Honor society before med school?

[Dr.Jekyll]

What are my chances of making it into medical school without being in an honor society? Even if I keep up my grades and do research, will this still be a huge factor?

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[Fif the Great]

You have no chance. You may as well go to caveman school.

All kidding aside, I don't think it matters much. I was in 2 and they never once were mentioned in my interview process. I doubt schools screen apps for honor programs. They probably don't know what half of them are anyways.

I was in Phi Eta Sigma and Alpha Epsilon Delta.

 

[Law2Doc]

You have no chance. You may as well go to caveman school.

Caveman schools are pretty selective these days. You can no longer coast in with a 4.0 in cave painting with a dual hunter/gatherer major and expect guaranteed admissions. That Phi Beta T Rex pin goes a long way.

 

[Dr.Jekyll]

My father went to caveman school. He was a part of the research team that discovered fire.

But I'm asking about the honors society thing because I was looking at MD applicant.com, and it seems that most of the applicants were in honor societies.
What kinds of things do matter to med schools? I mean, I know you have to be "well rounded", but most people are. What are med schools looking for?

 

[rockdoc]

My father went to caveman school. He was a part of the research team that discovered fire.

But I'm asking about the honors society thing because I was looking at MD applicant.com, and it seems that most of the applicants were in honor societies.
What kinds of things do matter to med schools? I mean, I know you have to be "well rounded", but most people are. What are med schools looking for?

Honestly, it can be as random as luck. But if you want to tweek that luck your way, you need to do something different, that makes you stand out in a pool of other outstanding candidates. For example, write a kickass personal statement (worked for me). Aside from the standard hospital-volunteer activities (which you probably need to do in order to show them you know what you're getting yourself into), do something else unique to you (eg volunteer as a barn-painter in a ride-a-pony special education program... again, worked for me).

Med schools are just getting really competitive nowadays that you need to outshine the shiners.

Side note: we just finished the renal block! woohoo!!! harry potter tonight!!!

 

[Mistress S]

I think being in an honors society is so irrelevant to admissions, it is basically a non-factor. The only way it would matter is if you took a really active role in them and then it would be relevant as an EC. I didn't join any honors societies even though I got several invitations, and here I am today, not studying for my first histo test like any other good MS1. I wouldn't have participated with them anyway, so why pay $60 just to have some meaningless thing to list on my app? It's not like med schools aren't going to see your GPA and realize if it was good enough for an honors society whether you joined one or not. Most of them are just a scam, supposedly there are a couple that are legit but I think it's a waste unless you plan to get involved with one beyond just sending them money. If you want to worry about ways to be competitive, get involved with some good volunteer opportunities, and then go buy yourself and some friends a few drinks with the $$ you would have spent joining stoopid honors socieities.

 

[katrinadams9]

I wasn't in an honor society or even the honors college at my school... didn't graduate with honors either. My GPA was only a 3.36. Most medical schools are looking for well rounded individuals, not just book nerds who get stellar grades and have no personality whatsoever. Make sure you have something special on your application that not many other people have done.

 

[Dr.Jekyll]

"I wasn't in an honor society or even the honors college at my school... didn't graduate with honors either. My GPA was only a 3.36. Most medical schools are looking for well rounded individuals, not just book nerds who get stellar grades and have no personality whatsoever. Make sure you have something special on your application that not many other people have done."



Not only did you get accepted to the medical school that I want to go to, you did it without graduating with honors. If you don't mind me asking, were you one of those applicants who had something like a 4 yr degree in English, and stood out amongst the rest of the applicants who had science degrees?

 

[dara678]

honor societies mean diddly squat. a LOT of ppl get into those, and they often do absolutely nothing. make sure you have good grades, activities/research, and good MCAT and you're fine. don't freak out because of what other ppl are doing.

 

[Callogician]

For whatever reason, I am particularly cognizant of the strategies of advertisement. I laugh at people who drink bottled water and wear diamond rings. I had a 3.85 GPA, and I threw all invitations to honor societies directly into the trash can. To me, paying to be honored reveals nothing more than competitiveness and an appreciation of the superficial.

 

[Law2Doc]

My father went to caveman school. He was a part of the research team that discovered fire.

But I'm asking about the honors society thing because I was looking at MD applicant.com, and it seems that most of the applicants were in honor societies.
What kinds of things do matter to med schools? I mean, I know you have to be "well rounded", but most people are. What are med schools looking for?

Take everything you read on MDApplicants.com with a grain of salt. The people who post there are those who want to advertise their stats, so they tend to either be the high scorers, or those who defied the odds. The majority of successful applicants in the middle won't post there. Also there are a ton of fake profiles on MDApplicants. com, and so there's no reason to believe them -- especially the numerous very low scorers who now claim to be at top ten schools.

 

[logos]

The mean nothing. Everyone knows all you have to do to get into most of them is cough up some $

 

[katrinadams9]

"I wasn't in an honor society or even the honors college at my school... didn't graduate with honors either. My GPA was only a 3.36. Most medical schools are looking for well rounded individuals, not just book nerds who get stellar grades and have no personality whatsoever. Make sure you have something special on your application that not many other people have done."



Not only did you get accepted to the medical school that I want to go to, you did it without graduating with honors. If you don't mind me asking, were you one of those applicants who had something like a 4 yr degree in English, and stood out amongst the rest of the applicants who had science degrees?

Actually, I graduated with a degree in Chemical engineering. I think medical schools must factor in how hard your degree was when looking at your GPA...

I had many other things on my application that made me stand out as well. I worked as a dialysis technician for a year, was a door to door salesperson for 4 years, was involved in organizing many Red Cross blood drives at MSU, and was very involved in the student government of the engineering college.

 

[Siggy]

I heard that the only good AED was the ones that shock people...

 

[coastal]

Not only did you get accepted to the medical school that I want to go to, you did it without graduating with honors. If you don't mind me asking, were you one of those applicants who had something like a 4 yr degree in English, and stood out amongst the rest of the applicants who had science degrees?

I'm sure you didn't mean this maliciously, but as an English major myself, it kind of ticked me off. Do you actually think that admission committees let people in with lower gpas just because they have a "different" degree? I've heard that before, but usually from people who had science degrees and didn't get in.

 

[etudiante04]

I've heard that the only honor that is important to medical schools is Phi Beta Kappa - especially if you are inducted as a junior. Of course, Phi Beta Kappa is dependent somewhat on your GPA, and also on the difficulty and variety of classes you have taken. I think Phi Beta Kappa is for those pursuing a B.A. I don't know much about the engineering honors.

 

[Dr.Jekyll]

I'm sure you didn't mean this maliciously, but as an English major myself, it kind of ticked me off. Do you actually think that admission committees let people in with lower gpas just because they have a "different" degree? I've heard that before, but usually from people who had science degrees and didn't get in.

I'm very sorry, it wasn't meant maliciously. I was surprised, because I'm pursueing a degree in biochemical engineering.

And about the english degree crack, I brought it up because I know a girl in med school that has an english degree. She said that one of reasons she was accepted was that her degree did stand out (the guy that interviewed her told her this). I'm sorry if I ticked you off.

 

[pillowhead]

I've heard that the only honor that is important to medical schools is Phi Beta Kappa - especially if you are inducted as a junior. Of course, Phi Beta Kappa is dependent somewhat on your GPA, and also on the difficulty and variety of classes you have taken. I think Phi Beta Kappa is for those pursuing a B.A. I don't know much about the engineering honors.

I have also heard the same thing. Phi Beta Kappa is still very difficult to get into unlike all the other random societies out there. I think most people get invited to join as seniors when it wouldn't really matter because it's after interview season. If you get it as a junior though, it is a pretty big deal--my interviewers brought it up quite frequently and seemed impressed.

Stuff like Golden Key and all the other random Greek letter combination honor societies out there really mean diddly squat because you they don't set you apart from the crowd.

 

[Dr.Jekyll]

Thanks to everyone who answered my question, but now I have another one.

Does the same go for honors colleges?

 

[silas2642]

What are my chances of making it into medical school without being in an honor society? Even if I keep up my grades and do research, will this still be a huge factor?

Extremely high, and you don't need to do research unless you really want to.

 

[ddmo]

I've heard that the only honor that is important to medical schools is Phi Beta Kappa - especially if you are inducted as a junior. Of course, Phi Beta Kappa is dependent somewhat on your GPA, and also on the difficulty and variety of classes you have taken. I think Phi Beta Kappa is for those pursuing a B.A. I don't know much about the engineering honors.

It didn't seem to be a factor in my addmission. Nobody even mentioned it.

Med schools care about grades, MCATs, and EC's, so forget the honor societies.

On the other hand, getting AOA is medical school does carry a lot of weight for residencies.

 

[Siggy]

I'm sure you didn't mean this maliciously, but as an English major myself, it kind of ticked me off. Do you actually think that admission committees let people in with lower gpas just because they have a "different" degree? I've heard that before, but usually from people who had science degrees and didn't get in.

Its not affirmative action for English majors. Its just when you are going through 15290357 applications from bio majors, a non bio major seems like a breath of fresh air.

 

[zeloc]

Thanks to everyone who answered my question, but now I have another one.

Does the same go for honors colleges?

Although I was in it, the honors college at my undergraduate institution was a joke and was not a factor in my admission to medical school. If you are looking to increase your chances of getting into med school, work on objective factors like GPA and especially MCAT. How can medical schools evaluate all this subjective nonsense when there is so much variation from school to school? If there is an activity you are genuinely interested in, then distinguish yourself in that area, but never do anything solely for the application because it is a waste of time and you will not gain as much. I am not familiar with Phi Beta Kappa and cannot comment on that.