Too many acvities to list on medical school application

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OrangeTree

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Hello,

I have been involving in many acitivities. By the time of application, I will likely to have these acitivities.
  • Leadership positions: About 7 clubs
  • Volunteering acitivities(medical/Non-medical): 5
  • Shadowing: 5 physicians
  • Employment: 1 acvitity
  • Teachings/Reserch: 4-6
  • Publications: 2-3
  • Conference: 1-3
  • Political Intern(1 summer)
  • Research Intern(1 summer)
  • Co-Funder of university reycling program
  • Funder of a non-profit organization
  • Trip to Africa(1 summer)
What is a good way to squize many acitivites into the 15 places?

I have thought to...
  • List similar volunteering acitivities together (EMT and ER tech..)
But still...
  • Other stuff vary in different fields (Ex. President of Student Government and President of Premed Club)
  • Attended different conferences. Did different research.
  • Shadowed 5 physicians in different specialities.
So what should I do? 😕😕😕
 
You could combine all the leadership positions into one activity and just bullet off the different clubs and responsibilities. You have a good bit of room to talk about your activities.

You can also combine the conferences with publications if they apply, same holds true for research with publications.

You're trying to stretch things out too much and kill multiple birds with one stone, think of each activity and what you got out of it. For example, you started researching something with this professor and got a publication from it, followed by presenting that at a conference = 1 thing. Just be particular with your activity titles.

Hope this helps.

BTW, did you have time to eat/breathe during all of these activities in undergrad?
 
You could combine all the leadership positions into one activity and just bullet off the different clubs and responsibilities. You have a good bit of room to talk about your activities.

You can also combine the conferences with publications if they apply, same holds true for research with publications.

You're trying to stretch things out too much and kill multiple birds with one stone, think of each activity and what you got out of it. For example, you started researching something with this professor and got a publication from it, followed by presenting that at a conference = 1 thing. Just be particular with your activity titles.

Hope this helps.

BTW, did you have time to eat/breathe during all of these activities in undergrad?

Thanks for your advice. Yes, I have the time to study and accomplish many acitivities about which I feel passionate. I have not finished some of the acitivites but they are in progress. For me, it's not a stress factor. If I am truly interested and get involved, the time just flies.
 
It's probably best to focus on what's most important, if you truly can't fit it all in. Simply being involved in numerous activities is unimpressive. Med schools probably want to see commitment to what matters most to you.
 
Hello,

I have been involving in many acitivities. By the time of application, I will likely to have these acitivities.
  • Leadership positions: About 7 clubs
  • Volunteering acitivities(medical/Non-medical): 5
  • Shadowing: 5 physicians
  • Employment: 1 acvitity
  • Teachings/Reserch: 4-6
  • Publications: 2-3
  • Conference: 1-3
  • Political Intern(1 summer)
  • Research Intern(1 summer)
  • Co-Funder of university reycling program
  • Funder of a non-profit organization
  • Trip to Africa(1 summer)
What is a good way to squize many acitivites into the 15 places?

I have thought to...
  • List similar volunteering acitivities together (EMT and ER tech..)
But still...
  • Other stuff vary in different fields (Ex. President of Student Government and President of Premed Club)
  • Attended different conferences. Did different research.
  • Shadowed 5 physicians in different specialities.
So what should I do? 😕😕😕

Don't count your chickens before they hatch; paraticularly those publication chickens.

Each full-time summer activity should have its own slot. That's 3 slots.
Shadowing can be condensed into one slot with the specifics in the text.
If you are applying to the top research schools then each research lab should get its own slot.
Funder? You donated money... skip it. You organized a fund-raiser, list it as leadership.

Clubs... not so interesting, condense into one slot.
Volunteering... narrow it down to the activities in which you were engaged more than 30 hours. If these are future plans, consider working in one setting or one agency for multiple years rather than scattershot participation in different activities each semester.

All this activity is great but do what it takes to keep you gpa at >3.59 to increase the likelihood that you will get an interview/offer of admission.
 
Combine the shadowing experiences into one. Focus on the extracurricular activities where you have leadership positions.
 
Thank you for everyone's advice. LizzyM, I agree that your initial advice. It's always good to be humble and honest. I will send you a PM later today. If you don't mind, please answer it when you are not busy.
 
First, you might want to learn to correctly spell activities. I didn't think much of it while reading, but my browser has pointed out that every time you put it down, you spelled it wrong.

As far as narrowing them down...

1. Shadowing. It's important, but not so important that each physician needs to have his/her own slot. Just list the different specialties you shadowed and for how long, and anything in particular you learned.

2-4. Summer activities
5. Employment (assuming this wasn't one of your summer activities)

The rest is a little difficult to break down, since we don't know exactly what you did. Combining all the activities related to one research project is good (so, as someone else mentioned, if you did research, published, and then presented, put it all under one). Looks like you'd have 4 or so slots for that. Don't particularly care that you funded some programs, which leaves us with your Clubs and Volunteering.

I'd eliminate clubs that you don't have a vested interest in. For instance, I was a member of our school's Active Minds club, which was aimed at raising awareness of mental health problems in the university population. I even held two separate leadership positions, on account of one of my closest friends being the founder on campus. It sounded great on paper, but I found that I didn't participate in it as much as I would've liked, so rather than risk that being brought up in an interview, I just left it off my list. On the other hand, I participated a great deal in my school's RHA (though I didn't exactly hold a leadership position; I was merely the non-elected representative for my building), so I listed that, along with the awards and leadership positions I held there. So, in your case, if being President of the Pre-Med club was super important to you, list it. Otherwise, leave it off. So figure out 1-2 that are important to you, and put the rest under a leadership slot with bullets explaining your titles and duties.

By now, around 12 slots have been filled (assuming 4 research labs, 2 important clubs, and 1 club leadership). You have three more to work out your volunteer activities. I'd list all clinical volunteer activities together, and significant non-clinical activities together. If you only did a 4 hour gig as a part of your membership in the pre-med club, list it along with your leadership position in that club.

That leaves you with one slot to do with as you see fit. If one experience is so super important to you that you feel it needs its own place on your application, don't combine it with something else and put it in this extra slot.
 
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