My EC Contact barely speaks english and has no phone....

[surfguy84]

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A few years back I did a 4 month volunteer stint in papua new guinea. I was actually down there on an extended surf trip and met a local guy who ran a small organization that provided food, medicine, and water to the indigenous population. I ended up sticking around and helping him out for a few months as I mentioned, never at the time thinking I'd be using him as a contact on my med school applications...

I do have his email, which he can respond to, but it's in broken english, and often 2-3 weeks later...Goes without saying he has no phone. What should I do here?

 

[el_duderino]

Include his email, say he has no phone, and describe the situation in the blurb section.

 

[ace12345]

Not a big deal. No one is going to freak out if you're EC contact is tough to find (In fact they will probably never attempt to contact your EC contact).

 

[Keladry]

You can just include the email; I did that for most of my contacts.

 

[surfguy84]

Thanks for the replies. Guess I'll just leave the email and hope this guy doesn't wonder who the hell is emailing him if they actually do contact.

 

[el_duderino]

You could email him and give him a heads-up. "Hey, I want to thank you again for the opportunity to blah blah. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. I'm including the experience in my medical school application and will list you as a contact. Chances are no one will email you, but if they do I want to make sure it's not a surprise. [Insert niceities here etc etc]"

 

[turayza]

@surfguy84 You should always let a contact know beforehand if you are using them as a contact! Do what @jonnythan suggested, but for everyone you plan on listing on your application. Let them know that you are applying, that they don't need to provide a reference letter or anything and just need to confirm that you did xyz over abc time (remind them in case they forgot) in case they are contacted and throw in a thank you for the experience.