What kind of EC's do Postbaccs typically have?

[bonez318ti]

Given that most of us are career switchers, what kind of extra curriculars do other post baccs have?

in speaking with other pre med undergrads, it seems they have experience out the wazoo.. such as lots of volunteer and research experience.. but its pretty difficult for those of us who have recently decided to switch to medicine to do research/volunteering on top of our classes.

personally, I have some volunteer time (maybe 6 months of volunteering in ER).. and I've been doing some tutoring of HS students in the sciences at my church.. but that is about the limit of my medical/science related extra curriculars..

i have some otherstuff from undergrad (which was about 4 years ago) such as being RA for 2 years, orientation counsoler, and working at the campus newspaper.. do ad coms even care about non-science stuff like that?

Unfortunately, I didn't do too much volunteering in my 3 years in the workforce...

So what EC's will you have on your list by the time you apply?

I'd also be curious to hear about EC's from postbaccs who've already been accepted..

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[El Chupacabra]

i have some otherstuff from undergrad (which was about 4 years ago) such as being RA for 2 years, orientation counsoler, and working at the campus newspaper.. do ad coms even care about non-science stuff like that?

Med schools want to see that you know what the day in the life of a physician is like. The the typical shadowning and clinical experience is a must; however, they also love to see general volunteering, because it demonstrates you are ultimately committed to helping your community.

 

[LoneCoyote]

i haven't been accepted yet (cali schools are so slow) but i've gotten a number of interviews and my ec's, which i think are more random than most traditional pre-meds, have not been a problem.... while i post-bac i volunteered at a local hospital for 4-8 hrs/wk and at a hospice for about 1-2 hrs/week. i also had some lab work. from college i had some stuff totally unrelated to medicine... sports, work, a peer hotline, some mentoring. nothing super amazing but i showed them i was involved and stayed busy. and i had full time work experience from the time out of school. i wouldn't worry too much. you just need to show them you have investigated medicine enough to know what you are getting into, and that you are the type of person who gets involved in something and doesn't just study all day. contrary to what many pre-meds think, there's no formula for what you should do and frankly i think some random stuff or variety will work in your favor.

 

[relentless11]

Don't be intimidated by pre-med undergrads by how much stuff they do. The age range of people getting into med schools, specifically schools like UCSF for example is quite large. I believe the range this year has a max of 37? I've heard some who are 44. Clearly, these people are unconventional applicants and probably didn't realize that they wanted to be a doctor at an early time in their lives.

If you do well in school, and have clinical exposure, and done something positive in your life, and shown yourself to be dedicated to that...more power to you. Volunteering in a hospital is a given....everyone out there knows that its an unspoken rule that you have to do that. That doesn't make you special. In the end, tutoring, or doing something that gives back to the community, and showing dedication to that probably wins out over your general clinical exposure.

At the end of the day, once you managed to get to the interview stage, you may have much more to talk about than your typical undergraduate pre-med. Interviewers are people just like you and I, and if they're medical students or doctors, they would and should enjoy talking and learning more abuot the person.

So yea, don't be intimidated, but do your best to continue doing what you LIKE to do. Don't do something because "other pre-meds" are doing it. I find that irritating, and really dissappointing.