former or current debater?

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blues91776

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Wondering how small this population in pre-med is...has it helped you or is helping you as an EC for the application process?

I debated 4 yrs in HS and 1.5 yrs in college then realized debate/political science/philosophy wasn't for me anymore.

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I was in debate for 5 years, 1 in 8th grade, and all 4 years of high school. Now I go to a college that doesn't have debate :(
 
In high school I did Policy debate, but didn't really like it so I switched to IE. I did extemporaneous and impromptu speaking all four years of high school. I was state champion in both impromptu and extemporaneous speaking my senior year.

It has helped me tremendously in several aspects. The most obvious being that I never get nervous in front of large crowds, and can rock an interview without breaking a sweat (I know this will help me greatly when I apply next year to med schools.) It was brought up many times when I was applying to college and got several scholarships for doing speech. I'm also the top seller at my work place because I'm able to really connect with people, and can speak to them well.

I'm currently doing extemp and impromptu in college as well (NFL). Sharp communication skills are vital to being a succesful physician, and is a highly desired quality.

I'm certainly going to emphasize it on my application when I apply. I really love doing it, and believe adcoms will see this.
 
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I was on the debate team for a significant portion of my undergrad. It was amazing to compete at the collegiate level, and we had tournaments throughout the nation.

No regrets.
 
In high school I did Policy debate, but didn't really like it so I switched to IE. I did extemporaneous and impromptu speaking all four years of high school. I was state champion in both impromptu and extemporaneous speaking my senior year.

It has helped me tremendously in several aspects. The most obvious being that I never get nervous in front of large crowds, and can rock an interview without breaking a sweat (I know this will help me greatly when I apply next year to med schools.) It was brought up many times when I was applying to college and got several scholarships for doing speech. I'm also the top seller at my work place because I'm able to really connect with people, and can speak to them well.

I'm currently doing extemp and impromptu in college as well (NFL). Sharp communication skills are vital to being a succesful physician, and being able to articulate your thoughts and be a good public speaker are highly desired traits (confirmed by an adcom I spoke with a couple of months ago).

I would certainly mention it.

Impromptu has got to be one of the most fun of the independent events. Although extemp has got to be, IMO, the hardest; It's pretty impressive you were a state champion in it. I was always a fan of persuasive speech.
 
Impromptu has got to be one of the most fun of the independent events. Although extemp has got to be, IMO, the hardest; It's pretty impressive you were a state champion in it. I was always a fan of persuasive speech.


I personally found impromptu more challenging, simply because you never knew what the topic would be. A word, a quote...anything. I fondly remember my first impromptu round in my first speech tournament. I sat down, and nervously turned over the piece of paper. In the middle was just the word "owl". I had 2 minutes to write a 6 minute speech. Fun times.

Extemp is my holy grail...I love it.
 
I personally found impromptu more challenging, simply because you never knew what the topic would be. A word, a quote...anything. I fondly remember my first impromptu round in my first speech tournament. I sat down, and nervously turned over the piece of paper. In the middle was just the word "owl". I had 2 minutes to write a 6 minute speech. Fun times.

Extemp is my holy grail...I love it.

Wow, a 6 minute speech on "owl." A good part about it though is it's very open-ended, and you can always include some comedy into your speech. Although, I've never had to make a speech based on one word - kudos.
 
Wow, a 6 minute speech on "owl." A good part about it though is it's very open-ended, and you can always include some comedy into your speech. Although, I've never had to make a speech based on one word - kudos.

I talked about Hedwig from Harry Potter, about his relationship with Harry and the importance of trust, loyalty and friendship in life and then gave examples from books etc.

The guy that spoke after me literally talked about owls, as in what they eat and stuff :laugh:
 
I talked about Hedwig from Harry Potter, about his relationship with Harry and the importance of trust, loyalty and friendship in life.

The guy that spoke after me literally talked about owls :laugh:

That's an excellent way to go about it. The first thing that came to my mind was how owls are the "most intelligent" creatures of the forest, and used the owl from Winnie the Pooh as an example of how to go about solving problems (although I don't remember much from the show after 15 years) - not as good as your idea though.
 
Flight, sonar, stealth, weapons, night navigation: An owl is like a modern army
 
I was on my high school's debate team for three years. During my senior year, myself and 3 other seniors went to the championship finals. We won on a very difficult topic, "The United States Government should ban the use of animals in laboratory testing." We were given the positive side (from a hat) and prepared. I was the only person to debate that side previously, so it was on me to help out the team. I like how the score is objective because that is what really helped us.

As for me, I think it has helped my communication skills exponentially.
 
I hope you debater folks will accept me :oops: hehe.

Naw but in reality I loved doing speech throughout all of high school. It's pretty huge in my state, at least amongst us nerds:) I did Persuasive (Original Oratory by NFL standards) and IPA (Expos). I won State in both of my events and senior year I even made it to finals at Nationals!
 
awesome to see that I'm not alone =D

I did both IEs (interp) and policy debate in HS and then just policy in college.

Anyone know how receptive med school adcoms are to those with debate experience?
 
haha, I was actually wondering this a few days ago..

I did policy debate 2/3 years, but unfortunately my partner died and I stopped after that. We found quite a bit of success in the state circuit, actually. It was awesome, and my life for the longest time.

any of you guys ex-TOC level debaters?
 
This brings me back. I did debate in high school for one year. I would strongly recommend debate to anyone and everyone. I benefited a ton from it. Not only do you become a better public speaker but certain types of debate really boost your critical thinking ability and ability to pars arguments. Also it was the first time in high school I was forced to work hard. The competition can be really good and I learned you have to out work them. I guess it got me ready for dealing with Pre-Meds.
 
I can't believe no one's made the "master debater" joke yet. Oh wait. There it is. :D
 
This brings me back. I did debate in high school for one year. I would strongly recommend debate to anyone and everyone. I benefited a ton from it. Not only do you become a better public speaker but certain types of debate really boost your critical thinking ability and ability to pars arguments. Also it was the first time in high school I was forced to work hard. The competition can be really good and I learned you have to out work them. I guess it got me ready for dealing with Pre-Meds.

QFA

does the site cross-x.com mean anything to any of you still, years after you've stopped debating? lol
 
haha, I was actually wondering this a few days ago..

I did policy debate 2/3 years, but unfortunately my partner died and I stopped after that. We found quite a bit of success in the state circuit, actually. It was awesome, and my life for the longest time.

any of you guys ex-TOC level debaters?

I'm really sorry to hear about your partner... I did policy debate at Newburgh Free Academy for 4 years, now I debate for Cornell. In high school, we did the TOC thing. What school did/do you go to?
 
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