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sandprince

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Hey, I need some advice with what to do this summer. I have just graduated from my undergrad in Biological sciences. I am a Canadian student looking to apply in both US and Canadian medical schools this cycle. I applied last cycle and received feedback from schools; my GPA and MCAT scores were fine, but my Personal activities were lacking. I think for the most part I scored low on the personal activity section (heavily weighted in Canada) due to rushing through the app (could've worded things better).

This summer I will be rewriting my MCAT, to improve on my CARS score which was a bit on the lower side. I also want to do something that I may add to my application (due October 1st for Canada), that can help improve my personal activities score. I would greatly appreciate ideas, advice, tips on what I could do this summer to up that section on my application. I know that long term commitments are what admissions usually look for, however at this point I have approximately ~4.5 months to do something that can hopefully spice up my application a bit. All advice welcome!

Thanks

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What EC's have you completed so far for clinical and non-clinical volunteering and how many hours for each? If we know what you have already accomplished it will be easier to see where you may be lacking.
 
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What EC's have you completed so far for clinical and non-clinical volunteering and how many hours for each? If we know what you have already accomplished it will be easier to see where you may be lacking.

Won't be able to tell you in hours, but over the past few years basically:
2 years (200+ hours) of volunteering for a youth risk prevention program at the hospital, lab work as a lab assistant, a lot of volunteer work around my religious community (ongoing for past 5 years) which also included volunteer work with the homeless, leadership work around my University for 2 years, ongoing volunteer work as a tutor for youth coming from less privileged backgrounds, organizing two fundraiser dinners (year long effort, 2 years in a row now) to raise money for medical aid in Syria, volunteered for a while (but not too long) at a medical clinic, then did all those other extracurricular stuff like shadowing a physician, shadowing a surgeon etc.

Haven't really done any research work. I hope to volunteer a bit more with regards to the whole recent Syrian refugee influx.

I saw an opportunity to volunteer 1 on 1 with a special needs youth throughout the summer over a set amount of sessions, focussed on doing physical activities with the youth. However, I'm not too sure if this is something I'm exactly cut out for (no experience in the field).

That was a quick summary of things I've done, any other suggestions?
 
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IMO you have amazing non-clinical community service hours that show a great length of commitment. However you mentioned you only volunteered at a medical clinic for a little while and focused mainly on shadowing. I would recommend continuing some clinical volunteering to gain more experience interacting with patients.
Was the youth risk prevention program at the hospital clinical?

If you want to toss in some research that would be a plus as well.

The 1 on 1 summer volunteering sounds like it could be a lot of fun and a great experience, and even if you don't currently have any experience in the field, this can be your opportunity to get it.

I'm not very familiar with how competitive it is for Canadian students, so I would recommend talking to some of the other SDNers who are familiar and work on building a better school list that could improve your chances for when you apply.
 
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IMO you have amazing non-clinical community service hours that show a great length of commitment. However you mentioned you only volunteered at a medical clinic for a little while and focused mainly on shadowing. I would recommend continuing some clinical volunteering to gain more experience interacting with patients.
Was the youth risk prevention program at the hospital clinical?

If you want to toss in some research that would be a plus as well.

The 1 on 1 summer volunteering sounds like it could be a lot of fun and a great experience, and even if you don't currently have any experience in the field, this can be your opportunity to get it.

I'm not very familiar with how competitive it is for Canadian students, so I would recommend talking to some of the other SDNers who are familiar and work on building a better school list that could improve your chances for when you apply.

Nope the hospital program wasn't clinical unfortunately. Thanks a lot for the reply though! I'll try to take a look into doing something more-clinical related. To be honest I'm not too familiar with this site, as I only check it out once in a blue moon, but I'll try to be a more avid user over these next few months. Thanks again!
 
Nope the hospital program wasn't clinical unfortunately. Thanks a lot for the reply though! I'll try to take a look into doing something more-clinical related. To be honest I'm not too familiar with this site, as I only check it out once in a blue moon, but I'll try to be a more avid user over these next few months. Thanks again!
I'm sure if you search any keywords regarding 'Canadian student' or 'Canadian applicant' in the search engine you might find some useful threads from others in your situation.
Or just post in WAMC with your stats and ask for help with a school list, and include the list you had when you last applied so they can figure out what to add or remove.
 
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