Using high school experiences

[BlackBantie]

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I attended a health-oriented magnet high school. I took some lab classes where I learned a TON of clinical lab techniques and also nursing techniques. Can I mention this somewhere in my PS? Some of my peers said that it's "cheating" since it's not "real" clinical experience but I learned a lot more in those classes than I ever did volunteering at hospitals. It greatly affected my decision to pursue medicine.

Edit: Right now, the field of medicine that I'm most interested in is pathology and I was planning on tying together the learning experience I had with my clinical lab class with my volunteer experience at the hospital laboratory. I don't know if that would work or not. Bleh. I'm really counting on using that high school stuff.

 

[EndSong]

Since its important to your decision to pursue medicine, I would recommend including it in your personal statement. However, since it is a high school activity I wouldn't talk too much about it.

 

[bbas]

I've been told not to include any high school experiences in the actual EC portion of the application, but I don't know if this applies to the personal statement also. Since it does seem rather significant, I would mention it in your PS but be sure to talk about college experiences also.

 

[govikings10]

Rather than start a new thread, I'll just use this one to ask a similar question.

In high school I coached multiple baseball teams each summer for four years in high school. Yes, I've know high school experiences aren't held with high regard, bu I was wondering whether I should put this on the EC's because it had some responsibility and leadership to it. I am also asking this b/c intercollegiate football has taken up most of my time and made it difficult to get other EC's under my belt. Right now my EC list is pretty bare even with the coaching in it. Caring for my three week old little girl won't make it any easier to add to this list. Does anyone thing the coaching is worth mentioning?

Other EC's:
ER volunteer
Restaurant job
summer research scholarship
miscellaneous awards

 

[BradenDO]

Rather than start a new thread, I'll just use this one to ask a similar question.

In high school I coached multiple baseball teams each summer for four years in high school. Yes, I've know high school experiences aren't held with high regard, bu I was wondering whether I should put this on the EC's because it had some responsibility and leadership to it. I am also asking this b/c intercollegiate football has taken up most of my time and made it difficult to get other EC's under my belt. Right now my EC list is pretty bare even with the coaching in it. Caring for my three week old little girl won't make it any easier to add to this list. Does anyone thing the coaching is worth mentioning?

Other EC's:
ER volunteer
Restaurant job
summer research scholarship
miscellaneous awards

In my opinion, and I hate to say this, I don't think it would really be applicable. Not only is it an experience from high school, but it isn't related to the medical field either. Maybe you could mention it in you PS, but not on the EC section. Have you thought about joining Big Brothers Big Sisters? I know you have your own little one to take care of, but this is a good organization to join and you don't have to spend a large amount of time at once with your match...at least then you'd have something extra to add to your application...??

 

[DrBowtie]

In my opinion, and I hate to say this, I don't think it would really be applicable. Not only is it an experience from high school, but it isn't related to the medical field either. Maybe you could mention it in you PS, but not on the EC section. Have you thought about joining Big Brothers Big Sisters? I know you have your own little one to take care of, but this is a good organization to join and you don't have to spend a large amount of time at once with your match...at least then you'd have something extra to add to your application...??

What?!!?! Not everything should be medically related. Sure you need to have it on your app but things such as coaching definitely show responsibility and leadership. These qualities are definitely more important than fetching drinks like most hospital experience.

I would list the coaching.

 

[rajad10]

What?!!?! Not everything should be medically related. Sure you need to have it on your app but things such as coaching definitely show responsibility and leadership. These qualities are definitely more important than fetching drinks like most hospital experience.

I would list the coaching.

👍 👍

 

[bbas]

In my opinion, and I hate to say this, I don't think it would really be applicable. Not only is it an experience from high school, but it isn't related to the medical field either. Maybe you could mention it in you PS, but not on the EC section. Have you thought about joining Big Brothers Big Sisters? I know you have your own little one to take care of, but this is a good organization to join and you don't have to spend a large amount of time at once with your match...at least then you'd have something extra to add to your application...??

The point is to be well rounded, and it is often the non-medical EC's that will help people to stand out from the masses since everyone's medical related experiences are usually pretty similar.

 

[Pancho Villa]

what about music stuff? i was the first ever percussionist in my region to make it to the all-state music competition all 4 years of high school. i don't play anymore, so should i not talk about this?

 

[riff raff]

what about music stuff? i was the first ever percussionist in my region to make it to the all-state music competition all 4 years of high school. i don't play anymore, so should i not talk about this?

I would venture a no, unless you stopped playing the instrument due to tragically losing both arms in an attempt to save a baby sea lion from jaws of a great white shark. 😀

Putting stuff you did in high school down for Work/Activities seems like a reach, and most likely, it raises the question as to why you stopped? But I mean, this is just my opinion and if you and others think it's okay and you feel it's important then by all means include it 👍

 

[BradenDO]

What?!!?! Not everything should be medically related. Sure you need to have it on your app but things such as coaching definitely show responsibility and leadership. These qualities are definitely more important than fetching drinks like most hospital experience.

I would list the coaching.

I completely agree with you that not everything should be medically related, my concern with this is that he did it in high school. I've always been told to not include activities done during that period--only college experience. I do think that it would be better to work it into his personal statement though... That's just my opinion...I suppose I'm still a newbie to the application process! 😳

 

[DrBowtie]

I completely agree with you that not everything should be medically related, my concern with this is that he did it in high school. I've always been told to not include activities done during that period--only college experience. I do think that it would be better to work it into his personal statement though... That's just my opinion...I suppose I'm still a newbie to the application process! 😳

While that certainly might be true for someone looking to trim the fat of their app down to 15 things, a lack of activities seems like it would me more detrimental rather than the inclusion of a high school activity.

 

[notdeadyet]

Eh, I'm suprised that this is debated. Almost everything I've read and seen has indicated that you don't list high school experiences on AMCAS unless they're something you're including since you continued it in college.

For personal statement, anything you want to talk about is fair game, but for the Work/Experiences section? No one really cares about your accomplishments as a child (which you were for a majority of high school). Adcons want to hear about what you've done as an adult.

 

[kevster2001]

Yes to personal statement
No to EC list

 

[BradenDO]

Yes to personal statement
No to EC list

👍 🙂 Glad I'm not the only one!

 

[swtiepie711]

So what about hospital volunteering? I volunteered for 3 years at a hospital in high school - while I haven't continued volunteering (have shadowed & paid hospital work), it's still valuable as an experience [i feel I got out of it all that I could so why continue?] and now onto a different volunteer (non hospital, but health related) volunteering... Any thoughts?

 

[kevster2001]

So what about hospital volunteering? I volunteered for 3 years at a hospital in high school - while I haven't continued volunteering (have shadowed & paid hospital work), it's still valuable as an experience [i feel I got out of it all that I could so why continue?] and now onto a different volunteer (non hospital, but health related) volunteering... Any thoughts?

Once again:

Yes to personal statement
no to EC List

Although I want to add the caveat that while mentioning it on the PS is ok, you should make sure you have things you did in college that also helped you make your med school decision

 

[govikings10]

I completely agree with you that not everything should be medically related, my concern with this is that he did it in high school. I've always been told to not include activities done during that period--only college experience. I do think that it would be better to work it into his personal statement though... That's just my opinion...I suppose I'm still a newbie to the application process! 😳

That wouldn't make any sense to work it into the PS. "I wanted to be a doctor since putting an icepack on one of the kids after getting hit by a pitch." I can hear the adcoms laughing now. Not even remotely related to my interest in medicine... as I said earlier its simply an example of leadership and responsibility. The only reason I was considering it was b/c of the lack of #s of experiences. Thanks for the advice everyone, looks like I'll be striking that one outta there.

 

[BradenDO]

That wouldn't make any sense to work it into the PS. "I wanted to be a doctor since putting an icepack on one of the kids after getting hit by a pitch." I can hear the adcoms laughing now. Not even remotely related to my interest in medicine...

lol Well, when you put it like that... 😛 You're wanting to come across as a well rounded person in your PS so somehow you could mention that "...through different experiences in my life I have gained the skills required to lead and gain the trust of others. I feel this would make me a good doctor because blah blah blah..."

I don't know how everyone else is writing their PS, but you don't need to be so explicit and write, "I want to be a doctor because..." You can write about an event that made you want to be doctor and by telling a story the reader will understand and be more interested.

 

[Darkshooter326]

I would not include high school experiences, you were 'immature' back then. Talk to an advisor

 

[musiclink213]

I wouldn't talk about it in the EC's, but if it;s important, you can put it in the PS. As for not having enough EC's, it's not always about how many you've done, but what you got out of them and how much time you put into it. There are people that "join" 10 different clubs just to put htem on their application, but attend maybe one meeting a semester and that's it. Compare that to somebody who joined say one or two clubs, but have been in them for a long time, was dedicated to it, got a leadership position, that's saying something else and you'd have a lot to say about them.

 

[PostalWookie]

The reason you don't put down high school stuff when applying to college is that medical schools can safely assume that everyone who got into a decent undergrad institution must have done a ton of stuff to get in. It's the same reason that most med schools don't give a crap about your SAT score and recs from high school teachers. Just like at this point in your life you should probably not be listing high school activities on your resume unless you apply to be a summer camp councelor.

Now, having said that, I dedicated a large portion of my personal statement to talking about my research and shadowing experiences in high school because they were important to my decision to go into medicine. But I kept it out of my ECs.