Medical schools want to see us challenge ourselves

[jd989898]

---

Members don't see this ad.

What are some good ways to challenge ourselves as undergraduate students? From what I understand, medical schools don't care about what courses you take, what minors/majors you have, etc. as long as you take the prerequisites and do well.

 

[Lamel]

What are some good ways to challenge ourselves as undergraduate students? From what I understand, medical schools don't care about what courses you take, what minors/majors you have, etc. as long as you take the prerequisites and do well.

Drink every night and get a 4.0. List it as a meaningful experience on your app.

 

[Geebeejay]

What are some good ways to challenge ourselves as undergraduate students? From what I understand, medical schools don't care about what courses you take, what minors/majors you have, etc. as long as you take the prerequisites and do well.

Doesn't have to be only academic challenges. Play a club sport. Do one of like thousands of other things that you can do in this world.

 

[TangoDown]

Doing what is necessary to get into medical schools (prerequisites, ECs/Research) is challenging enough for undergrad. Otherwise, I desire to enjoy college a 'lil bit before I push myself upon the path of most resistance.

Take up a hobby that you enjoy. It can be "challenging" to you whilst providing personal satisfaction that doesn't necessarily serve in the purpose of getting into medical school. I lift 3 times a week, and desire to go into competition powerlifting when I get strong enough to be competitive. Am I doing it to impress medical school? Hell no.

 

[MaenadsDance]

I was talking to a current UCSF student about this tonight at my college's pre-med club. What stood out to me was him saying that it's not terribly interesting or impressive to join an already-established program for clinical experience, volunteering, etc - what's impressive is figuring out an unfilled need in your community, and then organizing people to fill that need.

 

[TangoDown]

I was talking to a current UCSF student about this tonight at my college's pre-med club. What stood out to me was him saying that it's not terribly interesting or impressive to join an already-established program for clinical experience, volunteering, etc - what's impressive is figuring out an unfilled need in your community, and then organizing people to fill that need.

Do we live in the same city?

 

[Spinach Dip]

Take up sword swallowing.

I hear that's a challenge.

 

[MaenadsDance]

Do we live in the same city?

Not if you're in San Francisco I'm down the coast a ways. But a handful of UCSF students rotate through one of our local hospitals, I think because it's one of the few county hospitals in the area that offers full services to migrant workers.

 

[Aerus]

Taking the prereqs and doing well in them is already an academic challenge. I'd assume they want to see you do other things to challenge yourself, rather than solely focus on school.

 

[MedPR]

Get really really sick, have a bunch of deaths in your family, be homeless, and get a 4.0.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using SDN Mobile

 

[GorillaPanic]

Get really really sick, have a bunch of deaths in your family, be homeless, and get a 4.0.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using SDN Mobile

This is not helpful. Please stop posting this garbage.

Back to the OPs question--an example of something I did to challenge myself in college was to take up american sign language. It was something genuinely interesting to me but also very difficult to master for a number of reasons (differs completely from other languages since it's visual vs auditory, learning and respecting cultural differences between the hearing and deaf community, and difficult to find ways to practice unless you immerse yourself a bit into the community). I loved this and it actually didn't come up at all in my AMCAS, but was mentioned briefly in a few secondaries and a few times in interviews as it seemed to fit. These kinds of genuine endeavors aren't necessarily one of those things you'll use to "check all the boxes" for your application, but will come up later on in the process that will help show much more depth to your character and perspective.

Essentially, do something out of your comfort zone. Do something that will help you grow and will give you depth. It can be almost anything, but might have more significance if its not directly premed/healthcare related.

 

[MedPR]

This is not helpful. Please stop posting this garbage.

Back to the OPs question--an example of something I did to challenge myself in college was to take up american sign language. It was something genuinely interesting to me but also very difficult to master for a number of reasons (differs completely from other languages since it's visual vs auditory, learning and respecting cultural differences between the hearing and deaf community, and difficult to find ways to practice unless you immerse yourself a bit into the community). I loved this and it actually didn't come up at all in my AMCAS, but was mentioned briefly in a few secondaries and a few times in interviews as it seemed to fit. These kinds of genuine endeavors aren't necessarily one of those things you'll use to "check all the boxes" for your application, but will come up later on in the process that will help show much more depth to your character and perspective.

Essentially, do something out of your comfort zone. Do something that will help you grow and will give you depth. It can be almost anything, but might have more significance if its not directly premed/healthcare related.

how do I sign "u mad brah?"?

 

[Aerus]

This is not helpful. Please stop posting this garbage.

Back to the OPs question--an example of something I did to challenge myself in college was to take up american sign language. It was something genuinely interesting to me but also very difficult to master for a number of reasons (differs completely from other languages since it's visual vs auditory, learning and respecting cultural differences between the hearing and deaf community, and difficult to find ways to practice unless you immerse yourself a bit into the community). I loved this and it actually didn't come up at all in my AMCAS, but was mentioned briefly in a few secondaries and a few times in interviews as it seemed to fit. These kinds of genuine endeavors aren't necessarily one of those things you'll use to "check all the boxes" for your application, but will come up later on in the process that will help show much more depth to your character and perspective.

Essentially, do something out of your comfort zone. Do something that will help you grow and will give you depth. It can be almost anything, but might have more significance if its not directly premed/healthcare related.

Get really really sick, have a bunch of deaths in your family, be homeless, and get a 4.0.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using SDN Mobile

Happy 16k posts. You proved Agent B wrong.