Phide vs AED

[busygyal]

I'm interested in joining a pre med club/fraternity on campus. Which would be better phiDE or AED? What type of interview questions do they ask, other than why do you want to be a doctor?

Side Question: How does one answer the big question "Why do you want to be a doctor?" without real clinical experience and without being cliche?

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[idontwatchgreysanatomy]

I'm interested in joining a pre med club/fraternity on campus. Which would be better phiDE or AED? What type of interview questions do they ask, other than why do you want to be a doctor?

Side Question: How does one answer the big question "Why do you want to be a doctor?" without real clinical experience and without being cliche?

I know PhiDE gets a lot of hate around here, but I'm a member. Ultimately, the experience is what you make of it. Just like any student organization, you can join and be a non-contributing member and not gain anything from it. As long as you take an active role and make it what you want to be, then pick either group. Just don't expect it to inherently get you anywhere.

Both groups can provide great leadership experience and it is easy to stack up the non-clinical volunteer hours. Personally, I'd lean towards PhiDE just for the reason that it is a medical fraternity that happens to have undergrad chapters. That way you can continue to be involved in med school. Go to the informational meetings for both and see where you fit best.

 

[Chamomile Tea]

As a member of AED, I'm going to be biased and choose that. AED is an interesting case where some chapters act like just and honor society, some act like an honors fraternity and some end up being like a hybrid of both. The reason why I like AED so much is that it's pre-health and not pre-med exclusive. You can be a pre-dental or pre-PA student and be an AED member so if you switch tracks you didn't waste money. I've seen members who were staunchly pre-med who after a roundtable guest speaker presentation (with med, dental, PA and PT students) who switch and find that their new track is more to their liking. Plus there wasn't an uber-competitive atmosphere among the members compared to the general pre-health population. The AED members at my school were ultra helpful in study groups, as mentors and getting you connections to other organizations on campus.

As far as interview questions, the chapter at my alma mater asked what a potential applicant could contribute to the chapter and what the chapter could do to benefit the applicant. Basically those questions are there to gauge how likely an applicant will contribute past induction (many honors societies struggle to keep members interested past induction since all they wanted were the shiny letters) and to gauge how realistic their expectations they were of us (yes, we can give you lots of opportunites; no, we can't guarantee an acceptance to John Hopkins).

If I were you @busygyal I'd suggest perhaps going to any public events PhiDE and AED have at your school. Pick whichever on you think you might feel the most comfortable in as they both expect a lot of contribution. You don't want to be in an organization with members you can't tolerate.

 

[benjamin94559]

PBK FO LYFE !!

 

[kb1900]

Waste of time for 90% of premeds

 

[Lucca]

Don't join either and do something more valuable and interesting with your time. If you are dead set on it, can't imagine why, join the one with a better reputation at your school

 

[idontwatchgreysanatomy]

Don't join either and do something more valuable and interesting with your time. If you are dead set on it, can't imagine why, join the one with a better reputation at your school

Someone sounds bitter

 

[Lucca]

Someone sounds bitter

Definitely not butter, never tried to join one of these things in undergrad. Too much of a time commitment for too little return. These groups also have annoying demands like meeting a quota for coming to meetings and social events. Better off doing just about anything, like joining a student theater troupe, joining a Ju Jitsu club for beginners, joining a book club, going to the gym more....

 

[Lawpy]

I'm interested in joining a pre med club/fraternity on campus. Which would be better phiDE or AED? What type of interview questions do they ask, other than why do you want to be a doctor?

Side Question: How does one answer the big question "Why do you want to be a doctor?" without real clinical experience and without being cliche?

There should be a poll option for "None of the Above (or Neither)"

 

[idontwatchgreysanatomy]

Definitely not butter, never tried to join one of these things in undergrad. Too much of a time commitment for too little return. These groups also have annoying demands like meeting a quota for coming to meetings and social events. Better off doing just about anything, like joining a student theater troupe, joining a Ju Jitsu club for beginners, joining a book club, going to the gym more....

Yes, often times organizations have mandatory attendance for meetings. Like I said earlier, you will get out what you put in. Obviously, if being in that type of organization doesn't interest you, then it would be pointless to join. However, OP asked because they are interested.

 

[applesaucey]

I'm a member of PhiDE and I absolutely love it, as does pretty much everyone else in the chapter. It's not a shining point on my resume or anything, but the chapter at my school is very close and I have made many of my closest friends through being a member.

For both organizations, I'd say go check them out and see if you get a good vibe from the members and if they seem like people you'd want to be studying and hanging out with, and if they seem generally helpful and friendly. Since I've heard both good things and bad things about both, I'd say it's up to you to make judgements on your schools chapters.

 

[Lannister]

I thought that PhiDE was pretty useless. I didn't even put it on my application.

I also didn't even enjoy it. At my school, most of the people in PhiDE were obnoxious gunners who secretly had a 3.2 GPA.