What were your ECs?

[Tim.P]

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Hello all,
Before I get started, I want to clarify that I am not asking about which extra-curriculars look good on a med school application because I'd rather do something that I actually enjoy.

Currently, I am entering my senior year in high school, and I am hoping to get into med school in the future. There are so many extra-curricular activites that I could do between now and the time before I apply to med school, so I am exploring my options. This summer I was selected to take part in a program that places grade 11 students into biomedical research labs at the University of Alberta. I completed my own research project, and it was simply an amazing experience.

So what I'm asking, is for you to share what your ECs were, and if you want, to summarize the experience you had with a couple of them. The reason I ask is that I am hoping a few of them might stand out to me, and might possibly be something I might want to be involved with in the future.

Thanks in advance

 

[acl3623]

Paid jobs (always nice), for me it was important for schools to know that i didnt have a free ride. so even though i had to have a job, i picked one that had at least something to do with medicine and i cared about.

traveled to Guatemala to volunteer. this wasnt your regular 3 weeks to the jungle and bring meds to people in the jungle kind of thing. i went 3 times for about 2 months at a time. im from there so i found places and people that really interested me...the national cardiology center, children's cancer...shadowed some amazing doctors, and got to see a completely different side of medicine.

i have a bunch more on my application but basically my advice would be to find a project that you care about and stick to it. dont just try to rack up 100's of hours doing odd volunteering jobs (although i guess that would do it too!) but join a premed organization as soon as you get to college, they always have lists of volunteering jobs to do...head one of the projects and enjoy!

 

[drguy22]

2 reseach positions one at a medical school and one at my undergrad institution. although im stopping my undergrad research because i started my own project at the med school and need time there.

I tutor for a program that helps minority students ( i tutored calc in the past and will be tutorin genetics and pre-calc this year i think or orgo)

National society of collegiate scholars and Alpha Epsilon Delta(premed society). I worked my freshman year of college at a education center. Im a double major thats finishing is 3 years.

I also have a HUGE inprovement trend. going from a 3.1 to a 4.0 semester GPA. this was due to the fact that both parents are disabled and have health issues.

OO..i forgot..i also shadowed a physician for a semester.


CONCLUSION: NOT VERY IMPRESSIVE EC's...but I still got into medical school through the BA/MD program at NJMS🙂 SO IF I CAN DO IT ANYONE CAN!!..and u dont even want to know my APRIL MCAT score..it sux!

 

[PostalWookie]

Don't join the premed societies. The kids in them are pretty annoying

 

[45408]

Don't join the premed societies. The kids in them are pretty annoying

Please. I run one at my school, and I've met a lot of cool people. A lot of idiots join just to get the "name" of the organization on their application, but some of us do a lot of work.

 

[All-Star14]

Make sure you volunteer in a clinical setting and shadow a physician. You at least want to have a vague notion of what you're getting yourself into. Also, I agree with TheProwler; depending upon the situation at your future undergrad, joining a premed society can be a great way to connect w/med school students (if your undergrad has a medical school). Again, this will help you observe what's in store for you.

 

[Tim.P]

Thanks for all the ideas. My only question is how exactly do I go about shadowing a doctor? Do I look on the internet for a physician in an area that interests me and e-mail him asking if he'd be willing to have me hang around him for a while? Or are there programs that organize these sorts of things for students?

 

[drguy22]

Thanks for all the ideas. My only question is how exactly do I go about shadowing a doctor? Do I look on the internet for a physician in an area that interests me and e-mail him asking if he'd be willing to have me hang around him for a while? Or are there programs that organize these sorts of things for students?

im sure there are programs...call the volunteer office at your local hospitals and find out....usually the bigger medical center has one.

 

[lazgirl24]

Does anyone know of any clinics in the SF (south) Bay area that allows for volunteer. I know that there are a lot of hospitals around here but hopsital don't have flexible hours.

 

[acl3623]

Thanks for all the ideas. My only question is how exactly do I go about shadowing a doctor? Do I look on the internet for a physician in an area that interests me and e-mail him asking if he'd be willing to have me hang around him for a while? Or are there programs that organize these sorts of things for students?

Do you have family doctor you go to? Thats usually a good place to start. Once you shadow one, they'll usually be more than happy to set up another doc for you to shadow as long as you show genuine interest. Ask your parents the next time they go in for a visit to throw your name into a conversation. If they seem willing to let you shadow, call them up. If now, I have known people that look in the phone book and just call around. That may be a little more tricky though. Good luck!

 

[UseUrHeadFred]

I blew up the Death Star.

 

[All-Star14]

Thanks for all the ideas. My only question is how exactly do I go about shadowing a doctor? Do I look on the internet for a physician in an area that interests me and e-mail him asking if he'd be willing to have me hang around him for a while? Or are there programs that organize these sorts of things for students?

I guess you can start with your family physician and find out about more shadowing opportunities from him/her. Doctors know/associate with other doctors; use those connections if at all possible.

My school has a shadowing program, so that's how I gain my experience.

 

[AxlxA]

I volunteer at SFGH, San Francisco General Hospital. They have a great ER program. THe deal is, 5 hours a week every week for a semester. Of course you could call in sick or something but if u need flexible hours, u could also do this program under "substitutes." These are ppl on a list that whenever someone is sick or can't make a shift, they will contact everyone via email or phone to ask for a sub. OR you can call Dennis(the ER volunteer coordinator) and ask if u can show up to a certain shift. max 3 ppl per shift so u can look for open slots. If you have any questions, pm me and i'll give u more info on the program.

 

[Senor.Frog]

I volunteer at SFGH, San Francisco General Hospital. They have a great ER program..

I'm curious, what are your primary duties as a volunteer there. The impression I got was that most of the volunteers sorta stood around and watched, I wasn't very impressed, so I didn't volunteer. But I'm curious if my impression was way off base.

 

[Mumpu]

The key with ECs is quality over quantity. You can fool yourself but you will not fool the admissions committee -- they will see through application padding and it will backfire against you. So pick a few things you really enjoy and seriously commit to them.

I did two things in college. One was research for four years and three summers in the same lab. The other was firefighter-EMT with the local volunteer fire department. I went to fire school and EMT classes, always ran in Top 10, and averaged 40 hours a week of on-call time... all during school year. When I was filling out AMCAS (ugh), I filled in very few lines. But I filled them in with citations for publications and run statistics from my fire department. It's cliche, but actions speak louder than words.