improving ECs while applying?

[angldrps]

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[Iliketoytles]

Nice mcat score; it will compensate for your lower gpa.

Adcoms will look favorably on your scribe position, no matter how many hours you have on your aacomas. They'll see your start date for the position and make sense of the lower amount of hours.

 

[michow87]

Hey guys,
I was hoping to apply in the upcoming application cycle . My stats are cGPA=3.2, sGPA=3.2, MCAT=32. The only component of my application that I feel needs improvement is clinical experience. The most meaningful clinical experience I have had is volunteering in a hospital in a developing country. This experience was very meaningful and I will feel very comfortable discussing it in essays and at possible interviews. Other than this I volunteered for more than 100 hours in my school's eye clinic, but i didn't gain much from this because all I did was make appointments, check patients in, and assisted them with selecting contact lenses/glasses. Although this experience provided me with some patient contact, I am not sure if I would have much to say about it.

I have recently applied for a full time scribe position. By the time interviews come in around September/October, I should already have several months of working in an ER as a scribe completed.

If I put on my application that i have recently started working as a scribe, will schools look favorably at this? or will they dismiss it as a last minute thing since I will not have too many hours working as a scribe completed by the time June comes around?

Any advice will be appreciated.

We have the exact same stats 😛

Just stay busy with activities in the health field and you should be fine!

 

[angldrps]

can i get some more input please?

 

[medcandidate]

from my experience, what i felt was that they are not really looking at how much experience you have..it's more of how meaningful the experiences you had were.. i think volunteering in a developing country's hospital should count positively.. as well as the eye clinic one, if you can make it sound meaningful.. it's all up to you.. as for recently volunteering in ER, they would definitely look at it favourably..specially because it's going to be a very recent experience of yours.. i did not have extensive clinical experience either, so I ended up volunteering in a clinic just earlier last year, and that I think ended up playing a very important part in getting those acceptances. As long as you can get an experience that is meaningful for you, I don't think they will be much concerned about it being last minute.

 

[YiSheng]

Like what previous posts before me said, your volunteer at a developing country hospital is a big thumbs up for your clinical volunteering experience. I think it shows the adcoms your passion in medicine and society. For your eye clinic experience, it seems like you are doubting the value of the experience. Yes, I agree that it probably won't catch the adcoms' eyes as well as your other experience, but that's where you have to present it to your advantage. Not everyday of every doctor's lives would be out in developing countries as a Doctors Without Borders physician dodging bullets and saving people's lives. There could be days (more likely if you are primary care) where you are doing mundane and "boring" things like listen to patients complain about a stuffy nose. Both clinical should give you experiences dealing with the two ends of the environmental spectrum and show you that your care for patients should be equivalently outstanding no matter where you are and what the patients present. Sorry for writing so much...just my 2 cents 🙂

 

[angldrps]

thanks for the advice!

 

[tuuursh]

Definitely keep adding to your ECs! All of your clinical experience is great but since medicine is a continuous learning experience, neither should your clinical experience. Plus, this will also give you more to talk about when it comes time for an interview! Some things that you've done that maybe were not posted in your application because of how recently you started.

BEST OF LUCK!