Unsure of EC dates

[Gator2010]

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Hi everyone!

Quick question. As a non traditional, I am filling out my ECs from events that happened nearly a decade ago. On some I do not remember exact dates on when I started and stopped, but can get a rough ballpark. For example, I shadowed a physician during the Spring of 2009. I know I started around January time frame and ended in the May to June timeframe, but I do not remember exactly when. I have already made contact with the physician (who remembers me) and I was going to send him an email essentially stating "I remember I shadowed you from X date to X date and amassed X hours, does this sound right to you?" Does this sound like the proper action? I do not want to fudge any numbers, but for some activities it is hard to remember exacts. I scared myself reading the thread from 2015 (I exaggerated my EC's on AMCAS and I got called on it.) about a student who lied about his ECs and was caught. Any thoughts would be appreciated!!!

 

[MonkeyArrow]

I would suggest that if your most recent experience in the medical field/shadowing was almost a decade ago, you should try to find someone else to shadow now and squeeze in 20 hours or so. I've heard adcoms say that no recent medical experience raises a red flag.

 

[Gator2010]

I would suggest that if your most recent experience in the medical field/shadowing was almost a decade ago, you should try to find someone else to shadow now and squeeze in 20 hours or so. I've heard adcoms say that no recent medical experience raises a red flag.

I completed 298 hours of clinical volunteering at the end of 2016 and shadowed a physician (who wrote me a letter of rec) in the summer of 2013 for 24 hours. I live in a rural town where shadowing opportunities are essentially non existent. I thought about shadowing before submission at a place 2.5 hours away, but I didn't want it to raise a red flag to ADCOMS that I am just shadowing to meet a check in the box.

 

[Balo]

2016 is relatively recent, at least, but something that you're doing "now" would be helpful too. I wouldn't say shadowing right before submission is a red flag since it shows continued interest in medicine, especially since you've already had a lot of past experiences, so it's not like your experiences are all being done last minute.

 

[Gator2010]

2016 is relatively recent, at least, but something that you're doing "now" would be helpful too. I wouldn't say shadowing right before submission is a red flag since it shows continued interest in medicine, especially since you've already had a lot of past experiences, so it's not like your experiences are all being done last minute.

Thanks for the insight from both of you. I definitely have a lot of current experiences, i.e. biochemical research, non clinical volunteering, substitute teaching, Naval Service. I will see if I cant throw in some last minute shadowing experience.

Aside from that, obviously I will still have my previous shadowing experience. Do you think that a rough estimate of the dates that are corroborated by the physician will be ok? Again, I do not want to lie to the ADCOMS or distort my application is my biggest concern.

 

[Catalystik]

Do you think that a rough estimate of the dates that are corroborated by the physician will be ok?

Yes.