. This what I mean by living on with a strictly regimented managed schedule. I don't bend it unless the need for this comes....but yeah. 😛

So....I hope that give you an idea of how my little world works, and maybe gives you some ideas on how to develop yours to get all of those ECs in. 😛 Best of luck. 🙂

I'm sure your essay will greatly help a streampaw clone.

 

[Chipster.]

I hope that I'm still allowed to contribute to this thread even though it's been a bit dormant, for some months.

A couple of words: Perfectly Regimented Time Management

I'm still in high school, so not too sure on how it works in college, but I'm sure I'll adapt quite quickly.

Firstly, when I create my schedules etc.; I always place priority on biological needs: sleeping, exercising, eating, grooming/bathing, resting etc.

Then, I consider prime important things that need to be done on X day, say. If I'm an undergrad in college, I would highly prioritize sleeping, studying/writing/reading, attending class, and networking above anything else. And, here's the thing, I WOULD NOT allow anything else interfere with these activities. I love sleeping...and I will not allow anything to mess around with my sleep. Nothing, I say. Even if that means short 30 minute to an hour and a half naps across the day, I will NOT be sleeping anything less than 8 hours.

Secondarily, I would start listing in all other hobbies, activities, and ECs I'm interested in doing. I only do ones I'm very passionate for and enjoy doing. In other words, I don't waste my time with stuff I don't like. You're not going to see me at football-related activities, count on that!! But, you will see me doing things I really enjoy; singing, playing the guitar, skateboarding, playing the violin, writing satire, writing poems, volunteering for pensioners/seniors, tutoring younglings, labor-activism, reading obscure old books on mathematics, working at my full time job.....etc.

Now, do I crunch all of this into one day? Hell no. That is impossible. It's all spread across the week. For example, if I'm learning a new song on the violin that I'm having trouble with, I'll work on it for 30 mins-to an hour Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Then, I'll just concentrate my guitar playing on Tuesday Thursday.

I love love love singing. Even better: harmonizing with people! LOL. Do I ever really have a special set of time to sing? Yes and no. Since I ride the bus a lot and have to walk to places...I'll sing then! Sometimes I have to walk for 40 mins to get to some destinations. Guess what I'm going to do during those 40 mins? Work on developing my upper register mixed voice range...because I'm not the best tenor in the world. 😛

As a child, my mother would always force me to go to Church with her. I have always hated it. Been an atheist ever since I can remember.. LOL, so what I do instead; which my mother claims it compensates for my avoidance of attending mass; is I volunteer to do manual labor, cleaning, and doing errands for seniors/pensioners who are usually no longer able-bodied and can't do something like go buy cigs or milk at a local grocery store; or clean their living room. I pity them. And, it makes me sad that many of them live on their own, have barely much help from other people.... And, I'll do this every Sunday, for at least 5 Hours. Now, add that up! 5 hours of volunteering for seniors, each week, for 52 weeks. That, right there, is a very simple 260 hours of volunteering, in one year. Oh, and, seniors/pensioners/veterans tend to always have amazing stories to tell!! 🙂

Lastly, I stick to my schedule like carbon atoms stick to each other in a diamond. 😛 When my 30 mins of violin playing are up. I stop playing the violin, untune it, etc. and put it away and go on to my next thing. This what I mean by living on with a strictly regimented managed schedule. I don't bend it unless the need for this comes....but yeah. 😛

So....I hope that give you an idea of how my little world works, and maybe gives you some ideas on how to develop yours to get all of those ECs in. 😛 Best of luck. 🙂

Strong post number to smiley face ratio.

 

[derpie_sk8r_boy]

I'm sure your essay will greatly help a streampaw clone.

Yessssssssssssss....yessssssssssss; I need more minions and mental twins. >.< :3 😀

lol

Strong post number to smiley face ratio.

And, yessssssssssssssssssssssssssss 🙂 🙂 😀 😉 😀 🙂 🙂

 

[moisne]

The "average" medical school applicants are all like "oh yeah, i have a 3.8 gpa, did 3 years of clinical volunteering there, 2 years of clinical volunteering here, 4 years community service here, travelled abroad to volunteer there (how are people so rich?), started like 3 clubs, was a leader in 2 other clubs, played a sport for 4 years, 100+ hours shadowing, 2 years research, tutored this tutored that, etc etc etc.)

Like, how are there enough hours in a day to do all the extracurricular activities in order to stand out, while keeping up with studying and getting all A's?

Can someone please tell me what is wrong with my schedule? Like, where do people get the extra 30 hours a day to do all the activities?
Monday: 9-10 ochem. 10-12: studying, lunch 12-3 bio lab. 3-4:30 studying, 4:30-6:30 physics, 6:30-8:30pm bio.
Tuesday: 9-2 computer tutor job. 2-3:30 take bus to college. 3:30-6:30or longer: research at lab. 6:30-7: bus home. 7+ studying+dinner.
Wednesday: 9-10 ochem. 11-4:30: research in lab. 4:30-8:30pm physics+bio
Thursday: 9-2 computer tutor job. 3-8 studying and doing homework.
Friday: 9-10 ochem. 11-2 physics lab. 2-4 physics workshop. 4-4:30 bus home. 4:30-8+ doing physics homework or studying.
saturday: 5-9 hours of physics homework. (It's a lot of homework).

How do people get time during the week to have a bazillion extracurricular activities WHILE having enough time to study to keep up their gpa?
My gpa is a 3.6 by the way, but I am trying to get all A's right now to get it up to a 3.8 when I graduate in 3 years.

But with this schedule, I only have TWO Ec's! Research+computer tutoring, and possibly will start volunteering at a clinic on thursday or friday. But that's like only THREE EC's! Not 6-10 like most people have. What is wrong with me? Is there a magic spell that increases the number of hours in a day, that only pre-med students have access to?

The study time. Haha

Here was my undergrad schedule lets say for a Monday: (was chem E btw)

6am - go tutor a kid
8 am - class
9 am - volunteer at schools clinic
10 am class
Noon - lunch and teach a recitation session for lower classman (I was a TA)
1:30 pm - class
3 pm - give tour of school (was schools ambassador)
4 pm class
5 pm grab food
5:30 pm run academic excellence workshop
7 pm research
8:30-9 pm workout
9:00-10:00 pm - read answer key to textbook problems (answer keys posted bc homework was not graded)
10 sleep

Weekends consisted of being a property manager for a real estate business, writing quizzes for my professor (I swear he was an addict), ice skating, plan premed meetings for Thursday nights.

There you go :3


My masters degree was crazier.

 

[DokterMom]

She's ba-ack...

 

[occams_razor]

First--keep in mind that you're on SDN--and you've got extremes of Rockstar applicants with ridiculous EC's and weaker applicants with tons of EC's trying to make up for a low MCAT or low GPA.

I did a lot of my EC's during the summer. I also did spring break trips with Habitat for Humanity--each one counted as 40 hours. We worked 8-4, then went out on the town, to the beach, and just treated it as a working vacation.

I also volunteered at a free clinic 2-3 hours every Thursday night. You do this most weeks over an extended period of time and it adds up pretty quickly.

This is a great point. On SDN you will see a lot of extremes. The average applicant does NOT have a 3.8 GPA. If you look at the AAMC data, it shows that the average US MD applicant has a 3.4 BCPM GPA and a 3.5 cGPA.
For US MD matriculants the average BCPM is 3.6 and cGPA is 3.7

 

[mrh125]

The "average" medical school applicants are all like "oh yeah, i have a 3.8 gpa, did 3 years of clinical volunteering there, 2 years of clinical volunteering here, 4 years community service here, travelled abroad to volunteer there (how are people so rich?), started like 3 clubs, was a leader in 2 other clubs, played a sport for 4 years, 100+ hours shadowing, 2 years research, tutored this tutored that, etc etc etc.)

Like, how are there enough hours in a day to do all the extracurricular activities in order to stand out, while keeping up with studying and getting all A's?

Can someone please tell me what is wrong with my schedule? Like, where do people get the extra 30 hours a day to do all the activities?
Monday: 9-10 ochem. 10-12: studying, lunch 12-3 bio lab. 3-4:30 studying, 4:30-6:30 physics, 6:30-8:30pm bio.
Tuesday: 9-2 computer tutor job. 2-3:30 take bus to college. 3:30-6:30or longer: research at lab. 6:30-7: bus home. 7+ studying+dinner.
Wednesday: 9-10 ochem. 11-4:30: research in lab. 4:30-8:30pm physics+bio
Thursday: 9-2 computer tutor job. 3-8 studying and doing homework.
Friday: 9-10 ochem. 11-2 physics lab. 2-4 physics workshop. 4-4:30 bus home. 4:30-8+ doing physics homework or studying.
saturday: 5-9 hours of physics homework. (It's a lot of homework).

How do people get time during the week to have a bazillion extracurricular activities WHILE having enough time to study to keep up their gpa?
My gpa is a 3.6 by the way, but I am trying to get all A's right now to get it up to a 3.8 when I graduate in 3 years.

But with this schedule, I only have TWO Ec's! Research+computer tutoring, and possibly will start volunteering at a clinic on thursday or friday. But that's like only THREE EC's! Not 6-10 like most people have. What is wrong with me? Is there a magic spell that increases the number of hours in a day, that only pre-med students have access to?

The "average" medical school applicants are all like "oh yeah, i have a 3.8 gpa, did 3 years of clinical volunteering there, 2 years of clinical volunteering here, 4 years community service here, travelled abroad to volunteer there (how are people so rich?), started like 3 clubs, was a leader in 2 other clubs, played a sport for 4 years, 100+ hours shadowing, 2 years research, tutored this tutored that, etc etc etc.)

Like, how are there enough hours in a day to do all the extracurricular activities in order to stand out, while keeping up with studying and getting all A's?

Can someone please tell me what is wrong with my schedule? Like, where do people get the extra 30 hours a day to do all the activities?
Monday: 9-10 ochem. 10-12: studying, lunch 12-3 bio lab. 3-4:30 studying, 4:30-6:30 physics, 6:30-8:30pm bio.
Tuesday: 9-2 computer tutor job. 2-3:30 take bus to college. 3:30-6:30or longer: research at lab. 6:30-7: bus home. 7+ studying+dinner.
Wednesday: 9-10 ochem. 11-4:30: research in lab. 4:30-8:30pm physics+bio
Thursday: 9-2 computer tutor job. 3-8 studying and doing homework.
Friday: 9-10 ochem. 11-2 physics lab. 2-4 physics workshop. 4-4:30 bus home. 4:30-8+ doing physics homework or studying.
saturday: 5-9 hours of physics homework. (It's a lot of homework).

How do people get time during the week to have a bazillion extracurricular activities WHILE having enough time to study to keep up their gpa?
My gpa is a 3.6 by the way, but I am trying to get all A's right now to get it up to a 3.8 when I graduate in 3 years.

But with this schedule, I only have TWO Ec's! Research+computer tutoring, and possibly will start volunteering at a clinic on thursday or friday. But that's like only THREE EC's! Not 6-10 like most people have. What is wrong with me? Is there a magic spell that increases the number of hours in a day, that only pre-med students have access to?

I love this post because I feel the same way. A lot of it has to do with how ****ing competitive the pool of applicants now is. What was once considered good is now considered below average or average (another example is how 27-29s on the Mcat are viewers as bad when you're still scoring better than 70%+ of those who ever take It). Either try and find some time to fit in what you need because no amount of kicking and screaming and fighting it will change things. Find some way to find it in for example I didn't start volunteering until I graduated and this I could
Do more time and I got more hours in (when I was an undergrad I did research and internships and tried a job but ultimately had a lot of trouble balancing things so I mainly just studied for my classes and knew when to call things quits). This situation now sucks but you gotta role with it

 

[deleted407021]

Since I ride the bus a lot and have to walk to places...I'll sing then!

 

[Life Sucks]

Volunteer in some things you want to. For instance, I like tutoring and mentoring, so that's what I do. Volunteering just to do it and stacking up these big EC looks so superficial in my opinion. But like one doctor told me, enjoy your UG.