Worried about EC...how do you gauge where you stand?

[magicalm]

Hi guys,

I am currently a junior and the EC part of the application is stressing me out because I am not the type of proactive kid to go out and try to stuff my resume full. I just don't know how to gauge whether my ECs now (and the ECs that I have by the time of apps) are a strength, weakness, major downfall, or none of the above. What are some good standards in terms of how much of each type of EC that is needed?

Here's a little more about me. I am going to be a junior, above 4.0 at an Ivy university. A+ in most of my premed prereqs so I am assuming my MCAT will be ok at the least when I take it next year. For volunteering, I have one long term(continuing) commitment at a nursing home and a lot of short term ones (30-40 hrs, some clinical) that I have finished. It will come out to be about 200 hours or a little less. I will have 50 hrs of shadowing. I have had 2 summers of research experience of neuroscience lab, 1 summer of clinical research (1 publication). I am involved in research as well on campus (started 2nd half of soph yr and planning on committing heavily to it because it is very meaningful to me). Also, I have had 2 yrs in band at school.

If anyone could offer some opinion/insight/perspective that would be very much appreciated. I really do hate freaking out over applications.

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[gyropath]

I'm in the same boat. I'd like to hear what people have to say.

 

[TriagePreMed]

You sound good to me. Only things missing is some leadership, non-medical volunteering, and hobbies. You don't need to do a lot of things. Instead, you are better of having longevity with an activity.

 

[LizzyM]

You sound good to me. Only things missing is some leadership, non-medical volunteering, and hobbies. You don't need to do a lot of things. Instead, you are better of having longevity with an activity.

Plenty of people are admitted without an item labeled "leadership".

volunteering in a nursing home over several years is evidence of service; no non-medical volunteering is necessary. If you wanted to get involved with some non-medical service it would be ok but 2 years in the nursing home is going to be considered admirable. Band would count as a "hobby".

Rather than ask "how many hours do I need?", ask yourself, why am I discontinuing this activity? Why am I starting this activity? If you have legit reasons for stopping and starting, and by that I mean something other than, "I need to do this for my application" then you should be fine.

 

[senorsquishie]

It's always good to keep an eye on the different catogories, but you will be surprised how well things will fill themselves in if you just keep an eye out for things you find interesting.

 

[Mornhavon]

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[NickNaylor]

Honestly, the clinical/non-clinical volunteering is a joke. Everyone knows it is just a checklist to be marked off on an application, and for most of us, is a unpleasant chore to get through. In our poor economy, it's possible that all this volunteering actually hurts people that could use these paid jobs, rather than US (upper-middle class college kids).

I know that some of you actually "do care" and like "helping people", but that doesn't mean squat. If I don't care yet do it anyway, then what is the difference?

He mad.

 

[music2doc]

Honestly, the clinical/non-clinical volunteering is a joke. Everyone knows it is just a checklist to be marked off on an application, and for most of us, is a unpleasant chore to get through. In our poor economy, it's possible that all this volunteering actually hurts people that could use these paid jobs, rather than US (upper-middle class college kids).

I know that some of you actually "do care" and like "helping people", but that doesn't mean squat. If I don't care yet do it anyway, then what is the difference?

The need is there for people to help out in free clinics and such. Why not have pre-meds as a continuous/inexhaustible source of free labor?
It also gives pre-med students the opportunity to see first-hand what their future work might look like prior to making any big commitments to the profession. In medicine, you're going to be volunteering many, many hours for little pay, so you may as well get used to it. If you don't really have the heart of a servant now as a pre-med, I'm not sure how you're going to develop one later when you're dealing with some of the most difficult pts out there. I suspect med school jades people, which will only make that "I don't care about them" attitude worse, I'd expect.

 

[bajastapler]

not sure if OP is a troll or not but:

I think you have all the major "checklist" EC activities nicely done with.

I think you've opened yourself up with the opportunity to start narrowing down your ECs and start getting involved in those activities that you always dreamed of doing.