Leadership in Application

[umichman]

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I am going to be a junior at Michigan and have a 3.6. The one thing I am lacking is leadership. I was the captain of my football team in high school, stuco, and NHS. Can any of this be included in the application? Thanks

 

[SisterDisco08]

I am going to be a junior at Michigan and have a 3.6. The one thing I am lacking is leadership. I was the captain of my football team in high school, stuco, and NHS. Can any of this be included in the application? Thanks

I went to Michigan, and am going back this fall. Easiest way to get leadership there: start an organization. Sounds daunting, but with the amount of people who are passionate about just about everything on that campus, it's easy as pie. I started 2 and they're still going strong.

Another pretty easy way is through the religious/ethnic student organizations. They tend to be smaller and love people who want to be active.

Generally nothing from high school is put onto your med school app, unless it's something that you've continued to do (eagle scouts, etc). I don't think anything you've mentioned really fits that. Some schools do ask for high school things on secondaries though.

Go browse at festifall.

Or, I can put you in contact with the E-Boards of the two I started--I'm sure they need another committee leader or two. They are both medically relevant in some capacity (preventative medicine, mental health)

 

[isoquin]

I am going to be a junior at Michigan and have a 3.6. The one thing I am lacking is leadership. I was the captain of my football team in high school, stuco, and NHS. Can any of this be included in the application? Thanks

These things really aren't "leadership" in the real-world perception of the word, mostly because they were high school activities. I agree with umichman in starting something for yourself, which does show direct leadership. What are you making? How are you leading the way?

But, on a simpler note, the idea of checking off the "leadership" box to get into med school is somewhat overrated (the checkbox part, not the leadership). Do you have other strong college extracurriculars?

 

[umichman]

I don't know if you would consider it strong.
-Member of Sigma Alpha Lambda Honors Fraternity (Although I haven't invested very much time)
-Volunteered at Hospital ER for 60 hours
-Research for over a year (soon to be published, possibly twice)
-Volunteered with some small things around my church, not very much time though.
-Intramural sports
-Health Science Scholars Program (Learning community for 1 year)
-Shadowed Ortho Surgeon ~ 100 hours

 

[SisterDisco08]

I don't know if you would consider it strong.
-Member of Sigma Alpha Lambda Honors Fraternity (Although I haven't invested very much time)
-Volunteered at Hospital ER for 60 hours
-Research for over a year (soon to be published, possibly twice)
-Volunteered with some small things around my church, not very much time though.
-Intramural sports
-Health Science Scholars Program (Learning community for 1 year)
-Shadowed Ortho Surgeon ~ 100 hours

I would say that's pretty below-average. But, like I was saying, the good thing about Michigan is that there are tons of opportunities to get involved in things 🙂