What do you think of my EC plan?

[MountainManMike]

Hello all, basically this month I'm hitting the ground running with getting my EC's started. I decided a few weeks back that Med School was what I wanted to do and I've been developing a bit of a loose plan. Lemme know what you think of it and what I could do additionally or what I need to do differently.

Currently I'm an ER Scribe at a fairly decent sized regional hospital, there's numerous openings for Nurse Techs/ER Techs so I'm about to take that position with PRN scheduling. Relatively soon I'll be beginning night classes for an EMT-B certification course and will most likely be working for one of the major EMS companies in the area. This fall I'm pledging a fraternity that several of my friends are in that are also working towards medical school. The fraternity actually has several people trying to get in and usually one or two from the graduating class get in every year. Since there's enough people shooting for post-grad and because it's a fairly good group of guys that care about the area, there's abundant service and volunteer opportunities. I'm starting a libertarian student group on campus because our school currently doesn't have one and I'm a card carrying Libertarian(lol). Joining a mental health awareness group started by my friend that volunteers in mental hospital and does various other things in the community. Definitely joining the Pre-Med organization since that's required for my major.

Oh and there's this summer camp near my town that's a nonprofit camp for kids with special needs. One of my friends told me that he initially volunteered there to put it on his med school application but went back summer after summer because he loved it. He told me his interviewers had no idea what it was and that it became a pretty cool topic during the interview. He even volunteered there before he started med school this month so I'm expecting a fun time.

I don't want to volunteer to get things to put on my application, I actually do want to go out and help my community, the fact that med school wants it is bonus.


Basically I have no idea what I need to do so I'm trying to cover all of my bases. I honestly don't know if it's a good plan or not. I'm just basing it on what I've read on SDN and what other people have told me. I'm not going to be overloaded. I'm just gonna have to work harder than I have been. Sorry for the novel but I'm fairly anxious about the whole process.

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[DingoPingo]

Yo that's what I'm talking about. Get out there and check things out, find out what you enjoy!

 

[lostpremed123]

I don't really understand how pledging a frat will help you get into medical school. My advice is to pledge if you want to socially and it will be an outlet for you to relax, but don't expect being in a frat to get you into or even help you get into medical school.

 

[DingoPingo]

I don't really understand how pledging a frat will help you get into medical school. My advice is to pledge if you want to socially and it will be an outlet for you to relax, but don't expect being in a frat to get you into or even help you get into medical school.

Frats don't help you, community service does

 

[lostpremed123]

Frats don't help you, community service does

Exactly. You don't have to pay money to join a frat to do community service.

 

[raiderette]

I will say my shadowing opportunities came from connections from my house, and my sanity was improved greatly from the social aspects. Leadership opportunities are also available. I managed a house budget for 75+ people, worked with contractors, vendors, etc. That beats organizing pizza night for a club.

 

[DingoPingo]

I will say my shadowing opportunities came from connections from my house, and my sanity was improved greatly from the social aspects. Leadership opportunities are also available. I managed a house budget for 75+ people, worked with contractors, vendors, etc. That beats organizing pizza night for a club.

Living groups can certainly be an asset to teamwork, leadership, and all sorts of good social skills to have.

 

[Doctor-S]

In your original post, you stated that you "decided a few weeks back that Med School was what [you] wanted to do."

Have you completed any pre-reqs for medical school (GPA considerations)?

Or, are you trying to squeeze in everything now (academic pre-reqs in + multiple new ECs) due to your recent decision related to medicine?

What (if anything) precipitated your recent decision to pursue medicine as a professional career?

Just wondering ... that's all.

Thank you.

 

[lostpremed123]

my sanity was improved greatly from the social aspects

This is a pretty good reason to join a frat. Expecting it to come off as a positive on med school apps because they'll think you're social/have good leadership skills is wishful thinking.

 

[mitch8017]

I don't really understand how pledging a frat will help you get into medical school. My advice is to pledge if you want to socially and it will be an outlet for you to relax, but don't expect being in a frat to get you into or even help you get into medical school.

I will agree that just being in a fraternity won't get you anywhere, but I have found that with mine at least it has opened up a variety of opportunities from volunteering to leadership to the mentoring that some of the older members can offer. Not all fraternities are created equal, but I was able to find one that was very academically inclined with a lot of individuals with similar career goals (never would have gone greek for the point of going greek). I also think that holding a position in the fraternity could be extremely beneficial because I at least believe it is somewhat impressive to be respected by and responsible for 50-100 18-22 year old kids that society thinks only gets together to drink and get something productive out of them such as philanthropy or what not.

 

[MountainManMike]

In your original post, you stated that you "decided a few weeks back that Med School was what [you] wanted to do."

Have you completed any pre-reqs for medical school (GPA considerations)?

Or, are you trying to squeeze in everything now (academic pre-reqs in + multiple new ECs) due to your recent decision related to medicine?

What (if anything) precipitated your recent decision to pursue medicine as a professional career?

Just wondering ... that's all.

Thank you.

Just re-logged into the forum for the first time in months, sorry for the time lag.

I didn't add into the original post that before college I had wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon, mostly because that worked out with my 16 year old fantasy of living in the mountains near a ski resort. I also have broken many bones and loved talking about it with the Orthopedists.

Senior year of HS I met a good many of the exchange students and thought that if I wanted to travel the world, becoming a doctor is not the way to do it with all of the school involved. Engineering seemed to fit that goal much better.

So the goals of medicine were dormant.
Enter scribe job:
The environment clicked with me, the field clicked with me. My second week after I really got to see a majority of what the ER was like and spent considerable amounts of time with physicians, it hit me that I wanted to do medicine more than anything else.
It's even stronger now after having spent over 500 hours in the emergency department beside doctors and nurses.

What really helped was talking with the docs and having them all tell me why they chose medicine and how some of them messed up their first year of college. One doc in particular asked me what my plans were and if I was considering med school. I told him after my first year it was out of the question. He flat out told me "I majored in budweiser and co-eds for the first two years of my 6 in undergrad, if you want it you can do it but you have to get your act together NOW."

There isn't a single part of me that doesn't want to be a doctor. Even after my terrible shifts at work and when I'm almost asleep in my 8am class after a night shift. I still look back and say Damn. I still want to do this the rest of my life I must be crazy but I love it.
I honestly have never felt this way about anything in my life. There is nothing short of death that is going to stop me from becoming a Dr.

I also love the fact that there isn't a single shift I work where I don't learn something. Two of the docs actually make me bring a stethoscope to listen to patients after them because, "nobody trusts the physical exam anymore, too many people are quick to order CTs or ECHOs before they even touch the patient. If you're Gonna be a doctor then you're gonna get some auscultation practice in"
They point out which sounds are which and what to listen for and it's fantastic. I'm still a no-nothing pre-med but hey, work in progress!

(Sorry for the novel, I'm at work and it's fairly slow atm)

As for how my year's been going, I've somehow juggled work (120-140) avg hours monthly. 8 hours of class ( dropped an absolutely horrendous chem prof. and a psychotic french prof.) pledging, community service (in and outside of my fraternity) and a few campus clubs. Leadership roles in my pledge class and I'm the chapter IFC representative. On the executive board of another club. I'm already talking with my advisor about working in her research lab next year and I'm taking summer bull-- classes to pad my GPA. EMT course starts in January and nurse teching is not a very fun job from my observations as they can do almost nothing.
My GPA this quarter is around a 3.0 as I had a lot of family issues as well as a death. I also figured out that 175 hours of work does not jive with everything else I'm doing and I had to learn to say no to coworkers.

At least I'm finishing my last math class ever next week.

Any recommendations or criticism? I know it's a novel but I've got some freetime and decided to log onto SDN.




Also, any ideas of the best MCAT resources because I've been doing daily random questions but I'm looking for something structured that won't be a waste of my time.

Thanks for your responses!

 

[MountainManMike]

I will agree that just being in a fraternity won't get you anywhere, but I have found that with mine at least it has opened up a variety of opportunities from volunteering to leadership to the mentoring that some of the older members can offer. Not all fraternities are created equal, but I was able to find one that was very academically inclined with a lot of individuals with similar career goals (never would have gone greek for the point of going greek). I also think that holding a position in the fraternity could be extremely beneficial because I at least believe it is somewhat impressive to be respected by and responsible for 50-100 18-22 year old kids that society thinks only gets together to drink and get something productive out of them such as philanthropy or what not.

This^, many many alumni of my fraternity are actively in medical school, or nursing, or in research labs. We have more medical student alumni than all others combined. Almost an eighth of our chapter is in nursing or biology or pre-med/dental or whatever.
It's an astounding resource I wouldn't have had I not gone greek. The pre-med actives have erm, /encouraged/ me to go to class and never skip, much more than anyone else. I have 45+ Brothers with the same goal to study with and get to tutor me since some are in the same class as I or have taken it in the past. Plus 70+ guys can usually tell you which classes are the easiest to make 100's in.

The philanthropic side cannot be understated either. I've participated in 60+ Mandatory hours this quarter alone. Granted this is not true of all fraternities, but I was assured that my grades would be better as a greek and that's actually happening.

Plus the social side is also extremely fun and there's nothing better than going downstairs after studying to hang out with 20+ other guys for a few minutes.