Too Generic of a Pre-Med Start?

[wildcatbluejay24]

I'm sure this is an extremely popular question that pops up every year and I apologize, I know it will definitely seem like "another lost pre-med freshman", but I want to ask if my start for being a pre-med student is good or if it's "just like everyone else".

Things this year are obviously significantly different, so I've been trying pretty hard to see what I could line up in terms of activities, and not just in terms of pre-med only activities. Hopkins' semester was canceled and was made remote, so I've been trying to find a mix of safe, in-person activities as well as virtual opportunities. So far, I've lined up the following activities I'm either continuing or plan on starting for the fall:

• Remote Bioinformatics Research through Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
  • I'm new to research and really liked this particular PI's work; I've been learning R programming and he's been very helpful thus far
• Neurosurgery Shadowing through WashU School of Medicine
  • was able to set up a long-term shadowing with two neurosurgeons, one of whom actually went to Hopkins
  • only shadowing call that actually allowed me to come in and seemed like a really good opportunity
• Virtual tutoring through the local international institute
  • I wanted to continue this, I tutor refugees and recent immigrants in different classes like English and Math, I like this quite a bit just to talk to the kids
• Virtual hospital volunteering
  • I was able to find virtual volunteering through a large hospital near me, this would entail calling patients to check in with them (you stay with the same patient through discharge) and calling the nursing station with potential social concerns for the patient
• In-person volunteering through a food pantry
  • I've been doing this for a while since we set this up as one of the community involvement opportunities through my high school's chapter of NHS that I was one of the main executives for
• Mentoring for FTC Robotics Team
  • not sure how this year's challenge is looking, but I am going to act as a mentor for the team I was a captain for in high school

I am not doing all of these starting the first week of classes. I plan on spacing them all out so they don't fall on the same week. I plan on doing virtual volunteering and shadowing the most alongside research, and then tutoring and food pantry less often (every other week maybe), and mentoring least often (maybe once every two weeks). I, of course, need to get into the groove of college first and prioritize classes, but these were things I wanted to secure first.

My main thing is I just want to make sure I make whatever I can of this semester, but I don't want to just do generic activities to check boxes. I've tried to pick things of genuine interest to me to stay involved aside from just doing online classes. I have another post about my classes (I have 16 hours with the main class being Orgo I & lab).

Would love to hear feedback, and if there is another post that covers all this, please link me to read up on it. Thanks in advance!! Really appreciate the help.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[brockhamptonfanacct]

Nothing is unique, nearly everything has been seen by adcoms before, the best advice I ever received about being premed was to understand the rules and execute them well, not try to outsmart the game by attempting to be that one admissions unicorn

Also following your interests = you can write/talk about it well = you become unique and personable, even if the activities have been done by others (as they usually have)

 

[Rogue42]

Best advice that a pre-med freshman could ever receive inbound: Enjoy your life. Enjoy college. Don't sprint through the whole marathon just to realize that the real prize was the journey.

Next, the most important thing that you do, is to make sure that you succeed in your classes. That is always 100% the first thing. If you start going down this path of trying to do everything - and everything uniquely - and screw up your grades, then none of what you had been doing will matter.

Finally - and this one is as important as the rest; do everything with a purpose and a passion. Make sure that every single extra-curricular activity that you choose to do, you choose to do it because it is important to you, that its something you really want to do. Don't do ANY activity just to check a box - even if that activity is unique. I promise, doing it that way, means a lot more, is more impactful, and you end up being able to write about it and talk about it in a way that shows adcoms your true colors.

Otherwise, if you're still looking for validation of you plan, it looks like a good start.

 

[GreenDuck12]

There are over 60,000 applicants to medical schools each year. Trying to stand out by being unique is a fools errand. Take comfort in knowing that what you’re doing has worked for countless applicants before you and even more to come. For your first semester/year, I highly recommend prioritizing the following over standard premed activities:
- Finding peers and classmates that you work well with who will be in many of your classes over the next four years. You’ll need allies to do well.
- Finding a faculty mentor that you build a relationship with over the next four years
- Build healthy habits such as eating nutritious foods at reasonable hours, engaging in physical activity, and prioritizing sleep. I cannot tell you how many students suffer and change paths because of these 3 issues.
- Learning when and how to ask for help when you need it. You will need help at some point so it’s better to know what resources are available ahead of time.

By prioritizing these things this year, it will be much easier to layer on other activities as you go to build your application to medical school.

GL

 

[wildcatbluejay24]

Nothing is unique, nearly everything has been seen by adcoms before, the best advice I ever received about being premed was to understand the rules and execute them well, not try to outsmart the game by attempting to be that one admissions unicorn

Also following your interests = you can write/talk about it well = you become unique and personable, even if the activities have been done by others (as they usually have)

This makes sense, thank you!

 

[wildcatbluejay24]

Best advice that a pre-med freshman could ever receive inbound: Enjoy your life. Enjoy college. Don't sprint through the whole marathon just to realize that the real prize was the journey.

Next, the most important thing that you do, is to make sure that you succeed in your classes. That is always 100% the first thing. If you start going down this path of trying to do everything - and everything uniquely - and screw up your grades, then none of what you had been doing will matter.

Finally - and this one is as important as the rest; do everything with a purpose and a passion. Make sure that every single extra-curricular activity that you choose to do, you choose to do it because it is important to you, that its something you really want to do. Don't do ANY activity just to check a box - even if that activity is unique. I promise, doing it that way, means a lot more, is more impactful, and you end up being able to write about it and talk about it in a way that shows adcoms your true colors.

Otherwise, if you're still looking for validation of you plan, it looks like a good start.

I completely understand, and I know I certainly need to prioritize my classes before I can really delve into any other activities, especially since this semester's layout is so different and it's my first semester of college. Thank you for the feedback!!

 

[wildcatbluejay24]

There are over 60,000 applicants to medical schools each year. Trying to stand out by being unique is a fools errand. Take comfort in knowing that what you’re doing has worked for countless applicants before you and even more to come. For your first semester/year, I highly recommend prioritizing the following over standard premed activities:
- Finding peers and classmates that you work well with who will be in many of your classes over the next four years. You’ll need allies to do well.
- Finding a faculty mentor that you build a relationship with over the next four years
- Build healthy habits such as eating nutritious foods at reasonable hours, engaging in physical activity, and prioritizing sleep. I cannot tell you how many students suffer and change paths because of these 3 issues.
- Learning when and how to ask for help when you need it. You will need help at some point so it’s better to know what resources are available ahead of time.

By prioritizing these things this year, it will be much easier to layer on other activities as you go to build your application to medical school.

GL

I like this a lot, thank you! All the students have been making various group chats for classes, majors, etc. to get to know each other, and I'm sure those will start getting extremely busy when classes start haha. I've met with the PI only twice so I'm still starting to get to know him, but I haven't met any of my professors yet to cultivate a relationship just yet. One person I am hoping to establish a mentorship with is the Hopkins neurosurgeon I'll hopefully be shadowing, because he seems to be a really genuine guy and I'm excited to learn from him for the next many months. I'm also definitely wanting to start a better routine, making sure I eat well and exercise as well as try to get a good amount of sleep.

Thanks again!!

 

[wildcatbluejay24]

being able to express what you shave, what you have learned/gotten from it, and show the characteristics, attributes and values that it demonstrates about you if far more important than the act itself. Such acts like peace corps or military service show on their face motivation and commitment but few others have that power. Some of the best essays/candidates have "mundane" or common things but they show who they are. If an applicant says they "walk on water" I may comment "applicant can not swim." Its what they do with that trait that matters and what it says about them.

I understand, so it's more about what you take from it rather than what the activity itself is. I feel like I always get plagued by the thought of "doing what everyone else does" despite knowing the depth is always more important. Thank you!!

 

[gyngyn]

I like this a lot, thank you! All the students have been making various group chats for classes, majors, etc. to get to know each other, and I'm sure those will start getting extremely busy when classes start haha. I've met with the PI only twice so I'm still starting to get to know him, but I haven't met any of my professors yet to cultivate a relationship just yet. One person I am hoping to establish a mentorship with is the Hopkins neurosurgeon I'll hopefully be shadowing, because he seems to be a really genuine guy and I'm excited to learn from him for the next many months. I'm also definitely wanting to start a better routine, making sure I eat well and exercise as well as try to get a good amount of sleep.

Thanks again!!

Don't forget to see what longitudinal care looks like. We want you to see how most of medicine is practiced.

 

[Goro]

Nothing is unique, nearly everything has been seen by adcoms before, the best advice I ever received about being premed was to understand the rules and execute them well, not try to outsmart the game by attempting to be that one admissions unicorn

Also following your interests = you can write/talk about it well = you become unique and personable, even if the activities have been done by others (as they usually have)

To add to this, do what you love and love what you do.

 

[deleted1025488]

Your activities look great! However, Hopkins undergrad is a beast (no grade inflation, like 70% of the incoming class is 'declared' premed and this shaves down significantly after the first year -> beyond competitive), I know others have said this but getting your academic feet on the ground is the most important thing as a freshman.

I see you're taking orgo as a freshman—was this because you scored highly on the AP chemistry exam? I've never seen a pre-med completely skip all of gen chem and was under the impression it was only for those pursuing graduate-level studies in chemistry. Organic chemistry is one of the hardest classes for premeds, I'm obviously not an expert but jumping directly into a sophomore pre-med requirement class at Johns Hopkins which already weeded out all the kids from gen chem is...probably not the best idea in the world. Also if gen chem would be easy for you then there's really no reason to not take it. Two A's on your transcript would look better than some random high-level electives your senior year and a lower GPA or suboptimal social life due to taking orgo first year without any college experience.

 

[wildcatbluejay24]

Your activities look great! However, Hopkins undergrad is a beast (no grade inflation, like 70% of the incoming class is 'declared' premed and this shaves down significantly after the first year -> beyond competitive), I know others have said this but getting your academic feet on the ground is the most important thing as a freshman.

I see you're taking orgo as a freshman—was this because you scored highly on the AP chemistry exam? I've never seen a pre-med completely skip all of gen chem and was under the impression it was only for those pursuing graduate-level studies in chemistry. Organic chemistry is one of the hardest classes for premeds, I'm obviously not an expert but jumping directly into a sophomore pre-med requirement class at Johns Hopkins which already weeded out all the kids from gen chem is...probably not the best idea in the world. Also if gen chem would be easy for you then there's really no reason to not take it. Two A's on your transcript would look better than some random high-level electives your senior year and a lower GPA or suboptimal social life due to taking orgo first year without any college experience.

I completely understand your concern! At Hopkins, a 5 on the AP exam lets you skip both semesters of general chemistry and they have sections of organic chemistry that are specific to freshman--or at least this year sections that only freshmen signed up for. Organic chemistry and its lab are certainly my main courses for this semester, I tried to make sure that the other courses wouldn't be too overbearing. Other than organic chemistry and the chirality lab, my other classes are intro psych, intro to public health, and a healthcare freshman seminar (writing-intensive).