Try hard red flags?

[Leonidas93]

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Im curious as to what Ec's you guys think would make a hypothetical applicant who hits the 15 Ec "limit" mark seem like an application loading try hard? I guess I'm asking, what are some common try hard red flags?

What comes to mind:

Hit and Run Volunteer events
Lots of Honors societies
Club overload ( particularly premed clubs)

Thanks

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

All of those activities are near meaningless.

 

[terrifiedcarrot]

It's probably a little counterproductive to think about this.

 

[SunsFun]

Unless you put something offensive in there, it will not decrease your chances of acceptance. I

 

[muddyduck7]

They really won't raise red flags as long as there are SOME meaningful experiences in the application. Including such filler will, however, dilute the impact and cohesiveness of your application - especially when compared to an applicant that has judiciously used the space to highlight genuine accomplishments and interests.

 

[Spinach Dip]

-Volunteer trip to build an orphanage in Haiti
-Volunteer trip to build a school in Kenya
-Volunteer trip to build low-income housing in Mexico
-Volunteer trip to build a community hospital in New Guinea

repeat, repeat, repeat....

 

[SunsFun]

-Volunteer trip to build an orphanage in Haiti
-Volunteer trip to build a school in Kenya
-Volunteer trip to build low-income housing in Mexico
-Volunteer trip to build a community hospital in New Guinea

repeat, repeat, repeat....

Sounds like the field of construction will really miss you

 

[PanRoasted]

Sounds like the field of construction will really miss you

Agreed, should use the experiences to break into the carpentry field.

 

[Koalafied]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=14304005&postcount=295

 

[Spinach Dip]

Agreed, should use the experiences to break into the carpentry field.

Or ortho....

 

[SilverCat]

Dean's List
[Insert major] Honors Society
General Major Honors
Medical Mission Trip to [insert impoverished African or Central American country here]
President/ Vice-president/ Secretary/ Important Person with Title of College Premed Society
Hobby: Video game enthusiast
1 Hour Shadowing Dr. X
10 Hours Volunteering at local hospital

 

[Mel Belle]

-Volunteer trip to build an orphanage in Haiti
-Volunteer trip to build a school in Kenya
-Volunteer trip to build low-income housing in Mexico
-Volunteer trip to build a community hospital in New Guinea

repeat, repeat, repeat....

Just wondering, but... If you're with an organization for a long time that does several of these trips over time... How would that dilute your application? It's a very time consuming and I imagine costly endeavor that a person would have committed a lot of serious time to. Doesn't seem like filler if you ask me.

 

[Mel Belle]

Dean's List
[Insert major] Honors Society
General Major Honors
Medical Mission Trip to [insert impoverished African or Central American country here]
President/ Vice-president/ Secretary/ Important Person with Title of College Premed Society
Hobby: Video game enthusiast
1 Hour Shadowing Dr. X
10 Hours Volunteering at local hospital

If you have a high enough GPA it seems almost redundant to put that on there.

 

[SilverCat]

Just wondering, but... If you're with an organization for a long time that does several of these trips over time... How would that dilute your application? It's a very time consuming and I imagine costly endeavor that a person would have committed a lot of serious time to. Doesn't seem like filler if you ask me.

Time commitment validates the activities; Spinach Dip is probably referring to those applicants who spend two weeks in sophomore year summer doing these activities, and then try to claim them as 'most significant.'

 

[Mel Belle]

Time commitment validates the activities; Spinach Dip is probably referring to those applicants who spend two weeks in sophomore year summer doing these activities, and then try to claim them as 'most significant.'

Ah, of course. That makes sense. Thanks for the clarification. 👍

 

[Planes2Doc]

Honestly, any "typical" pre-med activities would constitute a red flag if I were an ADCOM. Even though SDNers try to pride themselves as not being "Cookie Cutters," everyone is following the same exact checklist. Of course you see very few people who have no ambitions of going to medical school doing these same exact things.

I think overall the biggest red flag is not the number of activities, but the longevity of them. If you're all of a sudden doing 10 activities within a year of applying, it'll look like you're half-assing everything last minute to get in. If you do them right when you begin your pre-med journey (which I refer to as the ZERO to Mother Teresa applicant), it'll look more genuine, even if your true motivations were the same in either case.

 

[jaybird117]

Honestly, any "typical" pre-med activities would constitute a red flag if I were an ADCOM. Even though SDNers try to pride themselves as not being "Cookie Cutters," everyone is following the same exact checklist.

How are we supposed to actually get a taste of what working in a hospital is like without clinical volunteering or shadowing?

 

[Planes2Doc]

How are we supposed to actually get a taste of what working in a hospital is like without clinical volunteering or shadowing?

You can get a taste and then some in a few hours. Yet, somehow getting a taste or "some" exposure amounts to hundreds of hours over multiple related activities.

 

[aesculapian]

Dean's List
[Insert major] Honors Society
General Major Honors
Medical Mission Trip to [insert impoverished African or Central American country here]
President/ Vice-president/ Secretary/ Important Person with Title of College Premed Society
Hobby: Video game enthusiast
1 Hour Shadowing Dr. X
10 Hours Volunteering at local hospital

What makes this a red flag? I can see how all the other things might be, but this seems legit to me.

 

[Mel Belle]

What makes this a red flag? I can see how all the other things might be, but this seems legit to me.

I would assume because of the people who get low level titles that don't constitute doing any actual work. But as long as you have a position where you actually do work, not something made up to pad your application... That should be fine. I don't see why not.

 

[music2doc]

Im curious as to what Ec's you guys think would make a hypothetical applicant who hits the 15 Ec "limit" mark seem like an application loading try hard? I guess I'm asking, what are some common try hard red flags?

What comes to mind:

Hit and Run Volunteer events
Lots of Honors societies
Club overload ( particularly premed clubs)

Thanks

There are no red flags, only puppy dogs and sunshine.

 

[TheBossDoctor]

Medical Mission Trip to [insert impoverished African or Central American country here

I agree that this shouldn't be a "most meaningful activity" but how is this a red flag? It's still clinical experience/patient contact, and that too, at least 60-70 hours of it. I agree that you should have other clinical experience, but a mission trip isn't worthless.

 

[JohnQuincyAdams]

Y'all are getting too picky with these red flags. I had a short term volunteer trip, officer position in a premedical honor society, and dean's list/pbk/honors orgs as 3 of activities and it worked out fine. Yeah, these things did not change my life, but they didn't hurt my app (I did have other activities that may be considered more substantial). I think the thing is that you need to be realistic in your assessment of these activities and what you got from them.

 

[songwvq]

It's probably a little counterproductive to think about this.

 

[SunsFun]

I agree that this shouldn't be a "most meaningful activity" but how is this a red flag? It's still clinical experience/patient contact, and that too, at least 60-70 hours of it. I agree that you should have other clinical experience, but a mission trip isn't worthless.

I agree with this. Anything you do that's positive will help you more than hurt you.

That said, I can see how a random trip to Africa without long history of involvement in some pro-African cause may look not genuine. Like the only reason you're doing it in the first place is to impress ADCOM.

 

[Lamel]

Activity 1: Frequent SDN poster *Most Meaningful Activity

 

[TheBossDoctor]

Awards/Honors: School Beer Pong Champion
Most Meaningful Activity: Beer Pong and Rage Cage; 20 hours/week; accuracy and precision gained from those games will be very important as a surgeon

 

[SilverCat]

What makes this a red flag? I can see how all the other things might be, but this seems legit to me.

I'm thinking of empty titles, where honor clubs elect people to these positions, but they don't actually do anything. If they are actively working for the organization, then by all means it can be considered a meaningful activity.

I agree that this shouldn't be a "most meaningful activity" but how is this a red flag? It's still clinical experience/patient contact, and that too, at least 60-70 hours of it. I agree that you should have other clinical experience, but a mission trip isn't worthless.

Once again, it depends on what you do. Some 'medical mission trips' involve spending the majority of time playing soccer with the local people. I've heard too many stories of people taking these trips as a vacation, which is why I would be wary of automatically considering it legit.

 

[487806]

Activity 1: Frequent SDN poster *Most Meaningful Activity

I heard HMS considers applicants with such activity to be highly creative, ambitious and motivational, all of which make up a strong leader for tomorrow's medicine. Looks like i'm all set 😎

 

[music2doc]

I agree that this shouldn't be a "most meaningful activity" but how is this a red flag? It's still clinical experience/patient contact, and that too, at least 60-70 hours of it. I agree that you should have other clinical experience, but a mission trip isn't worthless.

Sure it could be a most meaningful activity.

It's all in the gestalt. Does your overall application fit this sort of activity? If so, then it fits. If not, it doesn't. Same for anything else. It's your "brand" you're developing.