First yr undergrad with questions

[KornKobs]

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Just wondering if there is anything else I should be doing during my freshmen year. My major is BIO, I recently transferred from another university after a yr and a half of bad grades and family problems..blah. Things are better now, so far i'm getting good grades in my classes, so i'm working on a strong upward trend in grades and i'm involved in two clubs at my school. one of these clubs is all about volunteering so i figured that would count for my volunteer work as well and I also work at a hospital (which is one of the schools i really want to get into!). I'm thinking this summer i'll do some volunteer work there at the hospital too. When do you guys start research?! and how do you get involved in something like that?

 

[golftrippy]

Just wondering if there is anything else I should be doing during my freshmen year. My major is BIO, I recently transferred from another university after a yr and a half of bad grades and family problems..blah. Things are better now, so far i'm getting good grades in my classes, so i'm working on a strong upward trend in grades and i'm involved in two clubs at my school. one of these clubs is all about volunteering so i figured that would count for my volunteer work as well and I also work at a hospital (which is one of the schools i really want to get into!). I'm thinking this summer i'll do some volunteer work there at the hospital too. When do you guys start research?! and how do you get involved in something like that?

My #1 peice of advice is get off this thread and never come back for another 2.5 years...it has slowly driven me mad and ruined my life, but is a necessary evil addiction when applying...until then get out while you still can.

PS. to answer your question, first research is probably best done just by talking to your science professors and trying to get involved with somebody at your undergrad. For volunteer work, I'd say just get clinical exposure to at least 2 vastly different areas of medicine, and if you want to go for the gold, do something that will really stand out in terms of club/EC activity.

 

[lilnoelle]

Just wondering if there is anything else I should be doing during my freshmen year. My major is BIO, I recently transferred from another university after a yr and a half of bad grades and family problems..blah. Things are better now, so far i'm getting good grades in my classes, so i'm working on a strong upward trend in grades and i'm involved in two clubs at my school. one of these clubs is all about volunteering so i figured that would count for my volunteer work as well and I also work at a hospital (which is one of the schools i really want to get into!). I'm thinking this summer i'll do some volunteer work there at the hospital too. When do you guys start research?! and how do you get involved in something like that?

Also know that you don't have to major in Biology to go to med school. In fact you don't have to major in science at all. If your interested in something else as a back up or just to round out your application, a lot of people have majors other than Biology or Chemistry.

 

[Prospero]

I agree with the above advice about research and the hospital. It shouldn't be too hard to get involved in a lab, because slave labor (I mean undergrads...) are always appreciated! You could also check out my humble blog (link in my signature) i've talked about this sort of thing a bit. Might help you, might not. And yes, I am shameless, thank you.

 

[Law2Doc]

My #1 peice of advice is get off this thread and never come back for another 2.5 years...it has slowly driven me mad and ruined my life, but is a necessary evil addiction when applying...until then get out while you still can.

Agree with this. A very small percentage of freshmen get far enough down the premed trail for a resource like SDN to be at all useful. It will only frustrate you when you are perhaps struggling with the early premed classes to see folks with high stats coming from better schools not even getting in places. No need to be a bio major for med school, or to even declare yourself a premed at this stage -- just take the prereqs, and spend some time doing cool extracurriculars, and maybe some research or hospital volunteering if it interests you. Make friends with your profs if you can (most typically, you could frequent the office hours), since they will be needed LOR resources. But otherwise just try and enjoy college and do well. If a few years down the road you have the stats and still have the desire, then you can join the ranks who waste endless time on SDN.

 

[chef_NU]

Dude stop worrying and start boozing. You're a freshman.

 

[DarkFark]

I agree with the poster that said you should take a long break from this place. Don't come back until it's time to study for the MCAT. There will be a time when the medical school admissions process will be a central focus to your life, but obsessing over it now will do nothing to help- and that could happen if you stay on there boards.


Do well in your classes, keep up the clinical exposure, and if there's anything that sounds interesting to you, research or otherwise, get involved. One other thing you might want to keep an eye on is getting to know a few profs so they can write a letter for you. Otherwise just enjoy yourself and wait until the middle of junior year to worry about the specifics.