A few questions from a prospective pre-med student

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p>1) I understand that it is important for a pre-med student to show compassion and empathy. Thus, s/he must do research, primary care, teaching position, etc. Can you do non-academic activities? I want to continue my passions in photography and skiing in college. Will these be okay? Can you do community service and ECs during the school year and then do research/clinical experience in the summer?</p>

<p>2) How many hours of ECs a week does an average pre-med student have?</p>

<p>3) Do medical schools weigh on the prestige of the college? Does B+ at Yale look better than an A at Boston University?</p>

<p>4) How do the medical schools view a psychology major? </p>

<p>5) Is it a bad idea to major in something and then minor in another subject? Will it be too stressful and overwhelming for a college student?</p>

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<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I have no idea about question (2) and the skiing part of question (1), so I'll leave those for someone else to answer.</p>

<p>1.) Yes, other activities are encouraged, especially if they help you stand out. I've continued photography projects throughout. They're less crucial, perhaps, but certainly to be encouraged and you should, if you manage your priorities, have time for photo (esp. if you're digital). Skiing may involve travel, and that might start hurting your GPA - I have no idea what skiing involves and so I won't run the risk of saying something wrong.</p>

<p>3.) Medical schools do, in fact, consider which undergrad institution you went to, with two caveats. The first is that it doesn't seem like they're exactly using prestige. Some schools have better track records than others, even when they seem to have relatively similar "prestige" (say, according to US News). Grade inflation compensation also does not explain these results; in fact, the results seem to run opposite to grade inflation.</p>

<p>Second, it's unclear how much that advantage matters. A B+ to an A is a 3.3 to a 4.0, and it's certainly not that big a gap. The gap is probably, at most, something like .25 GPA points, and that would be between a very unfavored college and a very favored one. (Notice that I am avoiding language about "good" and "bad", or "prestige".)</p>

<p>4.) The major you choose is much less important than why you chose it. See <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=149283%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=149283&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>5.) A minor will not help you in the process, but it might not be that hard to acquire, either. It depends on how hard it will be, and that varies from school to school.</p>

<p>No medical school will ask what your minors are; there will be no essays or interview questions on it. They'll never know unless you go WAY out of your way to explain it to them. Only a very good reason for minoring in a subject would justify that - and if you have that, knock yourself out. Personally, premed at my school gives me minors in both biology and chemistry almost automatically, so I figured I might as well declare them and have them written on my diploma.</p>