I currently am working for my optometrist, and I shadowed him the summer before my 4th year in college, for 40 hours which equals an internship. I'm taking a year off and working full time at my optometrist's office.
In my undergrad years, I participated in community service organizations, sports teams, and church groups on campus. I was in leadership positions in all of those, but participated in each for about 1-2 years. I didn't do a lot of research because I didn't necessarily like the research environment.
I think the main thing when getting involved in extra-curriculars is to join things that are interesting to you. Because if what you're doing you enjoy and are passionate about, it will be conveyed to the interviewers when they ask you about it. I guess that's how I went about my extra-curriculars, I didn't do anything just for the transcript or the notation, and I didn't talk to professors just because I wanted a recommendation. I talked to professors I respected and actually wanted to talk to, which was very few.
Cause nothing is worse when they ask you about leadership and or extra-curriculars to quantify your intangible qualities, and you can't express it or don't seem very passionate or even know why you joined/did what you did.
