Undergrad extracurriculars - Is being a member enough?

[Claydees]

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Hi,

I'm in 3rd year now and need to start getting more involved in extra curriculars to boost my competitiveness. I was just wondering if it's true that being a member is not really considered enough when applying and if it is necessary to be an executive/on the board of directors for a club?

I ask because my brother who is in medical school already told me if I join a club, I need to be an executive or else when I apply to dental, medical, or whatever (dental for me), the schools will just assume I never showed up to the club or never was involved if I was just a "member". My issue with this is that I'm in 3rd year, and graduate after next year. Doesn't leave a lot of time to fast track through being a member and becoming an executive in any club so I'm wondering what the plan could be here for me.

 

[Jbrowndds]

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[MedDevil]

IMO, a lot (but not all) of the people that jump into executive roles do so just for the sake of "looking good" for professional school and don't do much more than club members. Focus on building up projects/events/etc for your organization (even solely as a new member, you can always take initiative and talk to officers about your ideas) and that will give you something to discuss on your app and in interviews.

 

[NMC2010]

On AADSAS, it asks you how many hours you participated in said extracurricular. So, for it to look good, you need to actually be involved in it. Hope this helps.

 

[Dental1451]

You def can't just be a member. You need to run for a leadership position, dental schools
Love leadership. Being a member doesn't mean a thing

 

[squigloo]

If you haven't been involved until right before you apply, it will be obvious to dental schools that you didn't really do much until the last second. Be as involved as you can, and if the opportunity to join an Eboard arises, take it.

 

[amfassz]

Why should you be rewarded for simply filling out an application and attending some meetings?

 

[dat9]

Joining clubs and getting executive roles helps your application so much. Like a ton! I'm on the exec board of 2 clubs and have been for 2/3 years. Being involved in something for a long time and putting in a lot of hours shows dedication. Doing it just for the hours will show in the interview and you have to be passionate about what you're doing. I have 2 OOS interviews already and I have a gpa of 3.18 and scGPA of 2.98. I believe it's my involvement since my DAT scores are just average.

 

[Claydees]

Thanks guys. I had a feeling being a member wasn't enough. I need to see how I can get into an exec position before I graduate next year. After my tough transition to first year, i focused 2nd year solely on boosting gpa which i did successfully. 3rd year now that i'm back together, i was hoping to get the right volunteer work. I'll have to definitely gun for an exec position by doing above and beyond what members do while not conflicting with my progress in boosting the gpa.

Atm my plan is to volunteer in the clinics/hospitals on weekends, and during the week be involved in 3 clubs: 2 health related ones, and 1 enjoyment club. Hopefully I can get an exec hopefully in the enjoyment club and in one of the health clubs, then drop the remaining health club one that didn't give a position in time. I know it sounds bad almost as if I just want to be an exec without caring about the club, but honestly like someone said above here, it just looks good to be an exec, even if you're not doing much more than members. Also, cannot believe my school has 3 pre-med clubs and no dental clubs. Ridiculous.

Also dat9 that is quite interesting how much weighting your EC's were given. Gives me optimism that GPA isn't everything. Cool stuff.

 

[Claydees]

Wanted to update you guys. Good and potentially (with hindsight) bad news. 5 clubs i'm interested in. 1 is hardcore health related, 1 is a healthy lifestyle promotion club, 1 a music club, 1 an editorial writing magazine, and 1 business/stock trading club (more on this later).

Applied for only EXECUTIVE positions. Rejected from editorial writing club. Music club is in progress (so slow with their e-mail responses...been having a 2 week conversation here with some random guy "in charge). Accepted into the hardcore health club on last minute notice after seemingly not hearing from them. Healthy lifestyle promotion club application is due on Wednesday...potentially bad news = was accepted into the business club when I honestly was just applying on a whim expecting them to choose the commerce students over me anyway.

So as we can see, if we take away the editorial magazine...of my 4 clubs, I got accepted into 2...but should it be 1?

I'm contemplating not sticking with the commerce club just because when i talked to a family member they told me..."if you're interested in dentistry, and you put that you were an executive on a commerce club on your application... a) they'll think you're a closet reject commerce student b) they'll ask you why aren't you trading stocks or in commerce instead if you seemingly liked it so much to be an exec? It's too far apart from dentistry to help your application, will likely hurt it"..etc etc. Granted my position in the club would be to represent the entire biology/science department of my university in this position (basically i'm the guy who's the "science guys can understand business too" head guy) should I accept so maybe I can catch some leeway saying i represented scientists in a business club instead of business guys in a business club...but maybe that will be a weak argument.

So guys, is it worth declining the commerce club because of this? The thing is i need at least 2 extra currics in exec positions and I'm currently in a health one which is great, but it's not guaranteed that i will get a music one (which same family member said is fine since music ≠ that alarming on an application) and it's not guaranteed i'll get the healthy active living one. Should I risk losing an exec position by dropping the comm one when it's possible I may not get an exec in the other 2?

I don't want a dental school to think I'm not really into dentistry simply because i have other interests as well (mainly music and business related things).

Please let me know...sooner the better because first commerce club meeting is this week and I have to confirm if I'm on board. Thanks a lot. Sorry for the resurrection of an older thread.

 

[MedDevil]

Don't treat your EC's like a checkbox, do what you like. Only one of my EC's is related to dentistry and that hasn't been a problem for me thus far; schools like diverse applicants. As long as you can answer the "why dentistry" question truthfully in interviews, you'll be fine.

 

[Teeths]

I don't know why people get so caught up in this. Like others have said... do what interests you. Hopefully you've come to a point where you find something interesting enough to want to be involved - may be something dental related, may be something completely out there and it really doesn't matter. If all you have is JUST dental stuff, I think that actually does some damage because it becomes blatantly obvious you're there with your checklist.

 

[dat9]

You're allowed to enjoy other things besides dentistry. It will enhance your app! But just doing it as an application boost will not be good. They can tell if you do something because you're interested in it or have a passion for it during the interviews. If they ask you about it and your eyes don't light up or you relax a little I don't think it will benefit you