Extracurricular and volunteer work?

[blike]

Hey guys,

It seems as if most of you are currently applying to or are already in medical school, so I figured this might be a good place to ask.

I'm a freshman in college, and I'm VERY interested in becoming an osteopathic physician.

What sorts of things did you guys do for extracurricular activities and volunteer work? How much of it did you do?

Thanks in advance,
John

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[Doctortobee]

Hey

I have volunteered in an ER for 2 years, I have been a special olympics coach for the past 5 years, and I interned with a DO during my last semester of college. I'm also a figure skating coach. I've spent the last 15 years involved in skating.

 

[rpames]

Doctortobee has some pretty cool looking EC. Basically, you want to make sure to shadow a DO, if not try to work for one over the summer. Besides that, being involved in any type of organization at school looks good. If you can get a leadership role in a group, even better. Having research experience is also helpful. Don't worry about that until your junior or senior year, once you have had a few more sci. classes.

Volunteering at a hospital look great but is worthless. At least that is my experience. You spend a couple hours a week bring patients food, wheeling them around, or just talking to them, but don't really get to do anything medical.

That is my advice.

 

[Doctortobee]

I volunteer in a rural hospital...Therefore, I get to do a little more than others. Most of the time I assist the triage nurse with patients and families. I also do alot of training of new ER volunteers and training protocol.

 

[smc927]

I've found some schools that not only look at whether or not you can successfully become a doctor but also an administrator. Hospitals need people to both do the procedures and make the big administrative decisions. Your leadership experiences in school, community and religious groups will be a plus.

Good luck. Pray hard.

 

[Doctortobee]

I'm only applying to osteopathic schools...It's great that they look at the applicant as a whole...I'll benefit from that considering I have my degree in Education and I'm not the "typical pre-med bio major"