How Do You Consider Yourself Having Good Ec's?

[Eyecon82]

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Hi...i have 2 questions if you guys don't mind answering them....

Question 1) How many hours TOTAL would be a good number to for an ADCOM to say...."wow...this guys has finshed a lot of EC's!"

Question 2) are certain EC's more valuable than others....like would having a leadership position (VP) of a club with more than 500 members be more valuable than research or volunteering at a hospital?

Thanks guys

 

[efex101]

Having good EC's is not doing one at the expense of the other. Most medical schools expect you to have them all, meaning that they expect some leadership experience, exposure to what medicine will entail, and something that you do for fun aside from going to school and that you have done this for some time. It is not about hours per se spent doing each EC, it is about how long did you engage in X or Y EC long term. It is too easy to volunteer for one summer at 40 hrs/week or whatever and rack up the hours, that does not mean as much as someone that has been involved with an EC for 2-4 years maybe 2-4 hours per week, it is about long term commitment and some schools will look at the amount of *years* spent doing something that you are passionate about and it may have nothing to do with medicine. Clinical experience/exposure is almost a must (yes, some people get in w/o this aspect but they are far and few...) so that you can actually talk/explain why you want to become a physician. The cliche I want to help people, I want to have a lifetime of learning is that just a cliche, they (adcoms) want real life examples of why medicine is what you chose and what will *you* bring to the table as a future physician. Of course that you like to learn, of course that you want to help people but medicine is not the only career that enables this, so that is why healthcare experience is really screened for. So, in a nutshell: do not wait until your senior year to get involved, start early in the process so by the time that you apply you will have a lot to talk about during interviews. Try to gain leadership experience why? because physicians will be leading in some form or fashion during their career. Get involved in something that has nothing to do with medicine, something that you really enjoy. Good lcuk.

 

[Spitting Camel]

Are you kidding me with that VP of a club instead of hospital work? I don't mean to sound rude, but I am shocked that anyone considering medicine would say that!

How could you possibly know you will be able to spend the rest of your life in the hospital environment if you never step foot in it? You would be suprised how many people experience the hospital and change their mind as a result.

Imagine telling someone you want to be a physician, but you don't know what it is like. Would you expect them to take your desire or commitment seriously?

Just some thoughts for you to ponder...

 

[meanderson]

I think the level of clinical experience needed is what confuses most premeds. You DO NOT have to have worked as an emt, tech, etc to get in. A lot of schools value shadowing to some degree, but out of all the people I know getting in none shadowed. While it may be true that very few students get in with absolutely no clinical experience, it is not unusual at all to get in with rather routine volunteer experiences(hospital er volunteer, hospice caretaker, etc)

 

[Eyecon82]

I didn't imply that I didn't volunteer at a hospital or haven't done research. In fact, I have volunteered over 400 hours in the past 2 years at various city hospitals. What I meant is what would weigh more in their evaluation of your EC's.....leadership ...or volunteering

 

[efex101]

Yup, clinical experience just means really exposure to what you will be getting into. Like meanderson posted this clinical exposure will not be a tons of hands-on for most folks but mostly observing about the different roles of each healthcare professional and learning about what medicine will entail (tons of paperwork and not so much patient interaction as one would hope). Shadowing is great but usually is only for a couple of days so although you will see first hand what a doctor does it is not long term enough to satisfy most adcoms. It is fairly easy to volunteer in a clinical setting, specially those non-profit organizations around cities..

 

[efex101]

I do not think that one will weigh more than the other, most adcoms will probably expect some of both. Also, it depends on the extent of your volunteering and leadership experiences. If you have been the VP of a campus organization for three years that will look great versus VP for six months although this will still be great. Same with volunteering, if you have been volunteering consistently for two years and your volunteer coordinator writes a letter supporting this, then that is also great. What may look strange is going on and on about volunteering for four years and then you do not have a LOR from someone in that setting, that IMHO would raise a red flag...so if you have both volunteering and leadership then you are good to go. Most pre-meds will have both to some extent I would hope. Oh, and leadership does not necessarily mean a VP position, it could be leading a group of students in community activities, it could be leading Boy Scouts, there are so many things that folks do that are leadership positions that it does not necessarily have to be a part of a formal campus organization..

 

[Eyecon82]

Oh yea.....that was another concern i was debating.

Most schools specifically ask for 2 science and 1 non-science professors.....and especially osteopathic schools as for a lor from a DO.

I have also heard that if a school says 3 LOR's ...you should send no more than 3....and the 3 should be from science professors....so where does that leave froom for volunteer LOR's?

 

[efex101]

Okay, most schools do have strict guidelines regarding LOR's that are a must like the ones you stated. That said, it is okay to send one or two additional ones like the volunteering one and maybe one from a PI. So although you have to have three for sure, you can always send additional ones making sure you do not bog them down with 10 LOR's he he.

 

[loomis]

don't mess with the lor requirements..i didn't pay attention to the senior faculty stipulation at hopkins and got rejected as a result (i called them and was inquiring about my app when i got the bad news). however, if you do meet the "bare" requirments, i think it would be perfectly reasonable to submit an extra letter or two if you thought it would flesh out your application more. i did this for several other schools and did not have any problems with it. in fact some interviewers brought up comments made from these supplemental LOR. good luck!!!
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Originally posted by WstSdDesi
Oh yea.....that was another concern i was debating.

Most schools specifically ask for 2 science and 1 non-science professors.....and especially osteopathic schools as for a lor from a DO.

I have also heard that if a school says 3 LOR's ...you should send no more than 3....and the 3 should be from science professors....so where does that leave froom for volunteer LOR's?

 

[meanderson]

I think in many cases some of the LOR requirements are waived...and in a few others they aren't. I just sent in my EVMS secondary, and I sent in a packet from interfolio containing:

-two science lor's
-one volunteer coordinator lor
-one LOR from a supervisor at work(I'm a teacher and he is a supervisory consultant for a regional educational group that monitors new public school teachers)

EVMS requirements state that in the absence of a premedical committee packet, two letters must come from science profs and one from a non-science prof. I don't see why EVMS shouldn't accept my packet from interfolio...I've been out of school a few years and literally cannot remember any non-science prof I've had. Seems like a recommendation from a supervisor who can comment on what I've been doing the last two years would be far more meaningful than a letter from a history professor I had 5 years ago who would never remember my name. The two science rec's I have are good and personal, so if the packet from interfolio I send won't suffice, well that will just be a tough break for me........

Fortunately every other school I have applied to(MCG, Mercer, Emory, UVA, MCV, UAB) aren't so stringent and just require *two* science academic letters in addition to one or two other letters of the applican't choice. I don't know about vandy yet.....they haven't invited me for a secondary/interview.