Teaching as an EC?

[passthepants]

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It seems like the AMCAS app is not designed for those who are, well, over the age of 22. Do you know if it's OK to include college teaching on your list of activities? What kinds of things are good to include?

I expect I'll be asked about it at an interview, but I was curious as to how to handle it. It's not an EC, it's a job. What do they really mean by "ECs" on the app?

 

[drtintin]

It seems like the AMCAS app is not designed for those who are, well, over the age of 22. Do you know if it's OK to include college teaching on your list of activities? What kinds of things are good to include?

I expect I'll be asked about it at an interview, but I was curious as to how to handle it. It's not an EC, it's a job. What do they really mean by "ECs" on the app?

The EC section is a conglomerate of everything - leadership positions (secretary of x club, president of fraternity/sorority), awards and honors, research experiences, publications, volunteer work (clinical and otherwise), shadowing, and yes work experiences like your teaching job would go in here too. I know it's not an *EC*, but if I remember right you do have the option of designating it as paid employment. College teaching seems like an excellent thing to include in that section. And remember, you get to designate 3 of those activities as most meaningful and write an additional mini-essay about them, i.e. why you find them most meaningful.

 

[MedPR]

It seems like the AMCAS app is not designed for those who are, well, over the age of 22. Do you know if it's OK to include college teaching on your list of activities? What kinds of things are good to include?

I expect I'll be asked about it at an interview, but I was curious as to how to handle it. It's not an EC, it's a job. What do they really mean by "ECs" on the app?

ECs = unpaid activities like shadowing and volunteering. Since there is a separate section for ECs and Work Experience, your job as a teacher should go in Work Experience.

 

[drtintin]

ECs = unpaid activities like shadowing and volunteering. Since there is a separate section for ECs and Work Experience, your job as a teacher should go in Work Experience.

When OP mentioned "EC", I thought he/she was asking about the work and activities section as a whole. Within the general activities/work section you can designate experiences differently, either as an "extracurricular/hobbies/avocations", "community service (clinical/not clinical)", "work experience". And if I remember right, there's even a designation for "teaching/tutoring", might consider putting that experience in there.

 

[thlaxer]

When OP mentioned "EC", I thought he/she was asking about the work and activities section as a whole. Within the general activities/work section you can designate experiences differently, either as an "extracurricular/hobbies/avocations", "community service (clinical/not clinical)", "work experience". And if I remember right, there's even a designation for "teaching/tutoring", might consider putting that experience in there.

This is my understanding as well from last year's application, did AMCAS separate the EC and work activities section this year or something? Seems like a strange thing to do though.

There is a teaching/tutoring designation on the AMCAS. To the OP: it's definitely okay to include your college teaching experience. I actually think it'll help you since schools really look favorably at teaching experiences in general. Good luck!

 

[MedPR]

When OP mentioned "EC", I thought he/she was asking about the work and activities section as a whole. Within the general activities/work section you can designate experiences differently, either as an "extracurricular/hobbies/avocations", "community service (clinical/not clinical)", "work experience". And if I remember right, there's even a designation for "teaching/tutoring", might consider putting that experience in there.

This is my understanding as well from last year's application, did AMCAS separate the EC and work activities section this year or something? Seems like a strange thing to do though.

There is a teaching/tutoring designation on the AMCAS. To the OP: it's definitely okay to include your college teaching experience. I actually think it'll help you since schools really look favorably at teaching experiences in general. Good luck!

I confused AACOMAS/AMCAS. I believe AACOMAS separates them. Sorry!

 

[dmf2682]

Going to hijack this thread.

When it comes to teaching, are med schools looking for some experience because doctors teach?

I'm asking because I've a lot of tutoring and I mention it in my ps but not using it in the teaching sense, but with more of a compassion focus. Will my message be clouded if my main takeaway from the experience is working with people and connecting with them as opposed to the act itself?

 

[hopeful22213]

OP- I was a teacher after college and listed that experience under "teaching" rather than paid employment. I don't imagine it's a big deal either way.

 

[johnnyscans]

Going to hijack this thread.

When it comes to teaching, are med schools looking for some experience because doctors teach?

I'm asking because I've a lot of tutoring and I mention it in my ps but not using it in the teaching sense, but with more of a compassion focus. Will my message be clouded if my main takeaway from the experience is working with people and connecting with them as opposed to the act itself?

Physicians are directly responsible for training the next generation. They are expected to be efficient teachers.

Teaching experience is huge,

 

[thlaxer]

Going to hijack this thread.

When it comes to teaching, are med schools looking for some experience because doctors teach?

I'm asking because I've a lot of tutoring and I mention it in my ps but not using it in the teaching sense, but with more of a compassion focus. Will my message be clouded if my main takeaway from the experience is working with people and connecting with them as opposed to the act itself?

I think that's definitely true, a few interviewers brought up how teaching is an important skill to have for doctors. The interviewers who talked about teaching focused on my reflections about the activity (e.g. how to better explain difficult concepts, things I thought were important for a student-teacher relationship etc.). They seemed to be more interested in what I learned from the experience vs. the fact that I simply did it.

Your teaching experience helps show that you're invested in helping others succeed and I think that this "compassion" aspect can be great for the PS. However, I feel that it's a lost opportunity to not mention anything about what you learned from this experience though. Perhaps you could focus on these other aspects in your EC description?

 

[dmf2682]

I think that's definitely true, a few interviewers brought up how teaching is an important skill to have for doctors. The interviewers who talked about teaching focused on my reflections about the activity (e.g. how to better explain difficult concepts, things I thought were important for a student-teacher relationship etc.). They seemed to be more interested in what I learned from the experience vs. the fact that I simply did it.

Your teaching experience helps show that you're invested in helping others succeed and I think that this "compassion" aspect can be great for the PS. However, I feel that it's a lost opportunity to not mention anything about what you learned from this experience though. Perhaps you could focus on these other aspects in your EC description?

OK that's a great idea. I'm focusing my ps on the doctor patient relationship, but I'll certainly talk about the other parts in my ec descriptions. I've a 13 year tutoring stint, plus experience in res life back in undergrad that I think will be one of my meaningful ones. I should have plenty of space to talk about what I learned and how I grew from the experience.

Thanks!

 

[Courtjester8]

Do whatever you need to do in order to list absolutely everything you've done so long as it holds meaning to you and/or you can make it sound meaningful and it portrays you as well rounded. This includes incredibly liberal interpretations of the EC categories.