What ECs does everyone have?

[hiyouhaveniceshoes]

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Just curious. I need to work on mine.

 

[ed101123]

infantry corpsman for 8 years, vice president/founder of veterans nonprofit, Emergency room technician x1 year, acls/pals/nrp/also/bls instructor

 

[familyaerospace]

All my publications, presentations, my graduate research, teaching, a 20 year career in theater, founding several companies, shadowing, working in the ED, one volunteering thing which was several thousand hours, one hobby section. I am probably missing some but I am too lazy to look them up.

 

[Grunt2doc]

Do most non-trads have a lot of EC's? I can't find the time between commute, work, and family...hoping my work experience and prior military service shine through...

 

[esob]

Do most non-trads have a lot of EC's? I can't find the time between commute, work, and family...hoping my work experience and prior military service shine through...

My understanding is that your job, at least for some people, is considered part of your EC's. That doesn't exempt you from needing to do other EC's, but from my reading at least, it seems someone who works 50 hrs a week (especially at a high-level job) is expected to have less EC's than a traditional student who works 10 hrs a week in an on campus work study.

 

[Gibbward]

My understanding is that your job, at least for some people, is considered part of your EC's. That doesn't exempt you from needing to do other EC's, but from my reading at least, it seems someone who works 50 hrs a week (especially at a high-level job) is expected to have less EC's than a traditional student who works 10 hrs a week in an on campus work study.

Do you all think that current ECs weigh more than past ECs? I think I had excellent well-rounded ECs when I was in college while maintaining a solid GPA (~2.5 years ago), but right now, all I do is really work full-time in a research lab and volunteer on the side. I'm not really worried, but curious about what adcoms would think.

 

[esob]

I recall one non-trad said he basically listed everything he had done since high school. If that's the case I'll need 3 or 4 extra sheets, lol. Another guy I saw listed "playing league of legends" as an EC and from what I could tell he was accepted. I know when I was looking into law school, EC's only made a difference if you being considered among a pool of applicants with similar grades/lsat scores. If however, your grades and lsat were far above the median for the school, then they didn't really matter because the schools main concern was to pad their stats/rankings. I am curious to know if med schools operate the same way.

 

[piii]

.

 

[esob]

I will have a few years of teaching students with severe disabilities, mentoring high schoolers for a statewide scholarship program, refugee health education volunteering, and am now looking into volunteering for Habitat for Humanity for personal reasons and finding a clinical volunteering experience that will fit around my work schedule. Previous ECs include volunteering at an animal shelter, working a variety of customer service jobs, serving as a graduate representative on a university-wide committee for students with disabilities/graduate senator, and working with university students with disabilities.

I hope that as long I have some medical related ECs my other service ECS will help show I'm a decent candidate for acceptance haha.

I just signed up for Habitat as well. Doing my first volunteering for them in 1 week. I was pleasantly surprised at how simple the signup process was.

 

[ROSC]

EMT-B 2 years EMT-P 7 years, CCT 5 years, Flight Paramedic Certified 3 years, Search and Rescue 2 years, Remote medicine, Tele-medicine, Sutures, I&Ds, RSI, Thrombolytics, Hoist Operations, High angle Rescue, S.W.A.T, Quality Improvement Medical Record Auditor, Paramedic Student Preceptor, ACLS, PALS, MALS, PHTLS, PHTLS Instructor, BLS Instructor, Basic First Aid and CPR Instructor, PHI Aviation Flight Dispatcher, Just started doing some ER volunteering/ shadowing. I just finished a complete remodel of a 1200 square foot home that I am currently moving in to.... So I guess that makes me a Carpenter/ electrician/Plumber free lancer as well.....

Not trying to be a prick here or anything I am very much a non trad and love the things that I have done. I am truly ready for my next chapter in life.

 

[esob]

I'm a little confused on EC's vs actual Job I guess though. For example, I was a lab tech and an EMT in the Army for 4 years but it was my actual job so I don't really consider that an EC (though I do think it counts for clinical experience). In my mind I see an EC as something you do for no pay (or nominal pay) in addition to your regular job and school. Is this how adcoms view EC's as well? I see a lot of people list their EC's as "anything medical" even if it's their full time job.

 

[ROSC]

I've viewed it as "Extra Curricular" ? Is this incorrect ?

 

[Gibbward]

I'm a little confused on EC's vs actual Job I guess though. For example, I was a lab tech and an EMT in the Army for 4 years but it was my actual job so I don't really consider that an EC (though I do think it counts for clinical experience). In my mind I see an EC as something you do for no pay (or nominal pay) in addition to your regular job and school. Is this how adcoms view EC's as well? I see a lot of people list their EC's as "anything medical" even if it's their full time job.

In med school applications, ECs are all the activities that you have, whether it's volunteering (clinical/non-clinical), club involvement, research, leadership, or job employment. They're anything that can show that you're not just a pre-med robot that only studies and gets good grades.

 

[ruedjgtc]

- Around 2+ years of channel electrophysiology, co-PI on a few projects
- Journal Club
- Physical therapy rehab for the mentally and physically impaired
- Academic advising/tutoring in prisons
- Tutoring (college physics, chemistry, organic chemistry, physiology, and SES of all ages)
- After school science programs
- Inpatient children's oncology science and math tutor
- IRB/ACUC asst ethics officer
- STEM office of research and grants
- Barista at Japanese speaking cafe, can drive a forklift like a bad mo'fo, dabbled in hard labor.

I didn't really have applying to medical school on my mind when I was doing all of this stuff, I applied to PhD prior to medical school (bench science), changed my mind while applying and ended up taking an extra year to apply to medical school. Glad I did.

 

[TallPreMed]

I'm on the fence about ECs with working full time and taking classes. I'll be shadowing so I'm hoping that shadowing plus my 5000 hours of clinical experience in hospice (by the time I apply), and the fact that I was a collegiate athlete will be more than enough.

Maybe my extensive time (2 years) spent playing intramural football, volleyball, softball, and basketball will count as ECs A girl can dream right?

 

[68PGunner]

Teacher for 2 years and US soldier for 3 years.

 

[aust10n]

Paramedic x6 years in urban and rural setting (>5000 hours, >3200 unique patient contacts), field training officer, participated on various prehospital committees.

 

[JDKVEGAS]

- Paramedic in the Air Force 4 years
- Med Records Tech
- Big Brother program
- Volunteer Sunday School Pastor 7 years
- 7 Month Global Humanitarian Mission Trip
- Samaritans Purse Disaster Relief Volunteer
- Shadowing
- Mass Casualty Exercise Coordinator
- Anti-Sex Trafficking Research and Prevention

I am sure there are the little volunteer events here or there but these are the main EC that I have done consistently over time.

 

[DrESQ]

This may be a stupid question, but I'm sincere in seeking opinions here. Although I'm at least 2 years away from applying, I'm starting to run through volunteer/EC work so I have an accurate list complied when it's time to apply.

I'm a law school grad and practicing lawyer. In law school, we were allowed to do externships for class credit. I did 2 externships for class credit, totaling probably 300-400 hours (I have sheets documenting my hours, I'll have to check the exact number). I also was a law clerk in a state agency and was unpaid and did not receive class credit for 2.5 months before the state's new fiscal year started and there was money in the budget to start paying us. This totaled probably 150-200 hours unpaid and no class credit (no credit because I maxed out the allowed externship credits, which was 6).

My dilemma is this: in law school, we were allowed to count these as volunteer hours (externships are unpaid, but you pay to receive class credit). Would the same hold true for medical school applications? Or would these not count as volunteer hours because I received class credit? Thanks in advance for help!

 

[QuesoFresco]

I'm a second year social work graduate student so I have some interesting ones:

- Interned as a case manager at a healthcare for the homeless clinic (about 500 hours) where I also did research and had 2 papers published as last author
- Currently interning in behavioral and clinical health placement
- Shadowed my now mentor for approximately 100 hours
- Volunteer facilitator for bereavment groups
- Vice President of a clinical student society
- Part-time weightlifting coach and fitness blogger

Definitely some atypical experiences in there. Hopefully that helps me in the application cycle?

 

[ProspectiveKidd]

Year 1
(currently working 40 hrs/week)
Science Club
Phi Theta Kappa Member (along with honors courses and honors contracted courses - some independent study as well - not necessarily EC but an academic plus)
Volunteer at a pediatric hospital 100+ hours

Soon to come/planned:
Year 2
Foreign travel planned this summer to aide in public health
Student ambassador
shadowing
relevant work exp - quitting FT job and starting as CNA for more clinical exposure 20 hrs/week
ER volunteer (after I finish my year at the pediatric hospital)

Year 3
Research
Continue with shadowing
considering volunteer positions with mentally challenged individuals or fitness programs
probably a club or two at the transfer uni

Considering as much shouldnt be expected of nontrads in terms of ECs, if I am able to hit all of those projected activities I will be satisfied with my EC portfolio. Although it may not be as impressive as some, I think it would suffice with good numbers otherwise.

If I end up taking a gap year I will likely try to spend it with AmeriCorps which should be a huge plus.

Definitely open to thoughts and suggestions