Question about EC's

[MOH]

I am in the process of applying this year for the entering class of '09. I have applied broadly and have fair stats. I have been complete for several months at many schools but have had only several interviews.

Looking at my application and wondering why I am not getting so many interviews has made me think about my strengths and weaknesses. One thing that I could improve on is my clinical volunteer work/shadowing. I have had clinical exposure but not recently and not as much as many SDNers out there.

I have started volunteering at a clinic recently. My question is this: if my secondaries have been complete at all of my schools, will it make a difference to let them know that I have started clinical volunteer work this late in the game? How do I do this, even if I were to let them know?
Or, would it be better to hold off and just mention it in the interview?

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[shemarty]

You can call the school's admissions office and ask them whether or not they accept update letters.

 

[MOH]

Yeah... but is it going to make any significant difference in my application to send an update letter for an EC such as this?

 

[armybound]

probably not, unless that was the one weakness you had

though it's always good to show them that you're still interested.

 

[GoSpursGo]

My policy is that it will rarely hurt you to send an update, and you never know, it might help even if all it does is make them look at your app one more time.

 

[stixx]

Have you had your interviews yet? After a few of them you can generally tell what your application's strengths and weaknesses are by the direction and tone of the questioning. If not, maybe you could wait until you've had a little bit of indirect feedback...it could be an entirely different issue holding you back.

 

[shemarty]

Have you had your interviews yet? After a few of them you can generally tell what your application's strengths and weaknesses are by the direction and tone of the questioning. If not, maybe you could wait until you've had a little bit of indirect feedback...it could be an entirely different issue holding you back.

I thought the OP was asking because of the lack of interview offers.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I thought the OP was asking because of the lack of interview offers.

The lack of MANY interviews, perhaps; the OP actually says they only had "several interviews."

 

[235009]

i won't comment on the fact that your complaint is ridiculous because if you have fair stats (~30 MCAT, ~3.5 GPA) and have gotten "several interviews" (>3) then you're doing pretty darn well!

what i do want to comment on however is you thinking that just starting to volunteer at a hospital right now is somehow magically going to make everything better. The adcoms aren't stupid and will be able to see through your hail mary at the two minute warning from a mile away! this is one of the most blatant forms of "playing the game" i've ever seen.