Work vs. Other EC's...

[RetroBA]

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Just curious if anyone can provide me with some suggestions on how I should round out my last 1-2 years of undergrad. I'm having troubles deciding if it would be more beneficial for me to cut my hours down at work(30hrs/wk) and try to focus more on other EC options (volunteering, research, etc.)?

I am not left with much time for other ECs while going to school full time and working 30hrs/wk. I mean is volunteer experience really more important then actually working with doctors and observing what the MD profession is really like?

Currently I have nearly 6,500 hrs of clinical experience working for an Infectious Disease/Internal Med clinic. I have direct patient contact and basically shadow the physician I work for while I am there. (However, I am going to start devoting actual days that I will shadow the physicians not just observe while I work.) Besides that I am pretty slim on my EC's, when I am not working or going to school I am either studying or outside relieving some stress with some sort of exercise.

Any feedback and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[motomed]

my experience has been that adcoms seem to severely devalue work in pretty much every way. you can tell them you interact with physicians all the time while you are working, they'll hear that you didn't fully shadow them and don't really know what they do. you tell them you worked full time and then some and all they do is look around for other EC's. they don't care if you have bills to pay, etc. if you can, cut back your hours and pad the application, play their game.... more hours doing the same thing you've already done adds nothing to your app. doing different things, no matter how meaningless they may be to you, will add something new to your app. sad but true.

 

[gravitywave]

i'm going to go ahead and disagree with motomed here, my experience was quite different at least in terms of how adcoms view work. my work experience in health care was a central positive point at every interview. your job sounds like excellent clinical experience and i really doubt that you would need shadowing at this point, either.

two points though: you cannot allow work to come before grades. they absolutely will consider your transcript in light of the fact that you were employed, but no amount of work experience will convince them to overlook a 3.0 cGPA. conversely, if you worked 40hrs/wk while posting a 3.9 at the same time, it's a huge selling point. also, i am going to agree with moto in the sense that you should probably try to expand things a little. all work and no play make Jack's AMCAS a dull read. consider including non-clinical volunteer activities and hobbies/things you do for fun or simply for the experience. it really helps round you out as a person for the people evaluating your file, whether it's on paper or at the interview.

 

[RetroBA]

Do adcomms particularly care about hobbies outside of school that have no connection with medicine, or dont even serve a purpose in life besides sole enjoyment? Would you recommend non-clinical volunteering over volunteering at a local hospital?

Thanks

 

[LoveTheRunner]

paid research assistant. cash money medical experience

 

[docelh]

Personally, I would do other ECs.

Job = 1 AMCAS entry = 30 hrs.
30 hrs can be easily converted into 4 - 5 AMCAS entries with time to spare (for study of course).