<p>well, i founded a medical association at my school and currently volunteer at a local hospital. My other ECs do not relate to a biology/chemistry major. What can I do to improve my chances of getting in besides for internships or research?</p>
<p>It's not about the quantity, but the quality of your EC's that matter. I believe it's more important to have EC's that you have been a part of for a while and had some leadership part rather than just joining as many groups to pad your stats.</p>
<p>anyone else plz?</p>
<p>Ec's are only part of the picture. Tell us more about yourself.</p>
<p>Like corbis11 said, ECs are more about quality. You can have a whole list of clubs you were in, but if you did not actively participate/hold positions it would not mean much. Its always great to have a lot of ECs but don't join them ONLY to put on your resume. You can always shadow doctors or organize fund raisers for medical conditions that you are concerned about. Admissions committees look at the whole package- grades, test scores, ECs, volunteer/community service, leadership, dedication, etc.</p>
<p>The average premed has 133 hours of volunteering, 37 hours shadowing, 300 hours internship, 50 hours of research experience, and 0.14 publications. Make sure you pass those cutoffs.</p>
<p>^^ Those statistics are pretty accurate, but if you have more of one thing, then it may balance out not having enough of another. For example, I volunteered over 740 hours at a children's hospital, but did not have many hours in internship.</p>
<p>After the last time, I promised not to make any more sarcastic comments in this forum as neurotic HS soon-to-be premeds tend to take me seriously. But darn it, I did it again and it's happened again...</p>
<p>^^ Well, I'm comparing those statistics to myself, and I have indeed done many of those things. 740 hours of hospital volunteering, over 40 hours shadowing, a year of research, and 1 completed medical study. I guess I should have looked at the internship number more closely, but I've had numerous internship hours also.</p>
<p>So, some "neurotic HS soon-to-be premeds", as you put it, actually have a good shot of getting into these competitive programs.</p>