Some more questions...

[Riverdance]

This site is just so addicting! You guys are so helpful!

I recently started shadowing a dermatologist and sometimes he lets me hold gauze and dab blood when he's cutting out a mole or something. If he lets me do a lot more of this, could I put this down as clinical experience and shadowing? Or does clinical experience have to be something more?

Basically freshman and first semester of sophomore year, I did no ECs. I've recently started doing a whole bunch of stuff. I'll have a little over a year in all of these by the time I apply. But is it going to look bad if all of my ECS have been crammed into my junior year?

Thanks in advance!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I think you could put this under clinical experience. As LizzyM say's, " If you can smell the patient, then its clinical experience."

 

[bannie22]

amcas lets you pick the designation.

ive never picked shadowing or clinical experience.

and im not sure if those designations exist.

you can describe it as anything u want.

 

[bravofleet4]

I think 1-year commitment is the minimum you need to demonstrate your ability to stick with something. You don't need this for everything but you need 1 or 2 activities that long such as clinical experience. That's the thing I think that most distinguishes clinical experience from shadowing which is that clinical experience is usually done on a regular basis for an extended period of time while shadowing usually means sticking with a physician for just a few days or weeks and is only done during school breaks.

I don't think it's too late to include more activities in your EC's. It's just that junior year will be incredibly busy studying for the MCAT and getting your app ready along with classes/research/volunteering/etc.

Whatever you do just remember quality trumps quantity. Don't even bother trying to start something and cram in a hundred hours of volunteering within something as short as a couple of months before application time b/c the adcom's will see right through that. If you can, try to stick with just a few activities and go as far as you can with them such as becoming an officer or starting a new initiative. Having a whole bunch of little things will just end up going in one box b/c like when applying to medical school, you have to actually list what you did for each of your activities. This is to discourage the whole "I'm a member of a hundred different clubs" mentality where you attend meetings but do little more. Above all else, it doesn't hurt to pick up a non-medical hobby to talk about with your interviewers like an interest in snowboarding or in my case aquariums.

 

[Morsetlis]

You should just ride another year, apply during senior year, do interviews/secondaries in a glide year, and enjoy the process.

 

[Catalystik]

But is it going to look bad if all of my ECS have been crammed into my junior year?

Yes, it will look bad, which is why you need to continue your activities through your application year, just in case you'll end up reapplying.

 

[Riverdance]

Yes, it will look bad, which is why you need to continue your activities through your application year, just in case you'll end up reapplying.

Thanks everyone! Okay so it's not really crammed into my junior year. I started submitting volunteer applications in january but let's say I get everything rolling by March. From March to summer of 2011. Is that still bad?

 

[shepardsun]

You should just ride another year, apply during senior year, do interviews/secondaries in a glide year, and enjoy the process.

Wait, people actually enjoy this process?

Yes, it will look bad, which is why you need to continue your activities through your application year, just in case you'll end up reapplying.

Good advice, if you're someone like me who did start most of their ECs the beginning of junior year then you will be asked frequently in interviews if you still continue them (hint: they want you to say yes)

Thanks everyone! Okay so it's not really crammed into my junior year. I started submitting volunteer applications in january but let's say I get everything rolling by March. From March to summer of 2011. Is that still bad?

That'll be earlier than when I started, but I had a few other nice aspects of my application that made it okay that I was a little weaker in those areas. Depends on what kind of admissions success you're aiming for, the only top 20 school that I've gotten into thus far is Wash U and they're more scores/GPA/research driven, so if you're aiming for a Harvard or Stanford or Hopkins one year of good quality ECs may not be enough.

 

[Catalystik]

Okay so it's not really crammed into my junior year. I started submitting volunteer applications in january but let's say I get everything rolling by March. From March to summer of 2011. Is that still bad?

It's better than having less than a year's worth of clinical experience/community service.

Is there anything about your application that will suggest an interest in medicine before March 2010?

You've never really presented your entire application as you project it will be. You just ask unrelated questions. This makes it harder for us to judge a question within the context of larger application issues and eventual goals. As shepardson says, one EC weakness can be balanced by a strength in another area. But not always. And highly-selective schools have different expectations.

 

[Morsetlis]

You'll learn to enjoy it when you have everything you need and just need to copy/paste.

 

[Riverdance]

It's better than having less than a year's worth of clinical experience/community service.

Is there anything about your application that will suggest an interest in medicine before March 2010?

You've never really presented your entire application as you project it will be. You just ask unrelated questions. This makes it harder for us to judge a question within the context of larger application issues and eventual goals. As shepardson says, one EC weakness can be balanced by a strength in another area. But not always. And highly-selective schools have different expectations.

Right right, I'm going to wait until I actually start these volunteer activities, and in a month, I'll list all my numbers and ECS on a post. Hopefully, you will still be around to give me some feedback

 

[Catalystik]

We'll look forward to it.