What is the *WORST* EC one can include?

[LizzyM]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I've had experience in three different free clinics and have NEVER been allowed to do something beyond my scope of practice. I took vitals, collected a very basic history, and did some basic health screenings and education/prevention counseling related to HIV, other STIs, and diabetes once I was trained appropriately. Throughout my 1500+ hours of experience in free clinic-type settings, I have never, ever heard of someone being able to do procedures, treatment, or anything of the sort without the appropriate training/qualifications. Maybe you've had different experience in another state with a different regulations for their safety net clinics, but my experience has been that what you describe is far from the norm and would still be considered highly inappropriate.

I concur. The sorts of things done in free clinics might include height and weight, blood pressure, recording basic information such as the reason for the visit. The same activities done abroad would also be acceptable. What we are hearing though from abroad are things like suturing, assisting in surgery, "making diagnoses" and checking one's clinical acumen with a preceptor. Big difference.

 

[Lucca]

Finally, replace mission trip with free clinic. All of a sudden, the things that sounded unethical now sound like "great clinical experiences!" Free clinics are very popular on SDN, because pre-meds assume (rightly so) that they can do more than a local hospital ED. This is true. I don't think that they are flocking to free clinics because they necessarily care about the poor people in our society. Thus, a free clinic volunteer would be viewed in a positive light. Yet, try doing the same thing overseas, and you're viewed as a monster. It's a big double-standard.

This depends on the free clinic. I work at a free clinic as a translator and it has not been my experience that other volunteers get to do more than one would at hospice or at a hospital. Volunteers generally slow things down and free clinics need to run a tight ship - or at least we do because we are overbooked 100% of the time.

 

[AspiringERMD]

There has been so much discussion over the years about the BEST extracurriculars--these discussions are generally started by premeds looking to pick up a new activity which will "guarantee" their acceptance to med school.

I'd like to ask the opposite. What are some ECs which med school applicants should NEVER include in their app?

(For clarity, I am not talking about vices such as alcoholism, drug abuse, or pedophilia. I am asking about things which students can (or have previously) included in apps in an effort to impress, but which accomplished the opposite.)



I will start.

Playing video games: Whether professionally or recreationally, this apparently shows immaturity and a propensity for addiction.

Working at an animal rescue: This one comes from my own app... I used to volunteer at a nearby horse rescue because a) i like horses, and b) they needed help. However this led to frequent questions along the lines of "why not vet med?" and "so you prefer animals to people?" After I removed this from my app, these ridiculous questions ended.



Any other ECs which give the wrong impression to adcoms?

Black market organ salesman.

 

[cs24]

People often forget that fighting, boxing specifically, is known as the sweet science, but when it comes down it, it's a fight first and foremost. You are in there to hurt your opponent, and he is there to hurt you too. Working in the gym can be fun, but the only fun part about actually fighting is the end of the fight, if you've won

I will definitely be leaving this off my application, but I also played a DII traditional team sport in college so if adcoms favor athletics that might help haha

For you, maybe. Not for everyone or even most people who train. First of all, plenty of people train MMA or similar combat sports without ever truly competing, and training in the gym had better not involve you being there to hurt your opponent first and foremost. In the cage itself, yeah its a fight, but I'd rather win without doing serious irreversible damage to my opponent (much more of a realistic possibility in MMA than in boxing, I'll grant you).

Even if I accept your "its a fight first and foremost" at face value, your argument about how could a doctor, a preserver of life, want to bash in someones brains is silly. Would you say that someone who tried to crush his opponents on the football field shouldn't be allowed to be a doctor for the same reason?

With all this said, if you truly fight to hurt your opponents, rip off their limbs and bash in their brains, and that is the only answer you can think of when the interviewer says "why do you fight?" then yes, leave it off your application. But that doesn't mean MMA, boxing, etc should never be part of someone's app. In fact, if you are any good at it, I would argue that leaving it off your application is detrimental.

 

[deleted407021]

This depends on the free clinic. I work at a free clinic as a translator and it has not been my experience that other volunteers get to do more than one would at hospice or at a hospital. Volunteers generally slow things down and free clinics need to run a tight ship - or at least we do because we are overbooked 100% of the time.

There are different set-ups. For instance, the clinic in which I work is almost 100% volunteer managed, from the nurse to the doctors to the medical coordinator. The only employee is the clinic director; all others are fully volunteer per our grant requirements and mission. We are also booked to the extent that we have people on our waiting list going back to last September that we are just now getting to for applications.

 

[Lucca]

There are different set-ups. For instance, the clinic in which I work is almost 100% volunteer managed, from the nurse to the doctors to the medical coordinator. The only employee is the clinic director; all others are fully volunteer per our grant requirements and mission. We are also booked to the extent that we have people on our waiting list going back to last September that we are just now getting to for applications.

Oh it's the same with us. Everyone is a volunteer, including the clinicians. I was talking about non-professional volunteers like me who don't actually manage the clinic or patient care.

 

[jared_the_great]

This happened twice at two different top 20 schools where I interviewed. We got to a point in the day where we were asked to go around the room and introduce ourselves, and include an interesting hobby. More than half of each group cited "watching Netflix" as their only hobby.

On the one hand, I feel like they were probably just being honest about how they spend most of their free time. And there's certainly nothing wrong with watching Netflix. But in a situation where you're there to be judged and evaluated, I would think one would try to come up with something that they occasionally do that is a tad more interesting.

 

[doctorjunior]

How is Netflix even a hobby though? Like, yeah, it fills up your spare time (and I certainly watch plenty myself!) but I doubt anyone would consider it a hobby...

 

[SufiPoet]

One of the guys at my UG wrote a book about how to get into Medical School before he got into Medical School. Published it using Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon, mentioned it on his apps, and he told me it was his biggest mistake because a bunch of adcoms thought he was being pompous, disingenuous.

I thought the book was good. And he is currently an M3 🙂

 

[Planes2Doc]

I've had experience in three different free clinics and have NEVER been allowed to do something beyond my scope of practice. I took vitals, collected a very basic history, and did some basic health screenings and education/prevention counseling related to HIV, other STIs, and diabetes once I was trained appropriately. Throughout my 1500+ hours of experience in free clinic-type settings, I have never, ever heard of someone being able to do procedures, treatment, or anything of the sort without the appropriate training/qualifications. Maybe you've had different experience in another state with a different regulations for their safety net clinics, but my experience has been that what you describe is far from the norm and would still be considered highly inappropriate.

Yeah that's what I meant though... Everything you just listed was stuff you were not allowed to do as an ED volunteer. I'm not talking about extremes, like suturing up a patient. I just mean that you get to do more at a free clinic than a typical hospital ED. This is what makes free clinics more attractive to pre-meds... Whether you are taking vitals or suturing, all of this stuff is attractive (even though the latter is viewed as unethical by ADCOMs).

 

[TulaneUnderdog]

Promoted "leader" of a "clan"

 

[deleted407021]

Yeah that's what I meant though... Everything you just listed was stuff you were not allowed to do as an ED volunteer. I'm not talking about extremes, like suturing up a patient. I just mean that you get to do more at a free clinic than a typical hospital ED. This is what makes free clinics more attractive to pre-meds... Whether you are taking vitals or suturing, all of this stuff is attractive (even though the latter is viewed as unethical by ADCOMs).

I second this. Free clinics also provide good opportunities for advancement and taking on more responsibilities.

I have held instruments during a few surgeries with the doc I shadow, though. Uterine manipulation ftw.

 

[asw98]

I have a question. For my gap year job, I will be working as a care coordinator at a dermatology group. My position is part secretarial (scheduling, billing, and welcoming patients) and part technician/other (scrubbing into surgeries, scribing, prepping rooms, explaining to patients how to take their medicine and how the medicine actually works, etc.). I have heard from previous people who have had this position that the physicians taught them to suture and actually did it on patients. Is this something that I should just not say during an interview?

 

[razzmatazz87]

I have a question. For my gap year job, I will be working as a care coordinator at a dermatology group. My position is part secretarial (scheduling, billing, and welcoming patients) and part technician/other (scrubbing into surgeries, scribing, prepping rooms, explaining to patients how to take their medicine and how the medicine actually works, etc.). I have heard from previous people who have had this position that the physicians taught them to suture and actually did it on patients. Is this something that I should just not say during an interview?

Legally, you are not supposed to suture. I would not do it if offered, I know learning medical technique is exciting, but you should not be learning to suture on a living patient. Don't do it, and certainly do not discuss it in interviews.

 

[medic86]

Meh.

Suturing isn't even that fun.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Legally, you are not supposed to suture. I would not do it if offered, I know learning medical technique is exciting, but you should not be learning to suture on a living patient. Don't do it, and certainly do not discuss it in interviews.

THIS!!!

Also my rule of thumb for disclosing things: If you have to ask on a forum, then it's probably a bad idea. You have that sixth sense for a reason...