Good neuroscience related ECs?

[Rayatbh]

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I was wondering if anyone had any ideas of ways to get involved with anything neuro-related?

-I'm doing pharm/neuro research.
-I'm also hoping to volunteer at an organization that helps people with developmental disabilities.
-I'll be shadowing a neurosurgeon.

I honestly really love this field and would love to get as much exposure to it as possible. Any ideas?

Thanks 🙂

 

[mcatjelly]

I never got around to this but I always wanted to volunteer at summer camps for kids with TBIs.

 

[Versadth]

You can start an organization at school to raise awareness for neuro-related disorders and trauma.

 

[LIC2015]

If you want to learn about neuroscience from a basic science perspective, research is your best option. If you want social neuroscience experience, it might be worthwhile to consider volunteering for organizations like the Michael J. Fox foundation. You'll be doing a lot of fundraising, but (and I swear if anyone jumps down my throat for saying this, may the lord above have mercy on me for what I will do...and I'm saying this as an atheist) fundraising skills are extremely relevant to the skills you'll need as a physician or scientist. You'll learn to to communicate very effectively. You'll learn a lot about research on diseases such as Parkinson's and where we stand from clinical and basic science perspectives. You'll show that you are passionate about a cause that seeks to improve the lives of individuals with a crippling disease (bonus points for knowing anyone who has it, although I hope you don't). And most importantly, you'll learn how a huge portion of research funding for many diseases doesn't actually come from the government. Private donors (think Carl Icahn, Sanford Weill, Bill Gates, etc.) drive the improvement of clinical and research facilities. Physicians, especially those in CEO/President positions (e.g. Ken Davis, Toby Cosgrove, Vivian Lee) work tirelessly to build a donor base. It's useful to know how to communicate a cause such as Parkinson's research in order to build interest; it just might come in handy someday.

 

[Rayatbh]

I never got around to this but I always wanted to volunteer at summer camps for kids with TBIs.

I didn't know this was thing, thank you! I'm going to try to see if there's one that takes place in my area 🙂

 

[Dandine]

If your school has a neuro club, consider joining. There is a very-active neuro club at my UG with great speakers and science awareness opportunities, and there's also a journal club in neuro that exists there which people enjoy attending. Not sure if your school has either, but if they're active on campus you should be in great places (or consider starting your own with some people you know, assuming you're highly interested in this field!).

 

[Doctor-S]

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas of ways to get involved with anything neuro-related?

-I'm doing pharm/neuro research.
-I'm also hoping to volunteer at an organization that helps people with developmental disabilities.
-I'll be shadowing a neurosurgeon.

I honestly really love this field and would love to get as much exposure to it as possible. Any ideas?

Thanks 🙂

It sounds as if you're on the right track - good work!

I have often encouraged students to prepare a comprehensive "literature review" of a specific topic that interests them (e.g., TBI in NFL quarterbacks). Then, if the student still feels inspired, motivated and ambitious (following preparation of the literature review), the student can prepare an article about the topic (for potential publication) or prepare a poster presentation about the topic (e.g., for a neuro-related conference).

Thank you.

 

[TaupePremed]

There are tons of opportunities to volunteer with people with TBI, I would imagine this is true basically everywhere. A formal program may or may not exist at your school, but even in the absence of a formal program there is probably a skilled nursing facility (or several) in your area with very lonely TBI patients.

Some of my classmates found some skilled nursing facilities like this and created a club of students who would hang out and play checkers with the TBI patients. I wish I had done that (I wish I had done more medical/clinical volunteering in general). It also sounded rather sad, because a lot of them were young guys from the War in Iraq and the War in Afghanistan.

For most diseases (not just TBI), so many patients are so lonely, and the doctors and nurses caring for them will help you find a way to volunteer if you take some initiative. It is a really great thing you can do.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

Assuming you're pre-med, I'd think it'd be better for you to get a good grasp of medicine as a field right now rather than anything neuro-related. I know you think that med schools will love you for it, but I doubt that is the case. Some might think it's even silly for you to be diving into neuro-related fields before you even start medical school.

 

[LIC2015]

Assuming you're pre-med, I'd think it'd be better for you to get a good grasp of medicine as a field right now rather than anything neuro-related. I know you think that med schools will love you for it, but I doubt that is the case. Some might think it's even silly for you to be diving into neuro-related fields before you even start medical school.

Completely disagree. OP didn't ask about neuro-related things as they pertain to medicine. S/he just asked about neuro-related activities. OP also stated that s/he will be shadowing a neurosurgeon, I don't think adcoms will infer that OP wants to be a neurosurgeon. Otherwise, we'd all have to shadow every single specialty to be prepared for med interviews... As far as "silly for you to be diving into neuro-related fields before you even start medical school" I think the worst advice you could give an aspiring physician or scientist is to tell them not to pursue their interest in a specific field. Since when did we decide that our pre-med generation should be a bunch of boring robots who do the same thing, rather than having a bit of eccentricity? I love neuroscience, I pursued it in a research lab before, during and after college, got publications out of it, taught it to middle school students, yet had plenty of shadowing/clinical experience outside of neuro. Let's not discourage people from being passionate about science. Third year med school will tell OP whether or not clinical neuro is for them.

In the meantime OP, if you're interested in medicine, try to balance the neuro experience with some clinical volunteering or other things that'll give you ammo in case anyone thinks you're an over-ambitious wannabe neurologist.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

Completely disagree. OP didn't ask about neuro-related things as they pertain to medicine. S/he just asked about neuro-related activities. OP also stated that s/he will be shadowing a neurosurgeon, I don't think adcoms will infer that OP wants to be a neurosurgeon. Otherwise, we'd all have to shadow every single specialty to be prepared for med interviews... As far as "silly for you to be diving into neuro-related fields before you even start medical school" I think the worst advice you could give an aspiring physician or scientist is to tell them not to pursue their interest in a specific field. Since when did we decide that our pre-med generation should be a bunch of boring robots who do the same thing, rather than having a bit of eccentricity? I love neuroscience, I pursued it in a research lab before, during and after college, got publications out of it, taught it to middle school students, yet had plenty of shadowing/clinical experience outside of neuro. Let's not discourage people from being passionate about science. Third year med school will tell OP whether or not clinical neuro is for them.

In the meantime OP, if you're interested in medicine, try to balance the neuro experience with some clinical volunteering or other things that'll give you ammo in case anyone thinks you're an over-ambitious wannabe neurologist.

I'd argue that it's common sense that if a pre-med student was doing neuro-related things, then that person wants to go into a neuro-related specialty in medicine.

My main point was that medical school should be where one considers what specialty they want to discover. Theres nothing wrong with having an interest now, but having multiple EC's with a single theme is not as beneficial as having EC's that make you grow as a person and once should explore medicine in its essence rather than a specific specialty.

What concerns me is not OP's interest or that OP wants to explore the field, but that OP plans on doing multiple activities that relate to a single themed speciality

And no, you don't need to shadow every single specialty. I mean that someone should get an idea of various areas in medicine, not necessarily only by shadowing.

 

[Rayatbh]

Assuming you're pre-med, I'd think it'd be better for you to get a good grasp of medicine as a field right now rather than anything neuro-related. I know you think that med schools will love you for it, but I doubt that is the case. Some might think it's even silly for you to be diving into neuro-related fields before you even start medical school.

I get where you're coming from 🙂 but at this point I'm not thinking that I want to go into a neuro specialty, I like a lot of different things ! I'm just really interested in the subject matter and would love to spend my free time learning more about it.
I'm definitely still volunteering and shadowing in attempt to get a good picture of the career overall and to see if it's for me.

😀

 

[ChrisMack390]

One of the hospitals near me takes volunteers to help with EEGs.

 

[star-lily]

One of the hospitals near me takes volunteers to help with EEGs.

You wouldn't happen to be in NYC, would you? 😛

 

[ChrisMack390]

Na, but look into it at some of your local places.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Summer camp for kids with developmental delays is a great way to go. They usually have more lax regulations than places where you're working with actual medical patients.

my school had a chapter of Nu Rho Psi, the Neuro honors society. I wasn't Accepted but the people who were said it was pretty sweet.

You can also shadow a neurologist. I've heard Peds Neuro is particularly interesting from the neurobiology/mechanistic side.

You can also throw some psych ECs in since Neuro and psych have a lot of overlap