Dental How much extracurricular activity do I need?

[artist2022]

I just finished my sophomore year. My GPA is fine. However, I do not have much extracurricular activities so far. I have a lab assistant job. I am also a research assistant working on a vaccine project. I also have some volunteer experiences. I am planning to do shadowing soon. I will be doing an internship in a biotech company this summer .However, I am not very active in any clubs so far. I joined several clubs but I didn’t run for officers since I really didn’t enjoy those clubs wholeheartedly. I’ve browsed for clubs for two years and I haven’t found one that I think I truly enjoy so that it would be worth my time and effort. I am more of an indoor person and like to do things alone most of the time. I recently got really interested in investment and finance and I finally feel like I found an EC that I can truly commit my time towards it. But like researching about the market and studying all about stocks isn’t really something that you can put on a resume.
I really need some help and advice since I think club and leadership experience is basically required.

It's not really "required", but it is a plus to have and being an officer teaches you some things about leadership that you don't get from volunteering or doing research.
Besides clubs, I think volunteering and shadowing are more important because they show dedication to the field and dedication to the community, so make sure you have enough hours of each of those (100 each is average).

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[artist2022]

Thanks for your suggestion. I actually had some leadership experience in high school but I don’t know if I can write that on my dental school application lol. I was the president of the Model UN club in our high school and hosted a multi-school Model UN conference. I was also the team captain of a national diplomatic competition. I really enjoyed the leadership experiences and learned a lot but I thought it was very time consuming and then I decided I would put more my time on something else when I started college...

No - don't put anything from high school on your dental school app. You already used high school experiences when applying to colleges, and now you have to use college experiences when applying to dental schools. And also high school experiences are pretty different than the ones in college, so there's that... plus you're older now and more mature and likely view the world differently than you did when you were a 16-18 year old, right? So your leadership experience this time around might be different too.
But like I said before, clubs are not required, but they can help if you join them. I was part of an honor society as like an internal VP + secretary (my only leadership position really lol), and a member of my school's predental society. That's all I did for clubs, but I had research, volunteering, and employment too, with a strong academic record. Schools want to see that you're well rounded - strong in school and that you care about the profession & your community too.

 

[artist2022]

Thank you so much! I think your advice is very helpful. I guess I will try to aim for a leadership position in at least one club to get some new experiences.

You're welcome! That sounds like a plan good luck!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Realize that once you make it to dental/medical school, your world shrinks but the number of activities is still pretty large. It's important that you are comfortable balancing extracurriculars with schoolwork, even in undergrad. A serious absence of such activities would make me worry that you aren't the type of person to want to be part of a community, especially when you'll probably be pulled into many different clubs and their activities if you make it.