Too many activities?

[The Deep]

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Hey SDN, I need some help decided what to do regarding my EC. I’m currently a sophomore and had a rough second semester last year. The first semester went alright with a 3.7 gpa but my second got derailed by a death in the family and depression throughout the household. I ended up with around a 2.8 for that specific semester. So now I’m trying to catch up in terms of EC and grades.

Currently I’m taking Physics 1, orgo 1+lab and 2 side classes. My main issue is how much time I spend volunteering. I teach action civics to underserved middle schools twice a week, I intern for an organization that aims to bring educational equity in the state once a week, I volunteer at my schools Day Care once a week, I’m about to start tutoring underserved students at Mount Sinai for a day a week, and I volunteer at a lab for most of my other free time. I’m also waiting for a background check to finish (should be within a couple of months) to volunteer as a teacher at riker’s island.

Am I doing too much at once? Are adcoms going to frown on my focus on helping the underserved in areas that don’t have anything to do with medicine (mainly education)? Next semester is my orgo 2+bio1 intensive semester (bio 1 is the hardest pre-med prerequisite my school offers) where I’ll also have 3 other side classes. Would It be too much to keep all of these opportunities moving into next semester? Should I drop something to make sure my grades stay up? Thank you so much if you read all of this and give advice! 🙂

 

[deleted953743]

Currently I’m taking Physics 1, orgo 1+lab and 2 side classes. My main issue is how much time I spend volunteering. I teach action civics to underserved middle schools twice a week, I intern for an organization that aims to bring educational equity in the state once a week, I volunteer at my schools Day Care once a week, I’m about to start tutoring underserved students at Mount Sinai for a day a week, and I volunteer at a lab for most of my other free time. I’m also waiting for a background check to finish (should be within a couple of months) to volunteer as a teacher at riker’s island.

Five days out of a week is a lot. I suggest dropping two of the ECs after trying them out and seeing which three suit your interests best. Quality over quantity always. Adcoms would rather see that you CONSISTENTLY commit to a few ECs over a long period of time rather than many inconsistently. With five, you're bound to eventually skip one or two every month or so if not more. Even if you had amazing willpower to pull through with committing 5 days every week consistently, it would definitely take a toll on your mental health. Self-care and taking breaks is important. Adcoms don't want to see a one-track mind pre-med. Have time for clubs and hobbies. Having buffer time to put into studies after accounting for lab and relaxation is nice to have. You have yet to know how much time you'll need to study for those heavy Orgo & physics and possibly those other classes.

Are adcoms going to frown on my focus on helping the underserved in areas that don’t have anything to do with medicine (mainly education)?

You should have some clinical experience with patients ( >100), but non-healthcare community service is highly valued. Helping in under-served areas shows that you're comfortable with getting out of your comfort zone and going out of your way to help others. It shows that you realize that you have privileges, and you want to use those for the sake of others.

 

[Catalystik]

Hey SDN, I need some help decided what to do regarding my EC. I’m currently a sophomore and had a rough second semester last year. The first semester went alright with a 3.7 gpa but my second got derailed by a death in the family and depression throughout the household. I ended up with around a 2.8 for that specific semester. So now I’m trying to catch up in terms of EC and grades.

Currently I’m taking Physics 1, orgo 1+lab and 2 side classes. My main issue is how much time I spend volunteering. I teach action civics to underserved middle schools twice a week, I intern for an organization that aims to bring educational equity in the state once a week, I volunteer at my schools Day Care once a week, I’m about to start tutoring underserved students at Mount Sinai for a day a week, and I volunteer at a lab for most of my other free time. I’m also waiting for a background check to finish (should be within a couple of months) to volunteer as a teacher at riker’s island.

Am I doing too much at once? Are adcoms going to frown on my focus on helping the underserved in areas that don’t have anything to do with medicine (mainly education)? Next semester is my orgo 2+bio1 intensive semester (bio 1 is the hardest pre-med prerequisite my school offers) where I’ll also have 3 other side classes. Would It be too much to keep all of these opportunities moving into next semester? Should I drop something to make sure my grades stay up? Thank you so much if you read all of this and give advice! 🙂

GPA is your first priority. If you can't get it in the competitive zone, med school adcomms will never appreciate all the ECs in which you participate. Where is your clinical volunteering and physician shadowing? What about a leadership role? I'd like to see less time pressure and more diversity in your activities, and that will mean dropping some of your current interests.

 

[The Deep]

GPA is your first priority. If you can't get it in the competitive zone, med school adcomms will never appreciate all the ECs in which you participate. Where is your clinical volunteering and physician shadowing? What about a leadership role? I'd like to see less time pressure and more diversity in your activities, and that will mean dropping some of your current interests.

Thank you both for your replies. I’m going to shadow a primary care pediatrician over Winter Break. I’ve been wanting to join the mock trial team but felt as though I didn’t have the time. For the day care center, I was only planning on sticking with It for this semester just for the letter of rec. where she will say how patient I am with kids and whatnot (currently I’m interested in pediatrics). I also thought I can just force clinical volunteering in during my junior, senior, or gap year (also going to apply for some intensive summer clinical volunteering).

 

[The Deep]

GPA is your first priority. If you can't get it in the competitive zone, med school adcomms will never appreciate all the ECs in which you participate. Where is your clinical volunteering and physician shadowing? What about a leadership role? I'd like to see less time pressure and more diversity in your activities, and that will mean dropping some of your current interests.

Oh and for leadership, I’m not sure if teaching a class all by myself counts because the aim of the class is working to change a prominent community issue. For the organization I intern at, I have the potential to eventually be on their (non-official) board where I can lead events or protests or gatherings. Is this leadership or do I need to be a club president?

 

[Catalystik]

Oh and for leadership, I’m not sure if teaching a class all by myself counts because the aim of the class is working to change a prominent community issue. For the organization I intern at, I have the potential to eventually be on their (non-official) board where I can lead events or protests or gatherings. I’d this leadership or do I need to be a club president?

No.

 

[candbgirl]

What makes you think you even want to be a doctor? Your Ecs are impressive for someone planning to be a teacher not so much for someone planning on Med School. And then you mention wanting to join the Mock Trial Team. Still no real mention of clinical work/experience. You are young. Maybe somewhere in your subconscious you really want to be a teacher. And that is a wonderful and admirable career goal. But you really need to figure out what your passions are.

You need to work on your grades first and start being more selective in your activities. You don’t need a letter from the Day Care director attesting to your patience with little kids. You don’t need a letter from the Director at all. I think you are doing way too much. Pick one or two activities to continue and start doing some clinical stuff. But always put your grades first. ADCOMS always appreciate service to the underserved so what you have accomplished to date is fine but you really need to get out of your comfort zone.

 

[The Deep]

What makes you think you even want to be a doctor? Your Ecs are impressive for someone planning to be a teacher not so much for someone planning on Med School. And then you mention wanting to join the Mock Trial Team. Still no real mention of clinical work/experience. You are young. Maybe somewhere in your subconscious you really want to be a teacher. And that is a wonderful and admirable career goal. But you really need to figure out what your passions are.

You need to work on your grades first and start being more selective in your activities. You don’t need a letter from the Day Care director attesting to your patience with little kids. You don’t need a letter from the Director at all. I think you are doing way too much. Pick one or two activities to continue and start doing some clinical stuff. But always put your grades first. ADCOMS always appreciate service to the underserved so what you have accomplished to date is fine but you really need to get out of your comfort zone.

Thank you and that’s exactly what I was worried about. I’m currently on the premed track and was hoping that once I started volunteering at a hospital (probably over winter and summer break+ senior and gap year) that I’d be able to confidently say medicine is what I want to utilize to help people. What your saying worries me because even though I may get over 500 hours of clinic volunteering done (probably with underserved) as well as shadowing, they may question me because of the ECs I chose? I’m not planning on doing them all for four years but is this what you’re trying to say?

 

[The Deep]

What makes you think you even want to be a doctor? Your Ecs are impressive for someone planning to be a teacher not so much for someone planning on Med School. And then you mention wanting to join the Mock Trial Team. Still no real mention of clinical work/experience. You are young. Maybe somewhere in your subconscious you really want to be a teacher. And that is a wonderful and admirable career goal. But you really need to figure out what your passions are.

You need to work on your grades first and start being more selective in your activities. You don’t need a letter from the Day Care director attesting to your patience with little kids. You don’t need a letter from the Director at all. I think you are doing way too much. Pick one or two activities to continue and start doing some clinical stuff. But always put your grades first. ADCOMS always appreciate service to the underserved so what you have accomplished to date is fine but you really need to get out of your comfort zone.

In my mind, I was connecting all of my work with underserved in terms of education, to them potentially having the opportunity to study medicine in the future. For my roles in engaging the underserved in civics, maybe they can advocate for changes in the health care system in the future.

 

[The Deep]

Oh and last thing: For mock trial, I only wanted to do It as a hobby, just like others practice dance, art, music, etc as hobbies. Will mock trial be a negative on me because of its relation to my other activities? I have the opportunity to volunteer at Sinai’s children’s hospital right now. Maybe I should replace that with the children’s center in my school?

 

[candbgirl]

Thank you and that’s exactly what I was worried about. I’m currently on the premed track and was hoping that once I started volunteering at a hospital (probably over winter and summer break+ senior and gap year) that I’d be able to confidently say medicine is what I want to utilize to help people. What your saying worries me because even though I may get over 500 hours of clinic volunteering done (probably with underserved) as well as shadowing, they may question me because of the ECs I chose? I’m not planning on doing them all for four years but is this what you’re trying to say?

Don’t let anything I’ve said worry you. Just start doing clinical stuff so you can see if you even want to be a doctor. What makes you think you want to spend the next 30+ years dealing with the sick, injured and dying? What you’ve done so far is fine and admirable but it is time to start branching out into service that is more closely aligned with your career goals. I’m not suggesting that you give up all of your activities. Stay with one or two of the most meaningful experiences. What you have done so far can easily be considered non clinical experiences. I think there is even a section on AMCAS for teaching type activities. So ADCOMS won’t think negatively about your activities unless you don’t get the clinical experiences you absolutely must have.

 

[The Deep]

Don’t let anything I’ve said worry you. Just start doing clinical stuff so you can see if you even want to be a doctor. What makes you think you want to spend the next 30+ years dealing with the sick, injured and dying? What you’ve done so far is fine and admirable but it is time to start branching out into service that is more closely aligned with your career goals. I’m not suggesting that you give up all of your activities. Stay with one or two of the most meaningful experiences. What you have done so far can easily be considered non clinical experiences. I think there is even a section on AMCAS for teaching type activities. So ADCOMS won’t think negatively about your activities unless you don’t get the clinical experiences you absolutely must have.

Thank you so much for all of the help you’ve given so far! Just a question regarding my confusion on what “clinical volunteering” entails: Is preparing kids going to surgery or reading/playing with children with cancer considered clinics volunteering? Do I have to a role similar to fetching doctors materials and setting up the hospital rooms to make It easier for the nurse? (I’m planning on doing both but I’m unsure what category the first one would fit under).

 

[candbgirl]

In my mind, I was connecting all of my work with underserved in terms of education, to them potentially having the opportunity to study medicine in the future. For my roles in engaging the underserved in civics, maybe they can advocate for changes in the health care system in the future.

I don’t entirely understand what you mean by this but you should be doing this
to help the kids here and now. You can’t worry about them going to med school in 15 years. Same for a Civics. You help them learn to think critically and to use what they are learning and apply it throughout life. But to have a goal of your kids attending med school or being involved in Health Care policy change in 20 years is unrealistic. And I’m not sure how you would weave that through your application story anyway. Just do these activities because you want to and you find them satisfying. Don’t plan for the future of the kids.

 

[candbgirl]

Oh and last thing: For mock trial, I only wanted to do It as a hobby, just like others practice dance, art, music, etc as hobbies. Will mock trial be a negative on me because of its relation to my other activities? I have the opportunity to volunteer at Sinai’s children’s hospital right now. Maybe I should replace that with the children’s center in my school?

Mock Trial is fun. If you give up something else you’d have time for this and it will make you a more rounded candidate. Currently you are laser focused on educational issues.

 

[candbgirl]

Thank you so much for all of the help you’ve given so far! Just a question regarding my confusion on what “clinical volunteering” entails: Is preparing kids going to surgery or reading/playing with children with cancer considered clinics volunteering? Do I have to a role similar to fetching doctors materials and setting up the hospital rooms to make It easier for the nurse? (I’m planning on doing both but I’m unsure what category the first one would fit under).

Clinical experience is direct interaction with patients and families. It takes many forms. Of course what you described is clinical experience, but so is volunteering at a hospice center, a free clinic, Planned Parenthood, skilled nursing homes, etc. Your role would be service/ help in whatever way your supervisor or coworkers need to help the patients.

 

[Catalystik]

I think there is even a section on AMCAS for teaching type activities.

Yes, there is.

 

[The Deep]

Clinical experience is direct interaction with patients and families. It takes many forms. Of course what you described is clinical experience, but so is volunteering at a hospice center, a free clinic, Planned Parenthood, skilled nursing homes, etc. Your role would be service/ help in whatever way your supervisor or coworkers need to help the patients.

Ok I’ll drop the practically useless one (childcare center) as It provides nothing and they have a lot of workers there anyway. Maybe I’ll drop my internship that advocates for changes in education? I’m not sure if that would be wise though because of the potential of being deeply involved with the organization (planning events and whatnot). Can you also specificy what “leadership” entails? Is being a financial manager of a club “leadership”? Do you have to physically be the ‘leader’ of an organization/club? Is it less literal where you just had to have been alone in a situation and discuss how you acted during it (maybe the class is teaching right now?)?