Impressive Extracurriculars for Med Schools

[DiamondBar]

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What can I do? I am currently an undergraduate pre-med student.

I know there is EMT training, but that option is not available for me because I am currently not a Permanent Resident/US Citizen.
Also not looking for volunteer work that any high school student/under can apply to 🙂 Please let me know! 😍

EDIT:

By the way, any of you in a Medical Frat? I was thinking of joining one or is that just a waste of time?

 

[lll1I1lII1lll1I]

Research with publication is pretty impressive. Starting your own nonprofit organization or founding a high impact school organization is pretty impressive.

Being an EMT is pretty common, easy to do, and not that impressive. But 4 years of EMT service and/or 4+ years of hospital volunteering can be somewhat impressive because it shows dedication.

Volunteering for the peace corps for a year (or something equivalent to that, maybe Teach for America or something) is also pretty impressive, but obviously only worth doing for your own passion's sake. But volunteering for a week in Peru during spring break while partying every night is not impressive.

 

[jm192]

Find a local free clinic and volunteer for them. If you can't, do a hospital. Do both.

shadow physicians

Habitat for Humanity
Big Brothers/Big Sisters

Research

Job

Schools Clubs

 

[dingyibvs]

i heard they love nobel prize winners

 

[DiamondBar]

Thank you lll1I1lII1lll1I and jm192 !!!!

By the way, any of you in a Medical Frat? I was thinking of joining one or is that just a waste of time?

 

[ILikeDrugs]

Well rounded robots. So many.

 

[NotAsking4Much]

Well rounded robots. So many.

Just do what you're passionate about. I can't emphasize this enough.

 

[apumic]

Just do what you're passionate about. I can't emphasize this enough.

What're you tokin'?! It has NOTHING to do with passion! It's all about doing the exact same things as everyone else -- otherwise, they wouldn't be doing it! Conformity is the key to this game, not uniqueness (duh!).

 

[erskine]

army medic
NCAA div 1 athlete


.....and that's all i can think of at the moment, aside from the others mentioned. I imagine any EC that shows significant, out of the ordinary devotion, and demonstrates some high skill level would be looked upon favorably. And if being an army medic isn't an impressive EC, i don't know what is.

 

[NickNaylor]

Cure cancer
Resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict
Privatize world peace

 

[Catalystik]

Get some Olympic Gold.

 

[Lokhtar]

Silver and you're playing for the waiting list. Bronze and don't bother to apply - try Caribbean. Below that and you shouldn't do anything with your life you loser.

 

[mdeast]

Follow your passions and always take up adventures. I think most of my most unique ECs weren't things that I necessarily planned out but more or less things that came up naturally when I was exploring other things.

For me my "unique" ECs were:

- First author pub as an undergrad in a very unique area of biology
- A semester abroad working at an European Medical School/Hospitals, volunteering with some unique LGBT groups
- Designing/Teaching an experimental college seminar course to 12 undergrads on social, political, economic, and ethical aspects of medicine.

Do what you love though. You'll be happier for it.

 

[Janieve]

Keep in mind that medical schools WILL want to talk about your ECs if you get an interview, so doing something purely for the value of it looking good to them is kind of stupid.

Interviewer: So, I notice you volunteered at a free clinic for six months. What made you do that?
You: I thought it would look good on my applications.
Interviewer: Nice honesty. But no.

or, alternately:

Interviewer: What was one thing your involvement with the LGBTQ group on your campus really hammered home?
You: Everybody's different.
Interviewer: More specifically? Any changes in perspective, memorable events, etc...?
You: Well, the big thing is that everybody's different. Can we talk about my GPA and MCAT score? I'm more passionate about them.

Pick an EC you're passionate about and stick with it. Medical schools look for commitment. Get clinical experience, definitely, but keep in mind that it's just that: experience. Join a student group - maybe the debate team or a sports club. Find a place whose mission you love and who you WANT to contribute to. And if you find yourself thinking, "but that other club just seems so premed!", back up and look at how things will be at your interviews. You want to be able to talk about these things.

I may not have the longest list of ECs, but mine say a lot about who I am. Have a look at some here:

Work with international/foreign students:

• English as a Second Language tutor (1 year)
• Worked at camp for middle school English students in Japan (2 months)
• Worked as a conversational English instructor in Japan (1 year)
• International Student Mentor (orientations/assistance) (Present)

Community volunteering:

• American Red Cross (4 years/500+ hours)
• Bone Marrow Bank representation (6 months)
• Give free information about organ donation (and DMV stickers)

Just from these two subheadings, what can you tell about me? Yeah. I ended up with so many similar activities because I found niches I loved. I know it may seem counterintuitive, but if you love it, it will take you places.

 

[Catalystik]

Good post, Janieve.

 

[deleted202457]

Cure cancer
Resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict
Privatize world peace

Too late. Tony Stark has already done that.

 

[CookDeRosa]

Cure cancer
Resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict
Privatize world peace

>>


That's so "Spring 2010" I would aim higher for this cycle.

 

[confusedchild]

Have PASSION in something, do it well, and convey it well. Like one of the posters said above, I cannot emphasize this enough. At all of my interviews, the interviewers were very intrigued by an engineering project that me and my friends started back in freshman year of college. The project became my life and at that point I thought I was going to do engineering for sure.

Even though, I decided to do medicine later on and the project came to an end/fell apart, I was able to convey my passion and what I took away from that project. It was completely not medicine related, but they were all very intrigued and I personally think that activity to the adcoms trumped all of my other ECs judging by the fact that all of interviews focused very heavily on it and were impressed by it.

A little blurb I wrote to someone who PMEd me...

Don't pad your application with stuff you think they want to see. Of course, try to get some clinical exposure, some research if possible but I found out at all my interviews what made me stand out and what all of them talked to me about was my engineering background and a few things I did that had absolutely nothing to do with medicine. I nearly eliminated those activities from my application. I was able to convey my passion for them and I think that was what made the difference. In all my interviews, they focused very little on my medical experiences but more heavily on an engineering project that I was involved with. Have PASSION for something - do it well and convey it well even if it has nothing to do with medicine.

 

[pmc2025]

Seriously, you need to be cannonized by whatever religion you believe in.

Sainted - Possible, apply broadly with some good LORs to both MD and DO with a strong MCAT

Beatified - You aren't going to get in to the top 10. Apply very broadly, take the MCAT multiple times (aim for at least a 40, otherwise...). Just know Mother Theresa was waitlisted too.


You should also have invented a radical new therapeutic agent that cures cancer and AIDS at the same time using nothing but starlight, moonbeams, and the crushed dreams of SDN members.

Otherwise you should consider Nursing or PA. Chiropractors make good money these days too...

 

[Helen Wheels]

What're you tokin'?! It has NOTHING to do with passion! It's all about doing the exact same things as everyone else -- otherwise, they wouldn't be doing it! Conformity is the key to this game, not uniqueness (duh!).

To an extent this is correct. There are certain things that you are expected to have such as exposure to patients and clinical settings, community service, evidence of leadership. However, you want to have an edge, something that makes you special so that you stand out from the 40,000 applicants that apply to med school each year. If your application is too "cookie cutter" you will end up among the 18,000 people each year who are accepted nowhere. And by golly you better be passionate about something! Otherwise you are just a robot. And I hope you are passionate about medicine or you'll never make it through 7+ years of training.

 

[Seven of Nine]

otherwise...

wait for it... wait for it.... someone will say it soon...

 

[apumic]

To an extent this is correct. There are certain things that you are expected to have such as exposure to patients and clinical settings, community service, evidence of leadership. However, you want to have an edge, something that makes you special so that you stand out from the 40,000 applicants that apply to med school each year. If your application is too "cookie cutter" you will end up among the 18,000 people each year who are accepted nowhere. And by golly you better be passionate about something! Otherwise you are just a robot. And I hope you are passionate about medicine or you'll never make it through 7+ years of training.

lol... hope you caught the sarcasm.

Regardless, yes, you need the stats; however, be an interesting person. Honestly, what all of these posts point to is "be human....be interesting." There's really not much else to it. You need to have the academic prowess to pull that 3.66/32R as well as have a goal for your life and write well enough to express it in your PS in a convincing manner, but after that, it's all about who you are. It really is that simple.