I need EC advice... possibly reapplying

[s2015]

I am applying this year but I would love some advice on how to best use my time to improve my ECs just in case I have to reapply next year and of course to make myself a better applicant for this year as well. I will be a senior in the Fall. Here is a summary of my ECs:
- 4 premed/honor societies (will continue)
- Volunteered at 3 hospitals/1 clinic (will continue at 1 hospital/1 clinic minimum) (total hours around 115-120 so far)
- Shadowed specialist (only about 8 hours)
- Viewed surgery and other procedure (can this count as shadowing and should I observe more surgeries?)
- Leadership positions: 1 full year position, 1 semester long position (do I need more leadership or should this be enough?)
- I have some non-medically related service with pre-med/honor societies but none that I listed separately on the AMCAS app (do I need more?)

Plan:
- Try to get some research experience because I have none (this hopefully shouldn’t be a problem for my state schools this time around??)
- Try to shadow more doctors (should I focus on trying to shadow primary care doctors since I haven’t shadowed one yet? Would it be more beneficial to shadow one doctor for more hours or different types of doctors for fewer hours?)

Please let me know if there are any more holes in my ECs that I can fill. Thanks so much for your help!

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[OGMD]

I would definitely focus on increasing your volunteer/shadowing experience substantially. Many applicants will have 200 minimum volunteer hours and at least 100 shadowing. Research will be a key factor if you want to get into a top school, but lower tiers don't put as much emphasis on it. These lower schools will put more emphasis on volunteering shadowing though. So I guess if you have only one year to decide what you're aiming for and do that.

What's your gpa/mcat?

 

[Catalystik]

It would be nice to see some nonmedical, noncampus community service which you care about and participate in every week.

Another 50 hours of shadowing is a good idea, to be split among 2 other specialists, of which one is office-based primary care.

Additional clinical experience is a good idea too.

Your leadership is fine if you're not aiming for top twenty-type schools.

Research, even if only for one semester is a good idea. The average is about a year's worth.

 

[s2015]

What's your gpa/mcat?

My cGPA is a 3.75, my sGPA is a 3.55, and my MCAT is a 27Q (8 PS/ 9 VR/ 10 BS). Although my MCAT is obviously not ideal, I don’t have time to retake it now especially since I haven’t had time to study more. I am just going to hope for the best this time around.

Thanks so much to both of you for all of your advice. I will focus on getting more experience with volunteering, shadowing, and nonmedical community service. I’m not applying to any of the top schools but I’m going to try to get some research experience to help out my application. Thanks again!

 

[alwaysaangel]

- 4 premed/honor societies (will continue)
this won't help you much

- Volunteered at 3 hospitals/1 clinic (will continue at 1 hospital/1 clinic minimum) (total hours around 115-120 so far)
- Shadowed specialist (only about 8 hours)
- Viewed surgery and other procedure (can this count as shadowing and should I observe more surgeries?)
I would say you probably need more direct clinical experience. What was your volunteer position doing? one of the most important factors in medical school acceptance is if you really understand what its like to be a doctor and have a very good understnadning of why you wnat to be a doctor. They don't want people having buyers remorse 2 years in. You need to find high quality experiences that will really give you a good idea of what your future will be like

- Leadership positions: 1 full year position, 1 semester long position (do I need more leadership or should this be enough?)
What were these? What they are worth and if its "enough" is completely dependent on what these positions were and if they are quality experiences that you learned something from

- I have some non-medically related service with pre-med/honor societies but none that I listed separately on the AMCAS app (do I need more?)

Plan:
- Try to get some research experience because I have none (this hopefully shouldn’t be a problem for my state schools this time around??)
Depends...what state are you from??

- Try to shadow more doctors (should I focus on trying to shadow primary care doctors since I haven’t shadowed one yet? Would it be more beneficial to shadow one doctor for more hours or different types of doctors for fewer hours?)


Overall you need to worry less about if its enough and worry more about the ultimate goals of "extracurriculars". Its partially to show that you understand medicine and know why you want to be a doctor and its partially to make yourself stand out among the horde by being an interesting person with passions for things. Can you get in without that? Sure. But it makes it a lot easier if they can imagine how you'll fit into their school and what you will do for the school while you are there. You need to be excited about the things you've done and make yourself stand out. From what you've written here you don't really stand out right now. You have now consistent passion, no niche to make you stand out. Right now you look like a checklist premed which can hurt you a lot if your application doesn't catch anyone's eye enough to offer you an interview. Even worse if you get to the interview and cannot talk about your experience in college in an interesting and exciting manner.

 

[Doctor246853]

I am applying this year but I would love some advice on how to best use my time to improve my ECs just in case I have to reapply next year and of course to make myself a better applicant for this year as well. I will be a senior in the Fall. Here is a summary of my ECs:
- 4 premed/honor societies (will continue)
- Volunteered at 3 hospitals/1 clinic (will continue at 1 hospital/1 clinic minimum) (total hours around 115-120 so far)
- Shadowed specialist (only about 8 hours)
- Viewed surgery and other procedure (can this count as shadowing and should I observe more surgeries?)
- Leadership positions: 1 full year position, 1 semester long position (do I need more leadership or should this be enough?)
- I have some non-medically related service with pre-med/honor societies but none that I listed separately on the AMCAS app (do I need more?)

Plan:
- Try to get some research experience because I have none (this hopefully shouldn’t be a problem for my state schools this time around??)
- Try to shadow more doctors (should I focus on trying to shadow primary care doctors since I haven’t shadowed one yet? Would it be more beneficial to shadow one doctor for more hours or different types of doctors for fewer hours?)

Please let me know if there are any more holes in my ECs that I can fill. Thanks so much for your help!

Why..why..why the big text? Am I seriously the only one who go a headache reading this? You might as well TYPED LIKE THIS...