What are some unique, unusuaul or unconventional extracurriculars that med students can pursue

[943710]

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What are some things outside the normal summer research, volunteering, global health trips, etc. that a medical student can pursue, and how? I've heard of people doing things like consulting, paid preceptorships (not sure if this is unusual), summer internships in industry or pharma, internships working with policy, politics, or at national agencies like NASA, etc. but I've never read anything about how one would actually go about doing these things.

 

[NotaCop]

You could try selling drugs, then list it on your CV as “pharmaceutical rep”

 

[831929]

idk if I would get involved with any kind of pharma company. Might not look good to some. Otherwise, policy stuff via AMA or any of those. I dont think a "unique" extracurricular activity is something you should be seeking just for the purpose of it being unique. Just do what you like. If you want to do stuff with NASA, well might be in the wrong field. For policy, you can also look up your elected official's site. They have opportunities to volunteer with them.

 

[Eyeronic]

What are some things outside the normal summer research, volunteering, global health trips, etc. that a medical student can pursue, and how? I've heard of people doing things like consulting, paid preceptorships (not sure if this is unusual), summer internships in industry or pharma, internships working with policy, politics, or at national agencies like NASA, etc. but I've never read anything about how one would actually go about doing these things.

Do something that will lead to a "deliverable" before MS4 - i.e. authorship on a paper, an abstract/poster presentation at a national meeting, etc. Even better if it comes with some extra income. My regret from my summer research work between MS1 and MS2 was not expanding on my scut monkey role with a willingness to write some of the manuscript, which eventually did happen and understandably did not include my name on the authors list, because I was not aggressive enough.

During my medical school years, I served as "president" of 2 of our clubs. I am certain this had minimal impact internally with AOA determination, etc. and zero impact on the outcome of my residency/fellowship process.

The international experiences can be fun and will make you "interesting" on residency interviews. But doubt they're providing you with a huge leg up in the long run.

Try to avoid political / policy stuff. You will become the darling of those faculty / interviewers who agree with you, but risk turning off many others in the process.

Keep a unique hobby during medical school. Do it regularly, meet other people through it regularly, and keep that as your outlet.

 

[943710]

idk if I would get involved with any kind of pharma company. Might not look good to some. Otherwise, policy stuff via AMA or any of those. I dont think a "unique" extracurricular activity is something you should be seeking just for the purpose of it being unique. Just do what you like. If you want to do stuff with NASA, well might be in the wrong field. For policy, you can also look up your elected official's site. They have opportunities to volunteer with them.

I'm not necessarily interested in pharma or NASA, I've just heard people doing interesting extracurriculars like that but couldn't find anything on how they actually went about it.

 

[SouthernGent]

You could try selling drugs, then list it on your CV as “pharmaceutical rep”

"Entrepreneur"

 

[VincentAdultman]

You could try selling drugs, then list it on your CV as “pharmaceutical rep”

idk if I would get involved with any kind of pharma company. Might not look good to some.

🙄

 

[RangerBob]

idk if I would get involved with any kind of pharma company. Might not look good to some. Otherwise, policy stuff via AMA or any of those. I dont think a "unique" extracurricular activity is something you should be seeking just for the purpose of it being unique. Just do what you like. If you want to do stuff with NASA, well might be in the wrong field. For policy, you can also look up your elected official's site. They have opportunities to volunteer with them.

People probably look more favorably upon prostitutes and contract killers.

In all seriousness (though many may actually look down on pharma work), people tend to find unique jobs by happenstance or through people they know. I remember seeing a job at NASA listed on a community college bulletin board once. I applied-it was pretty cool to visit. Didn’t get the internship though.