Summer EC's

[td08]

How do med schools feel about students who do the majority of their EC's / volunteering / shadowing during the summer and winter breaks rather than during the semester?

I'm not talking about holing up during school and ONLY studying, but doing like one EC and a few hours on the weekends of volunteering and then doing the majority of my shadowing and clinical experience during the summers. Is this kind of thing usual?

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[neurocirujano]

I'm sure as long as you show an out of school interest during the school year, this should be fine. One annoying thing that I've found on the 2008-2009 application, however, is that you list your service time from "such and such date-such and such date," so if you work in the summers and winters only, it might me a bit cumbersome to enter into the application.

Alternatively, adcoms do like to see consistency over a long range of time. I would definitely make sure to hold on to that one thing you do in the school year, whatever it is.

 

[td08]

One annoying thing that I've found on the 2008-2009 application, however, is that you list your service time from "such and such date-such and such date," so if you work in the summers and winters only, it might me a bit cumbersome to enter into the application.

It is OK to combine though and explain in the notes if the activity is similar, right? For instance, if you volunteered at a clinic during the school year and then over the summer volunteered at another hospital or clinic in your hometown, couldn't you just list that as one year-long activity and specify in the notes part the dates for each experience?

I'm just making sure that I will have all the info I need when it comes time to fill out my application: basically dates, average hours per week, brief description, and contact information, right?

 

[tiedyeddog]

I'd say it's not the pre-med "norm" but as long as you do have a few EC's during the school year then you are fine.

 

[mk8]

just be careful not to "over-value" the EC if you only did a few weeks/sessions/hours worth of it. a few days of shadowing a physician isnt going to impress anyone, a week in costa rica dispensing aids meds is borderline. but if you learn something from it, it's worth writing so.

IMPORTANT: dont miss out on any opportunities just because you think an adcom isn't going to care. your pre-medical experiences all add up.