How should I improve my ECs?

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hopki099

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I am just finishing my junior year of college in Minnesota. Unfortunately, I did not do much outside of school with my freshman and sophomore years of college besides research.

Here's what I have worth noting so far:
~1500 hours of total lab research experience in a few different labs. My research now requires testing in the hospital if that matters at all
~75 hours volunteering in the pediatric unit of the hospital visiting patients and managing the playroom.
- A 9-day service trip to New Orleans over spring break
- 16 years of soccer, captain of a year of JV and club, 1yr varsity in high school, captain/organizer of intramurals for 3 years (intramural champs this semester :))
- Member of pre-medical club for 3 years with ~30 hours scattered volunteering
- Physician shadowing totaling 25 hours or so
- Self-taught guitar, 2 years

Plans for the summer:
- Continuing to volunteer in the pediatric unit 3-4hrs/wk
- Volunteer clinical research in emergency department ~20hrs/wk
- Continued work in my lab 5-10hrs/wk
- Collaboration with 3M (they have new technology and I have access to a hospital to do testing, so I'm doing research with them ~20hrs/wk)
- Sporadic shadowing

By the end of summer I should have:
~2000 hours of research (not including volunteer research) and a publication in the works
400 - 500 hours of clinical volunteering
40 - 50 hours of shadowing


Tentative plans for next year:
- Continued work in my lab and with 3M ~15hrs/wk total
- Treasurer of my pre-med club ~3hrs/wk
- Continued volunteering in pediatric unit 3-4hrs/wk
- TA for introductory biology course ~10hrs/wk



Suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

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Is there an activity that I have planned that I should cancel for nonclinical community service? I have a lot on my plate already. The research with 3M and my lab I have to keep up with.
 
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Is there an activity that I have planned that I should cancel for nonclinical community service? I have a lot on my plate already. The research with 3M and my lab I have to keep up with.
You could drop the premed club. You could stop the pediatric volunteering if the clinical research will give you a decent amount of direct patient contact. Or drop the clinical research and broaden your range of clinical experience by switching to another hospital department. You could also cut the lab hours to a minimum.
 
Yeah I should have plenty of clinical experience after being in the ER this summer. I'm just afraid of dropping my pediatric volunteering because I do not have many long term activities. Plus I enjoy it, hah. And I've been apart of the pre-med club since I was a freshman but I feel that it doesn't really mean anything without an officer position to top it off.
 
So instead of taking the TA position, I have decided to do volunteer tutoring for kids 6th-8th grade in an underserved school.

The position will be less of a time commitment (2-3hrs instead of 8-12), and should give me some nonclinical volunteering as well as teaching/mentoring experience this summer and through next year.

Besides, there are plenty of deserving people who want to be TAs, but there is a shortage of people who want to tutor for these kids.

Sound like a good idea?
 
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My impression is that noncampus tutoring as a community service would be more highly regarded than the campus TA position (even if not paid). Both accomplish the same goal of giving you Teaching experience to round out your application. One gives you broader community service as well, and frees up more time for other pursuits.
 
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