Third Year Applicant

[peace2012]

Hi, I am interested in applying to med school third year to get some experience in the application process and hopefully, to make it in. However, after my first year in uni, my ECs were not that spectacular. (some volunteering during the year, high school club execs, senior home volunteering, no research, 1-2 clubs). I am planning to volunteer more and do more research 2nd year, but do you think ECs are very crucial in the admission process? Also, I do not have any hospital volunteer experience but I am going to volunteer in rehabs, injury centers, etc... would that affect my application as well? Also, for reference letters, do I have to get all my references at the end of my second year summer if I am applying third year. Thanks for your help.

[Savac]

Hello, I'm going to be applying this year as a 3rd year applicant. Hopefully I can answer most of your questions.

 

It's very common for students to not have a lot of extracurricular activities in first year. Most people wait at least a semester before increasing their involvement. This allows for students to adapt to life in University. Once students learn to manage their time, they start adding more ECs. This usually happens at the end of 1st year or during 2nd year.

 

ECs are absolutely crucial in the application process. Your GPA and MCAT are definitely very important, but so are your ECs. uOttawa is an excellent example of this. Once you pass the GPA cutoff set for that particular year, getting an interview depends on the quality of your autobiographical sketch.

 

Hospital volunteering (or ANY volunteering) is definitely an asset on your application. It's not required, but it's fairly common for students to have experience in this. If anything else, it builds character and will give you things to discuss in an interview. I'd say to make sure that you volunteer because you want to, not because you think that it's required. If you enjoy it, keep doing it.

 

As for reference letters, you will need to get them all in the summer before you apply. I started asking for letters a few weeks after final exams.

 

Good luck!

[peace2012]

Hello, I'm going to be applying this year as a 3rd year applicant. Hopefully I can answer most of your questions.

 

It's very common for students to not have a lot of extracurricular activities in first year. Most people wait at least a semester before increasing their involvement. This allows for students to adapt to life in University. Once students learn to manage their time, they start adding more ECs. This usually happens at the end of 1st year or during 2nd year.

 

ECs are absolutely crucial in the application process. Your GPA and MCAT are definitely very important, but so are your ECs. uOttawa is an excellent example of this. Once you pass the GPA cutoff set for that particular year, getting an interview depends on the quality of your autobiographical sketch.

 

Hospital volunteering (or ANY volunteering) is definitely an asset on your application. It's not required, but it's fairly common for students to have experience in this. If anything else, it builds character and will give you things to discuss in an interview. I'd say to make sure that you volunteer because you want to, not because you think that it's required. If you enjoy it, keep doing it.

 

As for reference letters, you will need to get them all in the summer before you apply. I started asking for letters a few weeks after final exams.

 

Good luck!

 

Thank you What kind of ECs did you have and who did you get your LOF from?

[Savac]

My letters are from

- 1 prof

- 1 volunteer coordinator

 

The third letter is also from a prof, but I'm still waiting to hear back from him.

 

As for ECs, I am still lacking in a few areas. I'm on a bunch of clubs, and I'm an executive of a society. I volunteer every week, as well as several small volunteering experiences. No research yet, although I'll be doing that this year. I am also working this year as a peer tutor.

 

I'm going to be spending the entire year beefing up my application, since this year is mostly just a practice run.

[greengrassgrows]

Good for you for applying in 3rd year! One less year to spend doing something you may or may not enjoy and move on to something you love <3

 

As a recent (and successful) 3rd year applicant I honestly can't say how exactly EC's factored in. I think it's very school specific. I had a high GPA, high MCAT and what I thought were weak to mediocre EC's. I had lots of hours of employment and some music-related extracurriculars. But in terms of volunteer work (had a bit, mostly from high school) and research (had absolutely nothing), I was lacking.

 

Got 2 interviews and 2 acceptances (Mac, Queen's). What I'm saying is that the schools that rejected me probably did so due to EC's (UOttawa was one as Savac said). But it couldn't have mattered that much for the 2 that took me.

 

Long story short, apply anyways! It certainly can't hurt and just be confident in what extracurricular experiences that you do have. I had absolutely ZERO health care-related EC's and I still slipped in

 

As for reference letters, I believe the due date is October 1st.

 

Hope that helps!

[greengrassgrows]

I'm on a bunch of clubs, and I'm an executive of a society.

 

Another note on EC's. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with this approach and many people do it successfully (hopefully because they enjoy the clubs that they join - I personally had zero interest in these sorts of things). But just so you know, you can take an alternative route to your extracurriculars and do things that you enjoy outside of school and the hospital. I didn't join a single club or team through my undergraduate school.