When I applied, what mattered was that I could talk about real skills I’d practised. The certificate got me the conversation, my actual understanding won it. So they help, but only if you really learned the thing behind them.

Straight answer. The certificates are signed and they log as extracurricular medical training hours, which is exactly what admissions committees want to see now that good grades on their own don’t carry an application. So yes, they hold weight on paper. But Daniel said the truer thing. A certificate opens a door. What carries you through it is sitting in an interview and explaining how you control a bleed or find a vein, with your hands clearly remembering the work. Earn the skill and the certificate becomes evidence instead of decoration.