How Do Pre-Meds Do So Well in Time Management for EC/Help Me With Planning Mine?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Forgive me if the forum already laid out what good ECs are but how do people actually have the time to do it? Currently I am a sophomore and realistically plan on doing the following for EC:
-300+ hours of hospital/clinical hands on volunteering (I believe it’s possible as I don’t mind working on weekends)
-100+ hours of non clinical soup kitchen etc work (also possible)
-160 hours of research (most likely not publication as I only plan on researching junior year and summer going into junior year after I understand biology concepts more/chemistry more)
-160 hours shadowing (already did 80 hours, 40 hours with 2 doctors individually making sure their fields were different.)
-Hopefully president of pre-med club (does that even count?)
-Member of League of Legends Club (It’s a joke but I enjoy it and I’ve been told to follow passions??? I do not plan on being president of this club as I have better things to focus on)

Now with all the probably/certain ECs I will do until beginning of senior year (I submit my transcript on June 1 so senior year summer and whole year doesn’t count as much) how much more can I do? I know I will need to study for the MCAT at least the whole junior year as my 20-21 credit schedule will NOT help my free time. Again, how do other college kids do any more? :frowning: I didn’t do any volunteering freshman year as I concentrated on “getting used to college bs” and making friends and grades. I also didn’t join a frat as I’m prejudiced against them as I believe the majority of guys only join to get wasted. I notice they do actually volunteer but I could also volunteer myself without that negative influence. In addition, I thought medical school didn’t rely heavily on connections compared to business school. So please give me tips on how to manage time (I don’t drink so that gives me the advantage of weekends especially mornings) and what more ECs I should do. Thank you.

2

The answer is going to depend on the person.

I think if you want to do something, you make time for it.

BTW, any activities you list as “anticipated” (i.e. not yet done) on your AMCAS application get totally disregarded by adcomms.

Since you are very light in the EC category (nothing except some shadowing if I read your post correctly), you may want to reconsider applying next year. While GPA and MCAT are critical in not getting your app round-binned immediately, applying without the expected ECs will kill your chances just as dead.

Adcomms want to see a consistent record of volunteering (clinical & non-clinical) over time–not a just 1 year binge of effort right before you apply.

I also want to point out a couple of things–
–networking and people skills are critically important for a career in medicine.
–the expectation for service to the community and leadership don’t magically disappear the moment you put on that white coat. Residency applications ask about activities & positions held during med school.

3

As to research, it looks like you’re just box checking. If you plan on a life treating patients, drop your research plans.

“20-21 credit schedule:” Why are you in a position to have to take so many units, especially in light of need to prep for MCAT? Maybe sign of poor time management skills. Consider spreading out units, applying when you graduate

“senior year summer and whole year doesn’t count as much:” I wish you the best, but if you don’t get into med school after you graduate and reapply, what you did senior year will actually mean quite a bit.

Shadowing is IMO somewhat overrated, considering paring back

4

Actually, no EC can override the deficiency in GPA and Mcat.
If you feel that you have performed enough clinical services, you should go back to look over your GPA and Mcat. If you have plateaued your GPA and Mcat, You should concentrate on research to gain admittance to top schools.

Without knowing your hard numbers, cGPA, sGPA and Mcat and the quality of your ECs, its hard to make recommendations.

5

If you want to see what adcomm value in applicants–here’s the annual survey medical school admission officers

https://www.aamc.org/download/462316/data/2017mcatguide.pdf#page=9

See p. 4 to learn how various ECs are ranked.

BTW, the consensus among adcomms is that pre-med clubs are pretty much a waste of your time. Finding some other activity that is more meaningful to you and do that instead.

6

Considering you took first year to concentrate on “getting used to college bs” you seem to be trying to desperately cram in everything under the sun in order to apply at end of your third year, a potentially risky strategy as something could suffer (eg GPAs, MCAT, etc), When 60% of those students who actually apply fail to start anywhere, you really want to apply one time with the strongest app (in all respects) possible. How’s your current cGPA? sGPA? What’s the rush?

7

@WayOutWestMom Thanks for the tips you gave me for once I get into med school. However, I’m not applying until 2 years from now as I’m only entering sophomore year. Is there still enough time to do EC? If I have to maintain 2 years of volunteering idk how I will be able to handle everything before going into senior year. :frowning: I also read the link and leadership is very important so I was hoping I could be the president of the premed club to make up for it. I could also tack on ECs by being a TA for a biology lab. Literally there is no senior teacher it is just upperclassmen teaching underclassmen so that’d be a good experience as a leader. Just worried about stress and time.

@Jugulator20 I do not want to take a gap year as I like smooth transitions and just for internal feeling so far. I have a 20-21 credit load as I am foolishly going for a triple major as I genuinely love bio, math, and chemistry. Even if I don’t go for a major I’d still take the highest courses in all three sections so I’d be given the major anyway. I know it’s a bad idea as it hurts ECs but so far without ECs I’ve been enjoying all of my classes and I think that’s what motivates me to study and do so well because unlike others I don’t mind studying for those classes

@artloversplus that’s why I’m asking what good ECs I can do to add to make quality ones

8

Lots of people take gap years. It can be the smart thing to do in this situation.

9

You may find that during the summers you’ll have a lot more time to do some of these things. I don’t recall my son doing much shadowing or volunteering during the school year…just in the summer or over spring break. Research was done during both summers and school year.

10

@mom2collegekids The problem is my college doesn’t allow research until after organic chemistry second semester if you can believe it. Biology there is no requirement just instructor consent. Biology doesn’t require research for its major strangely enough but chemistry does. How did your son fit volunteering and research in the summer? What were his hours like? I understand 6 hours research then 6 hours volunteering a day I guess? I’ll keep in mind next summer. I’ll also plan on volunteering a lot over my fall and spring break too.

11

@Tooton

It’s not too late, but…

Yes, you need to do volunteering for the next two years and continue with it senior year and beyond. Adcoms really, really don’t like to see a volunteering binge right before applying because it’s clear you’re just doing it so you can apply to med school. cough::box-checking::cough They are really do look at your track record of service–especially with vulnerable populations (elderly, mentally ill, ESL and recent immigrants, the dying [hospice], poor, homeless, physically disabled, etc)

You really don’t have a couple of hours of week or every other week or even once a month that you can dedicate some sort of clinical or non-clinical volunteering?

Even if you’re working full time this summer, you still must have free time on the weekends to get involved with a community service or clinical volunteer program. Go visit elderlies at a nursing home, volunteer at summer rec program for poor kids, stack cans at a food pantry. Something.

You don’t have to do research at your home college. There are a number of summer research internship programs–sponsored by the NIH, NSF, and other science institutions (like medical schools).

AMCAS has a list here: https://students-residents.aamc.org/choosing-medical-career/article/summer-undergraduate-research-programs/
NIH–https://www.training.nih.gov/programs/sip
NSF-- https://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/reu_search.jsp

Plus there are still other programs like AMGEN, HHMI

All of the above are paid internships.

Way too late to apply to any of these for this summer–deadlines were in January-February–but keep in mind for next summer.

Teaching/TAing is not a leadership role. It’s goes under teaching on AMCAS. Some schools like to see TAing/teaching; others don’t care. TAing is on par with research for med school. Some schools like it;others don’t care.

P.S. I know what a TA does. D1 was a TA for P-Chem and she was the instructor of record for Acoustics for the Health Sciences at the state U where she was a student. (She taught the class; there was no professor–long story how that happened) . D2 was a TA for Calc 2, Calc 3, linear analysis and biochem. She lead recitations once a week, graded exams and helped write exam questions. (It was funny when she turned 21–she dismissed her evening recitation section early so she go out to her birthday party; her students were shocked she was just turning 21 because every single student in her section was older than she was.)

12

I’m obviously just brilliant 0:D

(/sarcasm)

13

I think the usefulness of a pre-med “club” or honors society will depend on the school. Some are no more than clubs, but some may allow you opportunities to accomplish a number of things that will enhance your application, and possibly allow you to network and learn of opportunities you may otherwise miss. For example, my D held 2 offices, giving her some leadership experience (though she did have others). They had speakers at meetings, such as physicians in different specialties and adcoms from medical schools. D gained valuable information from these speakers, and was able to ask questions of adcoms to schools she was applying to - much better than relying on second hand information. They held mock med school interviews. The pre-med honors society was closely connected to the pre-med advising office, which helped students get shadowing experiences in local hospitals and off campus summer research opportunities.

14

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The problem is my college doesn’t allow research until after organic chemistry second semester if you can believe it. Biology there is no requirement just instructor consent. Biology doesn’t require research for its major strangely enough but chemistry does.


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Well, then spend the time before Orgo II volunteering and shadowing and/or find a work-around the research rule. When my son was a frosh, he helped a new Chem prof set up his lab. There may be a new prof (or existing prof) that might welcome your help. Talk to your profs and see if they just need help with something.

Or, volunteer at a hospital, rehab, nursing home, etc.


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How did your son fit volunteering and research in the summer? What were his hours like? I understand 6 hours research then 6 hours volunteering a day I guess? I'll keep in mind next summer. I'll also plan on volunteering a lot over my fall and spring break too.

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One summer, son spent doing a REU in biomedE at another university. You can apply to an REU, but apply early.

The REU is 5 days a week, includes housing and stipend. Another summer, he spent 6 weeks in the ChemEng’g lab doing experiements/research that were literally all day affairs…8am until 10pm at night. He did two volunteer-abroad …setting up a clinic, doing basic exams of native children, etc. I can’t remember all that he did…there was more. Not medically-related, but he did spend his first summer at a high school tutoring low-income kids who would be starting AP math and science classes the following year. During his frosh and soph years, he taught low-income kids how to play chess at the middle schools near his university.

15

Most pre-meds aren’t doing chemistry research

16

I was working 40-60 hours/week (i.e. 8-12 hour days depending on the workload) and then volunteering in the evening once or twice/week for ~3hours/night.