What are the most important Extracurriculars?

[swim97]

Hello all,

I will be attending an SMP next year. Here's the culmination of my EC's. Some of them were short-lived due to COVID-19.

Clinical:
-Emergency Room Volunteering ~70 Hours
-Ambulatory Surgery Volunteering ~30 Hours

Shadowing
-Shadowed ~100 Hours the summer before starting college. Cardiac Surgery, Primary Care, and GI.

Non-Clinical Activities
-Big Brothers Big Sisters (Only 1 Year...COVID)
-Homeless Food Pantry (Only 3 months ...COVID)
-Taught Music to other university students, held leadership positions in a club associated with this. (3 Years, 150+ Hours)
-Took Music classes in University, did musical performances every semester (3 years, 99999+ Hours)

Research
-Protein Biochemistry Research, only 9 months. No rec letter. 0 Pubs.


** My priority is on getting a 515+ and 4.0's ** However, I want my app to be as good as possible. Since I am studying for the MCAT and taking classes, where should I spend the rest of my time as far as EC's go? Research? Shadowing? Clinical Volunteering?
I came from a state school.



Thanks.

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[premedstudent145231]

Most important is more clinical. Bare minimum do 50 more hours, but I think this is probably the absolute best thing to spend your time on.

How many nonclinical hours are you at?

You don’t ever need to do more shadowing

 

[Goro]

Bulk up more clinucal exposure. No more shadowing

 

[swim97]

Clinical, I hit about 100 last year.
Nonclinical service to the unfortunate- maybe about 100. I wasn't counting, am I expected to supply this information in the AMCAAS?

 

[candbgirl]

Clinical, I hit about 100 last year.
Nonclinical service to the unfortunate- maybe about 100. I wasn't counting, am I expected to supply this information in the AMCAAS?

Yes you are. As stated you have enough shadowing but you need to bulk up both clinical and nonclinical. It’s expected you have at least 200 hours of each. But don’t just do stuff to check the boxes on your application. Do something you are passionate about and can talk about on your app and during any interviews.

Why are you doing a SMP? You probably need to focus on those classes and worry about the MCAT and ECs when you aren’t so involved with classes.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

Clinical. Especially those clinical experiences which give you independent authority (EMT, Medic, RN) and substantial exposure to the process (Scribe) but anything counts. Find a niche you enjoy and rack up them hours.

David D, MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[swim97]

Thanks all!!!

@candbgirl I'm not currently in the SMP. Once I am in the SMP, I will put a hold on everything else and focus solely on crushing it.

 

[Rogue42]

The most important ones are the ones that are important to you...

But for your application, clinical would really help you out.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Once you hit the SMP, that is your number 1 priority. If you dont do well, the other stuff doesn't matter. You are a little light on clinical and service hours. Good luck and best wishes