Meaningful ECs

[bjt223]

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I was wondering if there are some kind of standard in which adcom are looking for meaningful ECs. When I was browsing though the forums, lot of people here have some impressive resume. I understand that I need to stand out, but how can I stand out if there are many others that may be more impressive. So far for what I have done are

1000 hours clinical volunteer at a hospital
Leadership position in several club
Doing outreach for preventative health in college for 1 year
EMT
Research, but no publication

I believe I could have done better than this. Now I'm graduate after college, I'm trying to figure out what other volunteer opportunities should I do? I'm planning to do volunteer search and rescue or volunteer firefighter, but it's hard to do it with a full time job and taking classes at same time. How can I stand out here and do I need to do more volunteering?

 

[Mr.Monster]

For an EC to be meaningful, it has to mean something to you. In other words, you must get something out of the EC (i.e. a perspective, improved knowledge, etc.) that you would not get otherwise by sitting on the couch watching TV or burying your head in textbooks. One of the greatest lessons I learned my freshman year of college is that you should never participate in an activity only because you think it is what the adcom wants you to do. Instead, you should find a way to get your clinical experience, shadowing, research, volunteering, etc. by participating in activities you are passionate about. This is the best way to find meaning in your EC involvement.

 

[infectiousdisease101]

Standing out means be yourself. If you are asking for our opinion and trying to do what you think adcoms looks for, you won't stand out because everyone does that.

Here's the thing, being yourself may set you up for an automatic rejection at some and win you admissions in others. Why? Their mission statement. Each medical school looks for different qualities: working with underserved, leadership, research. You want to be honest because you don't want to go to a school that emphasizes on something you're not passionate about.

I know someone who got rejected from a great medical school pre-interview but got into their dream school. Their LizzyM was a 72, so it wasn't due to their stats.

 

[Catalystik]

I was wondering if there are some kind of standard in which adcom are looking for meaningful ECs. When I was browsing though the forums, lot of people here have some impressive resume. I understand that I need to stand out, but how can I stand out if there are many others that may be more impressive. So far for what I have done are

1000 hours clinical volunteer at a hospital
Leadership position in several club
Doing outreach for preventative health in college for 1 year
EMT
Research, but no publication

I believe I could have done better than this. Now I'm graduate after college, I'm trying to figure out what other volunteer opportunities should I do? I'm planning to do volunteer search and rescue or volunteer firefighter, but it's hard to do it with a full time job and taking classes at same time. How can I stand out here and do I need to do more volunteering?

Additional nonmedical community service is a good idea. Find a local organization whose mission you care about. Teaching is a good experience to add (including mentoring, tutoring, coaching, ESL). I see no physician shadowing, which is an unspoken requirement. And don't forget that hobbies and/or artistic endeavors can help make you memorable amid a sea of look-alike applicants.