Are these extracurrics "okay?"

[riotgurl]

Hey everybody, I'm a freshman at Santa Clara. I'm trying to figure out what to get involved in this year, and I think I've decided on tutoring people in chemistry and calculus from 2-4 hours a week and volunteering at a battered women's shelter once a week for a couple of hours. Is this enough? Should I be doing more? I know I'm gonna shadow some docs later on that I know, and I will definitely do some research, but is this a good start for freshman year? BTW, I just wanted to share (I was so stoked about this) I pulled off a 3.93 gpa my first quarter! Woohoo! Let's hope I can keep it up.....

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[Jamier2]

Sounds like a good start to freshman year to me. It actually sounds much better than my freshman year by far.

 

[Dr.G]

I think it sounds like you're off to a great start- you should be proud !

 

[megkudos]

Yes that is definately enough for your first year. Make sure you focus on keeping those good grades...good job!! You are ahead of the game in both grades as well as trying to getting involved in activities.

Hehe by the way...I liked the adjective "stoked". Is that a Cali thing or just a surfer thing?....I'm curious

 

[Tweetie_bird]

it's a west coast thing.

 

[Jamier2]

Yeah, stoked is definitely a west coast deal. Years ago when I was in the army I had some great friends from northern Cali, and they were always saying things like "totally stoked" and "gnarly".

 

[Sonya]

you're doing grand! that's a reasonable amount of Extra activities. And if you're enjoying them, you're in good situation. Some hospital experience would be good, you're right. Ahh, it's also good to stay commited to a few things that you enjoy and are doing well in (as opposed to trying tons of stuff).
Keep up the GPA, and that will bring you a LOT of opportunities for medschool.

anyway, you're tottall on track! i did tutoring, different hospital stuff, and working for a hotline on domestic violence.

Hey, i'm also from south Bay Area!! i went to Foothill for a while! but, i haven't stoked used a lot...

 

[A. Caveman]

Sonya, go easy on the pepsi..your post is a bit incoherent. j/k

hey riotgurl, your performance so far is just not gonna cut it... <img src="graemlins/wowie.gif" border="0" alt="[Wowie]" />

 

[UCLA2000]

Good for you getting an early start. Listen closely. This post will save you alot of heartbreak.

Don't overdo the volunteer work. Let me explain what I mean by that. Find some really good internships and stick with them. Try to only do one or two activity at a time..and stick with them. I have found that sometimes people tend to volunteer too many hours, and their grades suffer. Med school is not likely to accept someone with a low gpa (around 3.0) and tons of volunteer work as readily as they will accept someone with a lil volunteer work and really high gpa.