Not much Community involvement...

[711769]

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Hey all,

So I'm a canadian student with his bachelors and am applying to the states this summer. I have a sufficient GPA and DAT to hopefully get interviews, however I'm really worried about a certain aspect of my EC. I have a fair share of leadership (i.e club executive positions and Peer Tutoring for 4 years), 2 years of research with a first author publication and shadowing with GPs and an Ortho, but im almost lacking community involvement (~20 hrs in one day gigs across my undergrad, so no long term commitments in one organization), which is what the schools as well as people on this site keep talking about and emphasizing applicants to have. I was wondering how much this would hinder my application and potentially my acceptance? Also I will be applying to ~10-12 "canadian/OOS friendly" schools to keep my options open. I am currently applying to a bunch of volunteer groups to increase my hours but from what I heard, cramming hours for the sake of apps is not that great in the eyes of the admins?

My stats are: 23 AA, 24 TS and 24 PAT (canadian DAT) with a 3.9 cGPA and a 3.97 sGPA.

Thank You for your time.

 

[nowaysurvey]

While I think it could be a minor turn off to some ADCOMs, I don't think it'll hinder your chance of acceptance much, if any. It's not like you have zero, and IMHO, your stats are too good to be passed up. Just avoid the schools that require / prioritize applicants with intensive community / volunteering involvement (there should be a list somewhere on SDN). Certainly consider volunteering from now til whenever you're applying (and on the application let them know that's it's ongoing). Any amount of hours is better than none, even if you've recently started. Aim for at least 50+ by June. Personally, an easy place to start is by checking out your local hospital and asking them if you can volunteer there. Also, isn't peer tutoring considered volunteering/community involvement or did you get paid?

Best of luck~

 

[Alpha Centauri]

If you have other activities that explain why you were busy for community involvement , you will be ok

 

[Steins;Gate]

Have you considered applying to Canadian schools like U of T (they do not currently look at ECs and your marks/DAT are stellar but your GPA has to follow the OMSAS conversion for U of T)?