Ways to make yourself stand out

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sbEMT33

sbEMT33

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So everyone has heard about how checking all the boxes for medical school is the wrong way to go about your undergraduate career. How Its more than high GPA, good MCAT, and you're classic EC's (research, clinical, community, etc). Standing out to adcoms is becoming harder and harder with so many applicants with great EC's.

What are some ways to stand out and make an impression? What are your plans and what have you done?
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12-Ascent-bigstock-Stepping-Out-Of-Line-4011406_1.jpg


Joking aside, be yourself. Passionate about something outside of medicine? Pursue it. Like riding horses? Ride 'em horses. Become good at it. Become great at it. Let your passion shine through. Having a passion in medicine is great. If you want to succeed, you're going to need one. But having passions outside of medicine? That's where the applicants who stand out excel. Don't just be the "caucasian male with 4.0 gpa and 40 mcat". Be memorable. Be "that snorkeling kid" or "that one who figure skates" or "that odd one with a passion for many cats…"
 
sbEMT33 said:
So everyone has heard about how checking all the boxes for medical school is the wrong way to go about your undergraduate career. How Its more than high GPA, good MCAT, and you're classic EC's (research, clinical, community, etc). Standing out to adcoms is becoming harder and harder with so many applicants with great EC's.

What are some ways to stand out and make an impression? What are your plans and what have you done?
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nothing, im not living my life to impress other people
 
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Boolean said:
12-Ascent-bigstock-Stepping-Out-Of-Line-4011406_1.jpg


Joking aside, be yourself. Passionate about something outside of medicine? Pursue it. Like riding horses? Ride 'em horses. Become good at it. Become great at it. Let your passion shine through. Having a passion in medicine is great. If you want to succeed, you're going to need one. But having passions outside of medicine? That's where the applicants who stand out excel. Don't just be the "caucasian male with 4.0 gpa and 40 mcat". Be memorable. Be "that snorkeling kid" or "that one who figure skates" or "that odd one with a passion for many cats…"
Click to expand...

SWEET! I love cats! All kidding aside though, I know that being an EMT is a fairly cookie-cutter activity, but I think that my experiences working as an EMT have shown me that I would like to go further and pursue medicine as a career.
I am also a pharmacy technician, but that is about as boring as watching grass grow to be honest with you... 😴
I think that the only way I will stand out is in my interviews, I thrive in those kind of environments.
 
so maybe I didn't phrase my question right. Not so much what do you do to make an impression, but what makes YOU unique. What is it that you do that you hope makes you stand out. This isn't a thread to give me ideas.

Myself:
I volunteer as well as work as an EMT where I hold multiple roles as well as leadership, and plan to soon take an AEMT course. I also participate in orthopedics research which I have 1 paper in the works as the 2nd author.
I hope that medical schools see my dedication and love for EMS as well as research.
 
I get the impression that it's not so much what you do, but rather how you tell your story. Sure, for the real smart and accomplished people out there they can just brute force their way with amazing credentials and the CV speaks for itself. For the rest of us it's important to knit together a coherent, attractive narrative about who you are, even if you haven't actually done anything unique. I feel like pretty much everything we do is also done by a ton of other people, so it's important to demonstrate that not only did you do these things, but you reacted to and learned from them in a unique way that showcases you as an interesting individual.
 
ponyo said:
I get the impression that it's not so much what you do, but rather how you tell your story. Sure, for the real smart and accomplished people out there they can just brute force their way with amazing credentials and the CV speaks for itself. For the rest of us it's important to knit together a coherent, attractive narrative about who you are, even if you haven't actually done anything unique. I feel like pretty much everything we do is also done by a ton of other people, so it's important to demonstrate that not only did you do these things, but you reacted to and learned from them in a unique way that showcases you as an interesting individual.
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I feel like I don't know what things to do in this regard though
 
I think what matters with regards to standing out is passion. Do something that really interests you that you can put on your work and activities that maybe isn't your typical volunteer/shadowing/etc. If you're checking a bunch of boxes just for the sake of being able to compete with everyone else, adcoms can definitely see through this. Yes everything has been done before, but if you can be truly passionate about something and tie it into your future goals or who you are it will definitely help.
 
I am a double major with Bio/Spanish and have done translating work at a hospital, as well as have worked at a Mexican restaurant. This is something I truly love and was able to talk about during interviews. I've found languages can really help an app, because it is becoming a huge issue in hospitals. I live in rural Illinois, and my dad (an OB/GYN) has non-english speaking patients whose first languages are Spanish, French, or Arabic among others.
 
I'm a competitive chess player (USCF Elo is about 1850 at time of writing post) and I taught chess to children as a way to improve their problem solving skills in problem neighborhoods.

Teaching chess showed me how rewarding teaching is and I mentor now in high school classes because of that. Ideally I would want to work as an educator and clinician.

As far as chess goes, my goal there is to hit National Master (2200+) before I graduate but idk how realistic that is, haha. But im trying.
 
TexasSurgeon said:
I feel like I don't know what things to do in this regard though
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It's like writing a novella character, where the audience doesn't really have the time to figure out for themselves what kind of person you are. They only get a flat picture, so you have to distill the 3-D you into this cool narrative where you maximize the amount of things that are relevant, because people are only going to remember the facts that are actually knitted into the story. So if you have a standalone fact that's not related to anything else, like "I also volunteered at this autism school" but nothing comes out of it, then nobody will notice it. But if it's like "I volunteered at this autism school which ties back to my underlying preoccupation with cognition, the root of which began at this lecture I attended in 2007, and that is why I am interested in neurology and went on to do research projects x y and z", then it all ties together and becomes memorable.

But obviously if you are impressive or intensely passionate in a self-explanatory way, no bells and whistles are needed. There are just very few of those people and they are probably too cool to be spending their time chatting about impressive other people like we are doing 😛
 
If you do a cookie-cutter ec well, then that would stand out. I agree that having passion for your ecs help. If you like what you're doing, then you are more likely to pursue it and go above and beyond others.

Research:

Cookie cutter: helping people run experiments + non-1st author pub

Non cookie-cutter: coming up with your own project ideas + pulling in large grants+ 1st author paper + winning national research awards

Clinical:

Cookie cutter: volunteering at hospital, EMT, ER, shadowing

Non-cookie-cutter: raising thousands of dollars to send medical supplies to 3rd world countries, founding a free clinic, etc.

You get the point. Combine 1 or 2 of the above with a 37+ MCAT and 3.9 + GPA and you're golden for top 5.
 
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I am highly inspired by this thread. I bless this thread.
 
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This concept is very frustrating for me. How are people in their late teens or early 20s supposed to be able to a) get amazing grades; b) get an amazing MCAT score; c) get clinical experience; d) do non-clinical volunteering; e) do research at a meaningful level; f) be a leader; g) be super unique at a deep, committed level; and h) still be personable and friendly and outgoing and have a social life?? It's expecting too much. Plus, if you have a very strong, deep passion for something (I'll use the horseback riding example from earlier), isn't medicine not the best field for you to be able to foster both passions? It's not like you can be a competing equestrian who spends hours with your horses every week while in a general surgery residency. So aren't very intense, can't-live-without-it passions actually a detriment when pursuing medicine, as having to give up that hobby might make you a miserable student/resident/physician?

The logic just escapes me, I guess. It is also very discouraging. I know that there has to be some method to discern the thousands of applicants who all seem exactly the same... But an undergrad pulling in large grants and publishing multiple papers? Or founding their own clinic? That seems way too crazy. I really hope that those kinds of activities aren't becoming the norm.
 
sunflower18 said:
This concept is very frustrating for me. How are people in their late teens or early 20s supposed to be able to a) get amazing grades; b) get an amazing MCAT score; c) get clinical experience; d) do non-clinical volunteering; e) do research at a meaningful level; f) be a leader; g) be super unique at a deep, committed level; and h) still be personable and friendly and outgoing and have a social life?? It's expecting too much. Plus, if you have a very strong, deep passion for something (I'll use the horseback riding example from earlier), isn't medicine not the best field for you to be able to foster both passions? It's not like you can be a competing equestrian who spends hours with your horses every week while in a general surgery residency. So aren't very intense, can't-live-without-it passions actually a detriment when pursuing medicine, as having to give up that hobby might make you a miserable student/resident/physician?

The logic just escapes me, I guess. It is also very discouraging. I know that there has to be some method to discern the thousands of applicants who all seem exactly the same... But an undergrad pulling in large grants and publishing multiple papers? Or founding their own clinic? That seems way too crazy. I really hope that those kinds of activities aren't becoming the norm.
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Seriously who gives a **** if you ride horses?
 
sunflower18 said:
This concept is very frustrating for me. How are people in their late teens or early 20s supposed to be able to a) get amazing grades; b) get an amazing MCAT score; c) get clinical experience; d) do non-clinical volunteering; e) do research at a meaningful level; f) be a leader; g) be super unique at a deep, committed level; and h) still be personable and friendly and outgoing and have a social life?? It's expecting too much. Plus, if you have a very strong, deep passion for something (I'll use the horseback riding example from earlier), isn't medicine not the best field for you to be able to foster both passions? It's not like you can be a competing equestrian who spends hours with your horses every week while in a general surgery residency. So aren't very intense, can't-live-without-it passions actually a detriment when pursuing medicine, as having to give up that hobby might make you a miserable student/resident/physician?

The logic just escapes me, I guess. It is also very discouraging. I know that there has to be some method to discern the thousands of applicants who all seem exactly the same... But an undergrad pulling in large grants and publishing multiple papers? Or founding their own clinic? That seems way too crazy. I really hope that those kinds of activities aren't becoming the norm.
Click to expand...

I really doubt that's the case for majority of schools. All those stuff you mentioned applies for people aiming for Top 20 schools. The problem with SDN is that they take the "requirements" for Top 20 and extrapolate them to all MD schools and even DO schools. I really really doubt that's the case. The crucial ECs to be done are of course clinical and nonclinical experience (volunteering, shadowing, etc.) along with some supplementary ECs like tutoring, research etc. The idea of uniqueness isn't so much important for most medical schools compared to how you present yourself. Here, applying early with good essays and good interviewing skills helps.

Point is, applying conventionally does help and it does secure you a seat in a US MD school. If you're aiming for the prestigious schools, then yes, more work needs to be done, and even then, there are some people who are lucky to get into top schools applying conventionally. There is nothing wrong in being a cookie-cutter. Just don't screw up.

Take a look at the WAMC threads or even the school-specific threads of non-Top 20 schools. People get in with cookie-cutter activities and there is nothing wrong with being a conventional applicant.
 
I don't think there's any real way to "stand out" anymore. They've seen it all. Be the best applicant you can be by pursing what you're interested in and what you think will help your app the most.
 
If you want to stand out on your application, list NYPD SORTIE (special operations rescue tactical interdiction expeditions) - you'll be involved with things like SCUBA surveillance for bombs along the banks of the harbor, you'll be involved in aeronautical tactical rescue, etc. But that's only if you really want to stand out.
 
sbEMT33 said:
so maybe I didn't phrase my question right. Not so much what do you do to make an impression, but what makes YOU unique. What is it that you do that you hope makes you stand out. This isn't a thread to give me ideas.

Myself:
I volunteer as well as work as an EMT where I hold multiple roles as well as leadership, and plan to soon take an AEMT course. I also participate in orthopedics research which I have 1 paper in the works as the 2nd author.
I hope that medical schools see my dedication and love for EMS as well as research.
Click to expand...


I did EMT as ell along with leadership positions in my corps too. I'm sure plenty of others have as well it wont make you stand to as much as you'd like to believe. TBH unless you discover the cure for cancer you wont stand out. The only ay you'd stand out is if your gpa was 1.7 and MCAT was 19 then you'd standout for sure.
 
sunflower18 said:
This concept is very frustrating for me. How are people in their late teens or early 20s supposed to be able to a) get amazing grades; b) get an amazing MCAT score; c) get clinical experience; d) do non-clinical volunteering; e) do research at a meaningful level; f) be a leader; g) be super unique at a deep, committed level; and h) still be personable and friendly and outgoing and have a social life?? It's expecting too much. Plus, if you have a very strong, deep passion for something (I'll use the horseback riding example from earlier), isn't medicine not the best field for you to be able to foster both passions? It's not like you can be a competing equestrian who spends hours with your horses every week while in a general surgery residency. So aren't very intense, can't-live-without-it passions actually a detriment when pursuing medicine, as having to give up that hobby might make you a miserable student/resident/physician?

The logic just escapes me, I guess. It is also very discouraging. I know that there has to be some method to discern the thousands of applicants who all seem exactly the same... But an undergrad pulling in large grants and publishing multiple papers? Or founding their own clinic? That seems way too crazy. I really hope that those kinds of activities aren't becoming the norm.
Click to expand...

great post there's only so much we can do, not to mention we aren't even in medicine yet, so it's hard to say exactly why we will make great doctors when we dont have the exposure required to say that, which med schools provide us (e.g. clinical rotations). If we could just focus on one area of the application and do that particularly well that'd be way more reasonable. preserving a good gpa, on top of taking the mcat ("med schools want to see you take the mcat on top of a full course load" ~ my counselor, who needless to say I didn't listen to), research, volunteering, and everything else is the definition of no quality of life and even if you dedicate for focus entirely to that stuff you always have to hear about how some premed is doing way more than you so youre not doing enough. stuff's unreasonable.
 
Well, we expect you to walk and chew gum at the same time, and somehow, all of my students have managed to do it. Careful time mgt is a necessity in medical school and so mixing you life with your UG studies plus all the ECs is doable. granted, writing a grant and research papers is hard enough for PIs and post-docs, much less UG students. Don't worry about that so much as learning how science is done in a lab.


sunflower18 said:
This concept is very frustrating for me. How are people in their late teens or early 20s supposed to be able to a) get amazing grades; b) get an amazing MCAT score; c) get clinical experience; d) do non-clinical volunteering; e) do research at a meaningful level; f) be a leader; g) be super unique at a deep, committed level; and h) still be personable and friendly and outgoing and have a social life?? It's expecting too much. Plus, if you have a very strong, deep passion for something (I'll use the horseback riding example from earlier), isn't medicine not the best field for you to be able to foster both passions? It's not like you can be a competing equestrian who spends hours with your horses every week while in a general surgery residency. So aren't very intense, can't-live-without-it passions actually a detriment when pursuing medicine, as having to give up that hobby might make you a miserable student/resident/physician?

The logic just escapes me, I guess. It is also very discouraging. I know that there has to be some method to discern the thousands of applicants who all seem exactly the same... But an undergrad pulling in large grants and publishing multiple papers? Or founding their own clinic? That seems way too crazy. I really hope that those kinds of activities aren't becoming the norm.
Click to expand...
 
Thoroughbred_Med said:
Yeah I know :b #firstworldprobz
But I feel it's important and unique though... I mean, being obese is a risk factor for a plethora of chronic diseases.
Click to expand...

and eating kale is a prognostic factor for a host of things too. like priuses.
 
Would say I'm fairly cookie cutter, but so far I've done
  • Bioinformatics research, soon to move to medical sociology research (drug abuse, which is what I'm focusing my senior research project on)
  • Additionally, doing some archeology research for fun (the professor needed help and the paper isn't too terribly difficult, just a LOT of grunt work)
  • Founded a non-profit
  • Mentor underserved youth 2x a week
  • Shadowing
  • Volunteer at hospital
  • Eagle Scout
  • Started fencing, now play badminton as well (hoping to compete this fall)
  • Reasonable GPA and projected MCAT
  • Working on a site currently that will allow individuals to speak about their experiences in college (video of student advice, ability to reach out to that student)
  • Working on an app to help volunteers find places to volunteer at around them
As I said, cookie cutter, but at least it's something? Hoping I can at least be competitive for some OOS schools.
 
Goro said:
Well, we expect you to walk and chew gum at the same time, and somehow, all of my students have managed to do it. Careful time mgt is a necessity in medical school and so mixing you life with your UG studies plus all the ECs is doable. granted, writing a grant and research papers is hard enough for PIs and post-docs, much less UG students. Don't worry about that so much as learning how science is done in a lab.
Click to expand...
Question: My undergraduate institution has no lab for Gen Chem I, and will soon be phasing out labs for Gen Bio I. What does one do in this situation?
 
Boolean said:
Would say I'm fairly cookie cutter, but so far I've done
  • Bioinformatics research, soon to move to medical sociology research (drug abuse, which is what I'm focusing my senior research project on)
  • Additionally, doing some archeology research for fun (the professor needed help and the paper isn't too terribly difficult, just a LOT of grunt work)
  • Founded a non-profit
  • Mentor underserved youth 2x a week
  • Shadowing
  • Volunteer at hospital
  • Eagle Scout
  • Started fencing, now play badminton as well (hoping to compete this fall)
  • Reasonable GPA and projected MCAT
  • Working on a site currently that will allow individuals to speak about their experiences in college (video of student advice, ability to reach out to that student)
  • Working on an app to help volunteers find places to volunteer at around them
As I said, cookie cutter, but at least it's something? Hoping I can at least be competitive for some OOS schools.
Click to expand...

7tamk.jpg
 
bakedbeans18 said:
7tamk.jpg
Click to expand...
Not quite, haha. I basically got tired of telling my friends "Hey, there's this volunteering thing available on this day near you", so I just whipped up a quick geolocation app with a nice database of volunteer events. It's very simple, but I hope to expand on it in my free time.

edit: actually thinking about it objectively now you're basically spot on.
 
chillaxbro said:
Seriously who gives a **** if you ride horses?
Click to expand...

Hey! I love horses!



sunflower18 said:
This concept is very frustrating for me. How are people in their late teens or early 20s supposed to be able to a) get amazing grades; b) get an amazing MCAT score; c) get clinical experience; d) do non-clinical volunteering; e) do research at a meaningful level; f) be a leader; g) be super unique at a deep, committed level; and h) still be personable and friendly and outgoing and have a social life?? It's expecting too much. Plus, if you have a very strong, deep passion for something (I'll use the horseback riding example from earlier), isn't medicine not the best field for you to be able to foster both passions? It's not like you can be a competing equestrian who spends hours with your horses every week while in a general surgery residency. So aren't very intense, can't-live-without-it passions actually a detriment when pursuing medicine, as having to give up that hobby might make you a miserable student/resident/physician?

The logic just escapes me, I guess. It is also very discouraging. I know that there has to be some method to discern the thousands of applicants who all seem exactly the same... But an undergrad pulling in large grants and publishing multiple papers? Or founding their own clinic? That seems way too crazy. I really hope that those kinds of activities aren't becoming the norm.
Click to expand...

GREAT post. Seriously, the EC arms race has gotten to the point where nothing is certain anymore. 3.5/35, speak 4 languages, and have worked as an EMT for 3 years? Well where's the leadership? Where's the research? I could go on. (and on and on)

And what about those who either fake or fabricate their ECs? Doing 200 hours in a soup kitchen looks the same whether you broke your back doing the dishes or spent 199 of those hours texting your boyfriend about how much you hate homeless people. Doing 200 hours of research looks the same whether you were the summer coffee fetcher and glass cleaner, or were involved with mouse injections, blood draws, and western blots. Starting a charity which raises $10,000 for cancer research would be amazing.... assuming you actually put in the time and effort to raise those funds, instead of ask your millionaire uncle for a tax-deductible donation.

This whole obsession with being/looking for the perfect applicant has gotten absurd. Schools should value those who are honest to themselves and do what they enjoy rather than look for boxes to check.
 
sbEMT33 said:
So everyone has heard about how checking all the boxes for medical school is the wrong way to go about your undergraduate career. How Its more than high GPA, good MCAT, and you're classic EC's (research, clinical, community, etc). Standing out to adcoms is becoming harder and harder with so many applicants with great EC's.

What are some ways to stand out and make an impression? What are your plans and what have you done?
Click to expand...

You stand out by doing this.

1337208599356.jpg
 
The problem is, things like "starting a non-profit" used to help applicants stand out. However, now everybody and their mother thinks they're a "social entrepreneur."

As such, I think backing up activities with signals that point to their legitimacy is how somebody can best make him or herself a "non-cookie-cutter" applicant. Aka is the nonprofit 501c3 and can you get letters of rec from others in your cause sector or is it a glorified club that only you and maybe your advisor knows exists? Have you won Truman, Marshall, Rhodes, Goldwater, etc for your work, or are you essentially the only one that thinks you're having an impact?

Threads a few weeks/months ago complained about the proliferation of people exaggerating their activities, but without something like the aforementioned signals I think adcoms know the difference between people doing average things and those really breaking the mold (and breaking it because they have passion, not just because they want to go to med school), and they probably evaluate your app as such (which may be enough for some people - as others have pointed out, lots of "cookie-cutter" applicants get into great schools).
 
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Goro said:
Take that class at a different school. It's perfectly OK
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Alright. We have this weird "discussion" lab type deal with Chem, I'll have to see which schools will count it.
 
bakedbeans18 said:
Has Jiu Jitsu been thriving under your tutelage, or do you feel that they have let you down as a pupil?
Click to expand...
ahhh i see what you did thar!!!! But seriously though....I am skilled in the arts of Brazillian Jiujitsu. On my app, im gonna play up my organizational leadership skills
 
seeinghowitgoes said:
Threads a few weeks/months ago complained about the proliferation of people exaggerating their activities, but without something like the aforementioned signals I think adcoms know the difference between people doing average things and those really breaking the mold (and breaking it because they have passion, not just because they want to go to med school), and they probably evaluate your app as such (which may be enough for some people - as others have pointed out, lots of "cookie-cutter" applicants get into great schools).
Click to expand...

I started one of those threads. It was about an acquaintance who went on a number of international trips which were hardly mission-based, then expressing her love for mission-based medicine in her PS and interviews. She was accepted to at least 3 schools. She told me directly that lying was the best way to get into med school because 'its what they want to hear'.

So... yeah.

I summarized my thoughts thus:

Being an altruistic person and showing altruism are about as similar as paying cash for a ferrari and renting one for the day of your highschool reunion.
 
Spinach Dip said:
I started one of those threads. It was about an acquaintance who went on a number of international trips which were hardly mission-based, then expressing her love for mission-based medicine in her PS and interviews. She was accepted to at least 3 schools. She told me directly that lying was the best way to get into med school because 'its what they want to hear'.

So... yeah.

I summarized my thoughts thus:

Being an altruistic person and showing altruism are about as similar as paying cash for a ferrari and renting one for the day of your highschool reunion.
Click to expand...

Good point.
It seems like a lot of premeds do "altruistic" activities for the wrong reasons (beefing up application). At the same time, a person could be very altruistic, but the things they do for other people can't be bragged about on an application. Ironic.
 
One thing I've also noticed is that it seems like everyone always has to tie their hobby into some type of super altruistic motive. Is it not possible to just like to do something without having to turn it into something that relates to an underprivileged child in a third world country? If you like to snorkel, just snorkel! It's so unnecessary to act like you enjoy snorkeling so now you want to become a pulmonologistand help underprivileged kids with lung problems so they can snorkel too... or something haha
 
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Just be you. I majored in something odd and did ECs I found interesting, not ones that I thought "looked good"
 
andreamx said:
One thing I've also noticed is that it seems like everyone always has to tie their hobby into some type of super altruistic motive. Is it not possible to just like to do something without having to turn it into something that relates to an underprivileged child in a third world country? If you like to snorkel, just snorkel! It's so unnecessary to act like you enjoy snorkeling so now you want to become a pulmonologistand help underprivileged kids with lung problems so they can snorkel too... or something haha
Click to expand...
I think it's totally great to have hobbies not related to your professional/academic life, but they are just that... not related. I still put those hobbies on my list of interests and discussed them when asked, but I don't think it's a way to stand out. It's just part of the big piece of life that's not work-related. TBH I actually don't like how the interviewers are always trying to dig through my personal life, but as an applicant I don't get to call the shots. It's almost as though they force you to reveal every part of your life and then act surprised when gunner desperate pre-meds scramble to optimize those parts for the app process.
 
touchpause13 said:
Just be you. I majored in something odd and did ECs I found interesting, not ones that I thought "looked good"
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I've heard that minors don't appear anywhere on applications. But I was wondering... Will they see them on a transcript? I am doing my minors because I enjoy the classes, not to impress anyone, but I feel as though I have some diverse minors that would make me look unique if they could see them. If they can't work to my advantage, that's okay. I just wanted to explore a lot of different subjects while I can, which is why I have several minors instead of committing to one second major.
 
Do something interesting/different from everyone else and do it well. Do the same things as everyone else but do them better.
 
sbEMT33 said:
so maybe I didn't phrase my question right. Not so much what do you do to make an impression, but what makes YOU unique. What is it that you do that you hope makes you stand out. This isn't a thread to give me ideas.

Myself:
I volunteer as well as work as an EMT where I hold multiple roles as well as leadership, and plan to soon take an AEMT course. I also participate in orthopedics research which I have 1 paper in the works as the 2nd author.
I hope that medical schools see my dedication and love for EMS as well as research.
Click to expand...
I am also an EMT and held several leadership roles in a high-functioning collegiate squad as well as my home volunteer squad. Out of my 6 interviews, only one interviewer asked anything at all about my involvement in EMS. It's a fabulous opportunity for growth, leadership, and hands-on experience but don't kid yourself that it's going to make you stand out. Sorry.

That being said: do what you love, figure out how to write powerfully about it, and you'll be fine.
 
If you want to stand out, get a DUI conviction. You're application won't go unnoticed.
 
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