Dilemma - where to invest my time?

[thebeatgoeson]

So I'm a sophomore at Tulane U in lovely New Orleans and I'm trying to decide what to do with my time. ANY advice would be appreciated.

I'm the type of guy who loves to do it all, be the go to guy on everything. That worked dandy in high school, but now I'm feeling the squeeze. I want to go to an excellent medical school, so I'm thinking about pairing down my activities and focussing on school/studying for the MCAT next year. Here's what I do so far.

*Resident Advisor (RA) for freshmen dorm
*EMT-B for Tulane Emergency Medical Services (TEMS)
*Officer for Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity (FIJI)
*Avid Social Man

Not much right? Heh, well the freshmen keep me very busy and there are 'required' shifts with that. In TEMS I work 12-hour shifts and often miss classes for calls, and FIJI keeps me busy developing men and volunteering. And of course I love to party and dance.

I hate to be "that pre-med guy" who asks the question, "What do I need to get into medical school?" because I believe in the journey not the end-product. But here it is, "How can I improve my application to medical schools."

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[Flopotomist]

I would say drop the RA nonsense.. the "impressiveness" versus "time required" ratio is just too icky. I would say one other option... you are in NEW ORLEANS for crying out loud, there MUST be some AMAZING opportunities to volunteer and help get that city put back together. It would make for an awesome experience, an awesome personal statement, and give you something cool to talk about in interviews. Just my $.02

 

[thebeatgoeson]

By excellent medical schools I mean places like Rice, Emory, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, U of Iowa, UPenn, Case Western, U of Cincinnati, etc.

And from my biased opinion... I'm leaning towards dropping the RA gig, but then I'm really trying to decide between 'doing research or not doing research.'
I DO get great patient contact (and stories) from TEMS.

Yeah, I volunteered as an EMT-B for Diaster Response for 40 days straight. And I go with FIJI gutting houses, raising money for charities, and doing clothing drives

But I would LOVE to hear stories from other Resident Advisors and if they thought it was worth the time.

 

[Brainsucker]

Over everything else, I'd stick with EMTing. EMTs applying to medical school are a dime a dozen, but not that many have actually worked as an EMT very much. That'll stand out well. (I remember that my school's EMS had a terrific record getting people into good med schools.)

If you're interested in it, do some research. If not, don't. It's a pervasive fiction around SDN that research is so big for top med schools. Plenty of my (top ten) classmates didn't do any research whatsoever. Research will help if you make it consistent with your goals in your essays, but not if you don't. You'll need to seem like you're interested in the science and in academic medicine and research as part of your career.

Believe it or not, travel is quite handy. There are usually questions about it in secondaries. Doing something abroad, especially medically related will be very good for you. Killing two birds with one stone, there are overseas research programs.

Also, if you have an particular outstanding talents, get yourself some substantial recognition for them. (Something you can put on your app.) If you've worked as a standup comedian, if you win athletic events or even compete, if you're a grandmaster in chess, etc. you'll spark committee interests.

Shadow docs of various specialties you're interested in. It won't kill you if you don't, but I was asked if I had (I was specific about what I plan on going into) and the right answer would definitely have been "yes."

Don't cut your social life so much that you become unhappy because you'll be unproductive and, well, unhappy.

 

[eddie13231]

Why would doing research lower your gpa? If you're doing 5-10 hours in a research lab during down time between classes instead of socializing and jacking around in the library like I used to, and showing your lab PI you are a hard worker, it will pay off. Research goes a long way, especially if you are dedicated and publish your work. I work 15 hours a week (tutor), volunteer 5 hours a week, and work in a lab usually about 8 hours a week, and am full time student. It can be done. I would actually drop the frat stuff altogether. I am in a frat and just don't get involved because it takes too much time. I would focus on getting into med school. You had your fun with fiji now just go to the social events and meeting and lay low for a while.

 

[thebeatgoeson]

Research more than likely would raise my GPA I imagine. However, I put a lower range so people would vote based on THE actual activity, not which activity would give me the highest GPA.

Currently I sit at a 3.844, but I'm bracing for a 'C', a 'B', and two 'A's this semester, so I'm predicting my cumm GPA to slip to a 3.6ish (only taking 14 credits this semester).

 

[nekrogg]

Why would doing research lower your gpa? If you're doing 5-10 hours in a research lab during down time between classes instead of socializing and jacking around in the library like I used to, and showing your lab PI you are a hard worker, it will pay off. Research goes a long way, especially if you are dedicated and publish your work. I work 15 hours a week (tutor), volunteer 5 hours a week, and work in a lab usually about 8 hours a week, and am full time student. It can be done. I would actually drop the frat stuff altogether. I am in a frat and just don't get involved because it takes too much time. I would focus on getting into med school. You had your fun with fiji now just go to the social events and meeting and lay low for a while.

5-10 hours? what can you get done?! except for one pcr a week?

im doing 40 hours and i feel like i need more time.....

 

[Psycho Doctor]

I would say drop the RA nonsense.. the "impressiveness" versus "time required" ratio is just too icky. I would say one other option... you are in NEW ORLEANS for crying out loud, there MUST be some AMAZING opportunities to volunteer and help get that city put back together. It would make for an awesome experience, an awesome personal statement, and give you something cool to talk about in interviews. Just my $.02

I definitely agree about the volunteer work in New Orleans; you have an awesome opportunity that I wished I could have worked out.

 

[OwnageMobile]

Drop the RA deffinitely. I spent 5 years in undergrad, went abroad for a semester, just had a blast and never let med school controll my life ... well to an extent. Do something unique. And please, for ownage, party hard.

 

[LizzyM]

here's my take. The grades slipping is not a good thing and if it is a one time thing after you adjust your schedule, then it is not a problem and actually shows your ability to adapt to changing conditions.

EMT work has stopped being 'impressive' because EMTs are ubiquitous -- however, you are working, really working, at it; you might call it "saving New Orleans". The frat stuff is LEADERSHIP and charitable work and it is okay to work your way up the ladder there particularly if you focus your remarks about FIJI to "rebuilding N.Orleans". If the RA gig is a time sink, see it through to the end of the year but don't re-up for the next academic year. Dropping your freshmen mid-stream would not make a good impression, but being an RA for a year is impressive to an ad com because it speaks to all sorts of positive attributes and we do know that it is a job that requires a lot of time.

Research is a big positive if you are applying to one of the top 25 research schools. (One dean of admissions bragged a year ago that every incoming M1 had done some research.) The idea is that these schools are looking for students who will try research while in med school (with the hope that some will go on to careers in academic medicine and do research along with patient care & teaching) and they think that the the best predictor of research in med school is to have done research in college. If you can squeeze it during a summer or in the next academic year it could not hurt your application. If you are aiming for a school better known for producing primary care providers, then research may not be as big a deal.

Good luck.

 

[gujuDoc]

By excellent medical schools I mean places like Rice, Emory, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, U of Iowa, UPenn, Case Western, U of Cincinnati, etc.

And from my biased opinion... I'm leaning towards dropping the RA gig, but then I'm really trying to decide between 'doing research or not doing research.'
I DO get great patient contact (and stories) from TEMS.

Yeah, I volunteered as an EMT-B for Diaster Response for 40 days straight. And I go with FIJI gutting houses, raising money for charities, and doing clothing drives

But I would LOVE to hear stories from other Resident Advisors and if they thought it was worth the time.

If you want to go to a top school, take Lizzy's advice which shouldn't be hard, because being that Tulane has a medical school, I'd look to their med school for some good research opportunities. Either that, or ask a science professor if you can work in their lab.

Maybe try doing one of those summer internship programs this summer. Many schools have 10 week summer research programs, and that can be a start to developing research skills. From there, you can apply that experience to help find more long term projects.