No LOR from extra curriculars

[bwonger06]

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At this point i am not going to have a LOR from any kind of extra curricular activity. I volunteered 100+ hours at a local hospital until my volunteer coordinator and i fell into bad terms. Long story short, she said i was not allowed back and i really did not want to return.

Should i even list the volunteering on my AMCAS and risk the chance of them wanting to confirm it and have my coordinator completely bash me? Am i ok applying without any kind of EC LOR?

 

[se2131]

I didn't have any LOR's from extracurriculars, and I don't think it's incredibly important to have one (would be nice though). Nobody's going to bother calling up your coordinator to confirm, definitely list the activity.

 

[ARoseIsARose]

I didn't have any letters of rec from ECs and I have had 4 interviews.

I would consider why you were on bad terms. If it was just an unfortunate situation go ahead and list it. You can always explain what happened if they ask. However, if you flaked off (not saying that you did!🙂), then I'd feel iffy about listing it.

 

[Concordia]

List it as an EC.
Don't worry about lack of LOR.

 

[Jolie South]

It's not necessary to have LORs from ECs, however. . .

I think they can make a huge difference as they are usually people that know you really well personally, much more so than the average bio professor. When someone can genuinely attest to your ambitions and ability to succeed, I think that is an obvious positive.


Why would you not be on good terms with this person, anyways? You might want to take a look at this.

 

[bwonger06]

Well according to my volunteer coordinator, I abused my volunteer privileges too much. Since I was volunteering in the OR i watched a ton of surgeries and every time there was a trauma coming in i would rush over to the ED. I did this because there was simply nothing else i could do. Sure i could stock the linen cart but why the heck would i do that? I ran blood but most of the time the tubing system was used.

Back to the bad terms, according to my volunteer coordinator, i was volunteering at a teaching hospital and there is only so much room for learning and that volunteers should not be allowed to do what i did. (This was after she warned me to get my act straight). So she took away my volunteer position in the OR/ER.

 

[Paulz]

If there are no LOR, how do they know that you actually did the work? They've got to make sure people aren't just lying. I am going to try to get a LOR with everything I do.

 

[Jolie South]

Well according to my volunteer coordinator, I abused my volunteer privileges too much. Since I was volunteering in the OR i watched a ton of surgeries and every time there was a trauma coming in i would rush over to the ED. I did this because there was simply nothing else i could do. Sure i could stock the linen cart but why the heck would i do that? I ran blood but most of the time the tubing system was used.

Back to the bad terms, according to my volunteer coordinator, i was volunteering at a teaching hospital and there is only so much room for learning and that volunteers should not be allowed to do what i did. (This was after she warned me to get my act straight). So she took away my volunteer position in the OR/ER.

it is important to learn, but you volunteered there to do a job. while i realized that stocking the linen cart isn't exciting or super important, someone still needs to do it and that's something that you agreed to do. maybe, you could have done your volunteer tasks while "on the clock" and then watched surgeries in your free time afterwards.

 

[se2131]

If there are no LOR, how do they know that you actually did the work? They've got to make sure people aren't just lying. I am going to try to get a LOR with everything I do.

If you lie about an activity on your AMCAS, it'll often become obvious during your interviews. Otherwise these schools operate on an honor system, they're not going to doubt that you did something that you say you did, unless your description in your application or interviews raises eyebrows.

 

[Paulz]

If you lie about an activity on your AMCAS, it'll often become obvious during your interviews. Otherwise these schools operate on an honor system, they're not going to doubt that you did something that you say you did, unless your description in your application or interviews raises eyebrows.

But people are going to lie and eventually beat out honest people, is there really no way that they check or follow up on it? I'd never cheat because I am an honest person. But someone who is kind of struggling to get in, may put down they did an exaggerated form some menial volunteer work or something to give them a little extra boost or said they did some activities they didn't.

 

[jochi1543]

If there are no LOR, how do they know that you actually did the work? They've got to make sure people aren't just lying. I am going to try to get a LOR with everything I do.

That's impossible...not to mention, most schools will ask for 3 professor letters, and most will only take 1 extra LOR. Unless you've only had one EC, this is pointless.

 

[futuredrcrawfor]

People can flame me if they want but...

sounds to me that the OP doesn't understand the meaning of volunteer work and is a lil full of themselves. Volunteer work is what you do to help others...it is an act of self sacrifice (and that is not to say you can't enjoy what you do) the OR volunteer has responsibilities (like stocking the cart) and that is not what you were there to do!

this position was not advertised as physician shadowing. shadowing is not volunteer work- the physician volunteers to allow you not the other way around- it would have been better to do your job then ask a physician you have encountered about shadowing.

so in all honesty- I wouldn't list it unless you felt you did the description cuz it sounds like you used a volunteer position for motives other than that you should have.

Personally- I haven't done much shadowing at the hospital I volunteer with during volunteer times- occasionally a doctor comes into the room I am in and I can listen in but I have found plenty of physicians willing to let me shadow in other atmospheres and outside of the hours that I do because I truly love my position (tutor and child life at a Children's hospital)

 

[OncDoc19]

You don't need a LOR from any and certainly not from all volunteer things. I had one LOR from a professor I do clinical research for and the rest were from professors. I applied to 13 schools and have 10 interview offers so I don't think this was a problem. One caveat though - make sure you ask professor who really know you well!

 

[HumidBeing]

But people are going to lie and eventually beat out honest people, is there really no way that they check or follow up on it? I'd never cheat because I am an honest person. But someone who is kind of struggling to get in, may put down they did an exaggerated form some menial volunteer work or something to give them a little extra boost or said they did some activities they didn't.

😱Never! Med school wannabees would never do such a thing! They are all totally humble, honest, and willing to give a hand up to each other.🙄