What kind of ECs do top 10 matriculants have?

[lpe71]

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I’m curious what kind of things the top 10 med school matriculants are doing that makes them exceptional. I understand the 3.9+ and ridiculous MCAT is a given, but it’s hard to get specific examples of what kind of ECs matriculants to the top schools have (beyond browsing MDApp profiles).

 

[Lost in Translation]

I only interviewed at a Top 10 but:

600+ ED volunteering hours
300+ pediatric volunteering hours
Uncommon (not "mainstream") hobbies that I could talk passionately about

 

[LizzyM]

People I know personally who garnered admission:

Professional athlete
Military veteran
Olympic athlete
Professional musician

Also:
Teach for America
Peace Corps
City Year and similar full-time volunteer engagement for 1 year
Two years of full-time laboratory research plus MS degree

Granted, most of the people I know would be considered non-trad.

 

[number9]

I haven’t officially matriculated yet, but I interviewed at 8 of the 9 top 10s I applied to and have been accepted to 3 so far.

-multiple leadership positions in several settings (e.g. TA, resident advisor, club sports team captain, club leader), all of which I was involved in for years
-500 hours volunteering with an underserved population, and 1500+ other hours paid work with this population (serving this community is a huge passion and a big part of my “why medicine” story)
-“check-box” level research (one summer + one year in different labs, presented at conference at my undergrad but no publications and no thesis)
-“check box” level shadowing (50 hours)
-no traditional “clinical experience” (I didn’t volunteer in a a hospital or anything), though during the application cycle I have held a clinical volunteer position—but I was only able to list this in secondaries because it started in July

 

[Goro]

People I know personally who garnered admission:

Professional athlete
Military veteran
Olympic athlete
Professional musician

Also:
Teach for America
Peace Corps
City Year and similar full-time volunteer engagement for 1 year
Two years of full-time laboratory research plus MS degree

Granted, most of the people I know would be considered non-trad.

The trend I see is that they have 100s, and sometimes even 1000s of hours in patient contact experience and/or non-clinical volunteering (as the Russians would say, quantity has a quality on its own"). Many were in the categories listed by LizzyM, although I personally have never interviewed an Olympic level athlete (although one of our recent grads was one...she's now in residency at a Really Top School's university hospital). Never seen a pro athelete either.

A few venues that come to mind were writing policy papers or lobbying on public health issues; work with the homeless or other disadvantaged populations; extensive teaching.

 

[corndogs]

I haven’t officially matriculated yet, but I interviewed at 8 of the 9 top 10s I applied to and have been accepted to 3 so far.

-multiple leadership positions in several settings (e.g. TA, resident advisor, club sports team captain, club leader), all of which I was involved in for years
-500 hours volunteering with an underserved population, and 1500+ other hours paid work with this population (serving this community is a huge passion and a big part of my “why medicine” story)
-“check-box” level research (one summer + one year in different labs, presented at conference at my undergrad but no publications and no thesis)
-“check box” level shadowing (50 hours)
-no traditional “clinical experience” (I didn’t volunteer in a a hospital or anything), though during the application cycle I have held a clinical volunteer position—but I was only able to list this in secondaries because it started in July

You had 0 clinical experience prior to the application cycle starting?

 

[bae2017]

I have not been accepted to a top 10 but have IIs to 7 out of the 9 that I applied to (hopefully January-March will bring good news).

Not delving into specifics, I believe it is important to demonstrate leadership/general excellence in your extracurricular activities. There are the obvious boxes you need to check - research, clinical experience, community service, etc. - but pick one domain (or several!) and really knock that out of the park.

Once stats are sufficiently high and the boxes are checked, I think success in the application cycle at the top schools is based off of three main things:
1) do you have a narrative that links your interests? can you provide a compelling account of WHY you did the things you did?
2) have you been able to demonstrate a track record of excellence or leadership in these elements of your narrative? is the evidence convincing enough that this success will continue throughout your career? and
3) from the way you talk about your activities and present your story, do you come across as a virtuous, compassionate, humble, intellectually curious, conscientious individual who will one day be capable of treating your own patients?

 

[number9]

You had 0 clinical experience prior to the application cycle starting?

By typical SDN standards, yes, I had no “clinical experience”. However, the volunteer and paid work I did with people with disabilities involved a huge amount of personal care (feeding, bathing, dressing, assisting with medical equipment, etc). But it’s true that it was not a clinical setting as the people I worked with were not patients seeking health care.

I know people generally think 0 clinical hours = death sentence, but I got interviews from 15 of the 17 schools I applied to and only one interviewer ever mentioned my lack of standard clinical volunteering (and I was accepted to that school). I think the important thing is to have familiarity with clinical settings (which I achieved through shadowing) and to show altruism/comfort around people who are sick or have a lot of medical needs (which I got through the volunteering/paid experience with people with disabilities). I’m definitely not saying clinical volunteering isn’t important and I would definitely not advocate for everyone following the path I did, but I think there are probably more ways to show you’re prepared for a career in medicine than the standard 50 shadowing hours + 150 clinical volunteering hours formula.

 

[Planes2Doc]

From a traditional student perspective:
Starting a non-profit organization

From a non-traditional student perspective:
Things that are far more unique like corporate leadership positions, military service, odd jobs, etc...

 

[freedoctor17]

From a traditional student perspective:
Starting a non-profit organization

From a non-traditional student perspective:
Things that are far more unique like corporate leadership positions, military service, odd jobs, etc...

Hmm what about helping to greatly expand a nonprofit that's recently knew at your school? My freshman year was it's 2nd year since being started and I joined then, and this year (although obviously it was a group effort) I was president and helped expand it a lot and increase it's sustainability. Started a bunch of new partnerships and solidified old ones. It's service oriented and the volunteer base definitely increased a lot as well. Granted that part didn't really have much to do with me, just the new partnerships and stuff...

It's probably not nearly as impressive as starting something from scratch but I can at least definitely speak about it pretty well and it was a large part of my sophomore/junior years

 

[Caribpro]

I went to a top 10 school.

I had a phd
thousands of volunteer hours
hundreds of shadowing hours
I knew the head of the admissions committee

many people in my class had advanced degrees as well. MS or PhD in a science based degree.

 

[freedoctor17]

If only spending countless hours on SDN counted as an EC, then I'd be qualified for any top school 😛

 

[Lucca]

About n = 5 I know personally:

big numbers (LM>78), distinguished in their niche.

None of them have been olympians or anything like that. Most of them have focused on research in UG, albeit not necessarily basic science.

 

[chemdoctor]

I have not been accepted to a top 10 but have IIs to 7 out of the 9 that I applied to (hopefully January-March will bring good news).

Not delving into specifics, I believe it is important to demonstrate leadership/general excellence in your extracurricular activities. There are the obvious boxes you need to check - research, clinical experience, community service, etc. - but pick one domain (or several!) and really knock that out of the park.

Once stats are sufficiently high and the boxes are checked, I think success in the application cycle at the top schools is based off of three main things:
1) do you have a narrative that links your interests? can you provide a compelling account of WHY you did the things you did?
2) have you been able to demonstrate a track record of excellence or leadership in these elements of your narrative? is the evidence convincing enough that this success will continue throughout your career? and
3) from the way you talk about your activities and present your story, do you come across as a virtuous, compassionate, humble, intellectually curious, conscientious individual who will one day be capable of treating your own patients?

Lol top tens are so not for me... haha

 

[CloverBale]

The trend I see is that they have 100s, and sometimes even 1000s of hours in patient contact experience and/or non-clinical volunteering (as the Russians would say, quantity has a quality on its own"). Many were in the categories listed by LizzyM, although I personally have never interviewed an Olympic level athlete (although one of our recent grads was one...she's now in residency at a Really Top School's university hospital). Never seen a pro athelete either.

A few venues that come to mind were writing policy papers or lobbying on public health issues; work with the homeless or other disadvantaged populations; extensive teaching.

does clinical exp. via work count?

 

[Goro]

By typical SDN standards, yes, I had no “clinical experience”. However, the volunteer and paid work I did with people with disabilities involved a huge amount of personal care (feeding, bathing, dressing, assisting with medical equipment, etc). But it’s true that it was not a clinical setting as the people I worked with were not patients seeking health care.

I know people generally think 0 clinical hours = death sentence, but I got interviews from 15 of the 17 schools I applied to and only one interviewer ever mentioned my lack of standard clinical volunteering (and I was accepted to that school). I think the important thing is to have familiarity with clinical settings (which I achieved through shadowing) and to show altruism/comfort around people who are sick or have a lot of medical needs (which I got through the volunteering/paid experience with people with disabilities). I’m definitely not saying clinical volunteering isn’t important and I would definitely not advocate for everyone following the path I did, but I think there are probably more ways to show you’re prepared for a career in medicine than the standard 50 shadowing hours + 150 clinical volunteering hours formula.

By my own definition, you have admirable clincial exposure! No

does clinical exp. via work count?

Absolutely!!!

 

[CloverBale]

Absolutely!!!

when you have over 7,000 hours of clinical exp but med schools still don't wont you

((don't @ me, issa joke))

 

[loneobserver]

From a traditional student perspective:
Starting a non-profit organization

From a non-traditional student perspective:
Things that are far more unique like corporate leadership positions, military service, odd jobs, etc...

Sorry. Wrong person

 

[loneobserver]

Hmm what about helping to greatly expand a nonprofit that's recently knew at your school? My freshman year was it's 2nd year since being started and I joined then, and this year (although obviously it was a group effort) I was president and helped expand it a lot and increase it's sustainability. Started a bunch of new partnerships and solidified old ones. It's service oriented and the volunteer base definitely increased a lot as well. Granted that part didn't really have much to do with me, just the new partnerships and stuff...

It's probably not nearly as impressive as starting something from scratch but I can at least definitely speak about it pretty well and it was a large part of my sophomore/junior years

Hi I am freshmen who recently started a non-profit organization but do not know how to expand it. I am really passionate about this cause but I am not sure how to run it very well and you have had experience it in it. I would like to know how you did it and so can you help me with it please? I would like to contact you one on one as well for more follow up questions but I am new here so I don’t know how to contact you. Thank you very much!

 

[freedoctor17]

Hi I am freshmen who recently started a non-profit organization but do not know how to expand it. I am really passionate about this cause but I am not sure how to run it very well and you have had experience it in it. I would like to know how you did it and so can you help me with it please? I would like to contact you one on one as well for more follow up questions but I am new here so I don’t know how to contact you. Thank you very much!

Sent you a PM (Private Message) you can respond from there!

 

[aldol16]

It may surprise you to learn that 3.9+ GPAs are not required. There are a few schools up there with ridiculously high mean GPAs, but 3.7+ is fine. What's key is to have ECs that contribute to a compelling narrative. They can be pretty typical ECs but you have to have narrative about your journey to medicine and why medicine that stands out.

 

[TSteezy]

I go to a top 10, IMO there's three types of people:

1. Traditional "straight-throughers" from reputable undergrads w/ insane stats, good research, and cookie-cutter ECs
2. Non-trad (1-2 years out) w/ good stats, good research, and notable ECs (TFA/extensive volunteering/leadership)
3. Career changers w/ cool stories

 

[Mcatbot]

I go to a top 10, IMO there's three types of people:

1. Traditional "straight-throughers" from reputable undergrads w/ insane stats, good research, and cookie-cutter ECs
2. Non-trad (1-2 years out) w/ good stats, good research, and notable ECs (TFA/extensive volunteering/leadership)
3. Career changers w/ cool stories

Completely agree. Same as my top 10.

 

[FlameGrilledChicken]

I'd also like to chip in a bit although I've only had 2 top 10 IIs and have yet to hear from them. I felt like an important part of my application was having a consistent theme that tied in to my PS and "why medicine" in general. My ECs were not crazy good in the sense of what you might think but the consistent theme showed that I did them out of an interest and passion and not to check off boxes. Add in the required average clinical experiences and some decent research. I think that paired with really good stats was what got me both IIs. Going back to one of the previous posts I guess I'd probably fit into the traditional "straight-througher".

 

[CloverBale]

I'd also like to chip in a bit although I've only had 2 top 10 IIs and have yet to hear from them. I felt like an important part of my application was having a consistent theme that tied in to my PS and "why medicine" in general. My ECs were not crazy good in the sense of what you might think but the consistent theme showed that I did them out of an interest and passion and not to check off boxes. Add in the required average clinical experiences and some decent research. I think that paired with really good stats was what got me both IIs. Going back to one of the previous posts I guess I'd probably fit into the traditional "straight-througher".

What was your theme and did everything click back to it? And how do you suggest finding a theme? I feel like my application is sort of all over the place

 

[FlameGrilledChicken]

What was your theme and did everything click back to it? And how do you suggest finding a theme? I feel like my application is sort of all over the place

I'd say my theme was related to teaching and education. And that's actually a pretty easy one for most premeds to push but I had a bit of an interesting "origin story" and some things that weren't necessarily stuff one could put on an app but that I could talk about during interviews or on some secondaries that highlighted my passion for that "theme". I also didn't just have standard teaching experiences (TAing, tutoring etc.) but did a few more unconventional teaching activities which included things like interpretive delivery at an aquarium and facilitating large scale workshops in language exchange. I should note that those activities did not have a crazy long amount of hours associated with them (each was below 300) but theywere a bit unique and came up during interviews.

Also, not everything clicked back to it. Which seemed totally fine. I had one or two activities here and there that were not related to teaching/education. It's also good, I think, to show that you've tried other things too even if you didn't enjoy them.

If you're trying to find a theme I'd suggest looking back retrospectively at your app to see if there was some consistency in your app. Most people who aren't just willy nilly resume padding will tend to gravitate to a certain set or type of activities if they are following their interests even somewhat. I don't mind taking a look at your app if you want a 3rd person to see if there are any strong connections. I know most people don't even realize their passions until someone points it out to them!

Lastly, don't try and force a theme if none exists. If no theme exists, you can always frame yourself as having "diverse interests" and being "well-rounded" which doesn't sound bad at all 😉

 

[CloverBale]

I'd say my theme was related to teaching and education. And that's actually a pretty easy one for most premeds to push but I had a bit of an interesting "origin story" and some things that weren't necessarily stuff one would put on an app but that I could talk about during interviews or on some secondaries that highlighted my passion for that "theme". I also didn't just have standard teaching experiences (TAing, tutoring etc.) but did a few more unconventional teaching activities which included things like interpretive delivery at an aquarium and facilitating large scale workshops in language exchange. I should note that those activities did not have a crazy long amount of hours associated with them (each was below 300) but they were a bit unique and came up during interviews.

Also, not everything clicked back to it. Which seemed totally fine. I had one or two activities here and there that were not related to teaching/education. It's also good, I think, to show that you've tried other things too even if you didn't enjoy them.

If you're trying to find a theme I'd suggest looking back retrospectively at your app to see if there was some consistency in your app. Most people who aren't just willy nilly resume padding will tend to gravitate to a certain set or type of activities if their following their interests even somewhat. I don't mind taking a look at your app if you wan't a 3rd person to see if there is any strong connections. I know most people don't even realize their passions until someone points it out to them!

Lastly, don't try and force a theme if none exists. If no theme exists, you can always frame yourself as having "diverse interests" and being "well-rounded" which doesn't sound bad at all 😉

Omg thank you! I'd totally appreciate it 🙂 PM-ed you