<p>I am a freshmen and I have already joined BUGS (biology undergrad society), Tri-Beta (Honor society), hall council, intramural sports(tennis and basketball), hospital volunteering 1 day/week for 2 hours, and research with a professor. </p>
<p>I find BUGS, Tri-Beta to be pointless because they just talk about stupid about getting into med school that I already know. Half the time they waste by making up stupid stuff. However, I joined to be involved. Hall council, I ran for the position Secretary, gave my speech and got the position. However, it seems like I'm going to have to devote a lot of time to that so I think I'm going to drop that. Also, I'm kind of reserved and you have to be very outgoing so it's not my fit. </p>
<p>So, my question is this...Aside from a solid GPA and MCAT, if I have hospital volunteering/shadowing, research for 3 years with maybe a publication, and intramural sports, will that be enough? I mean there are 15 slots on the AMCAS to list your activities, so if I only have 4 activities that will look really bad as opposed to someone who was involved in 10 clubs and had whatever I had.</p>
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it seems like I'm going to have to devote a lot of time to that so I think I'm going to drop that.
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<p>An EC you have to spend time on, what a novel concept.</p>
<p>If you only have 4 EC's, they better be good ones. 10 clubs aren't going to look better than what you have. But, most premeds don't waste 10 EC slots on clubs. Generally useless EC's: honor societies, clubs, 3-hour isolated volunteering events. Uninteresting EC's that you must have: research, hospital volunteering, shadowing (it's unlikely you'll be asked about any of these at a med school interview). Mid-level, moderately interesting EC's: interesting jobs, fraternity/sorority, sports (intramural, club), EMT, being a RA, mentor to disadvantaged high school student, study abroad, international volunteer work, etc. Top quality EC's: Rhodes/Fullbright/Marshall Scholar, D1 sports, founder of a national organization, started your own (successful) business, holder of a PhD degree, etc. </p>
<p>I suggest you waste no more than 1-2 slots on the useless EC's. You'll probably blow 4-5 slots on the clincal and research EC's. That leaves around 5-8 slots for the interesting/unique EC's. Those are the EC's that get asked about at interviews and those are the EC's that will secure you a spot in med school.</p>
<p>LOL cross-posting on SDN..</p>
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Top quality EC's: Rhodes/Fullbright/Marshall Scholar, D1 sports, founder of a national organization, started your own (successful) business, holder of a PhD degree, etc.
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How is having a PhD an EC? Also, how many years (approx.) of participation would be good? Would adcoms not appreciate it if you were involved in 4 great EC's but you're involved in them for only 1 year prior to applying?</p>
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You'll probably blow 4-5 slots on the clincal and research EC's
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4-5 slots? Isn't that too many for clinical and research EC's?
-hospital volunteering.
-shadowing.
-research. (any pub or presentation as well). </p>
<p>The maximum for this category is only 3, isn't it?</p>
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moderately interesting EC's: interesting jobs,
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Would a cashier at a fastfood restaurant be an "interesting" job? What other jobs would you consider as being interesting?</p>
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Top quality EC's: D1 sports,
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D1 sports is only for kids up to 18 years old. Putting that EC on a college app will be like basically putting a high school EC.</p>
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fraternity/sorority,
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<p>I lol'd. Hard.</p>
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I lol'd. Hard.
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What's wrong with that.</p>
<p>pretty sure being in a honor society beats being in a frat/sor, which isn't looked at very positively.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>do you really need me to explain this?</p>
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Would adcoms not appreciate it if you were involved in 4 great EC's but you're involved in them for only 1 year prior to applying?
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</p>
<p>What are these "great" 1-year EC's?</p>
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4-5 slots? Isn't that too many for clinical and research EC's?
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<p>Some people use separate slots for each hospital they volunteered at, for each conference they presented their research at, etc. </p>
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D1 sports is only for kids up to 18 years old. Putting that EC on a college app will be like basically putting a high school EC.
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</p>
<p>What are you talking about???</p>
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pretty sure being in a honor society beats being in a frat/sor, which isn't looked at very positively.
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<p>No. Honor societies are meaningless. They're a reflection of your grades which the adcom can already see from your transcript.</p>
<p>Obviously, trying to explain poor grades using your involvement in fraternities is a poor idea. However, if you can demonstrate the ability to get good grades while being Greek, it only enhances your application as it shows both social skills AND academic skills, the 1-2 punch for med school app. Adcoms don't want science dorks. They want human beings who have outside interests and friends. From talking with other applicants, I find adcoms to be pretty receptive to frat/sorority involvements.</p>
<p>I don't think you should plan your ECs around your medical application.</p>
<p>Obviously, do something that gives you some exposure to a clinical setting and research. But aside from that, find something you really like doing, and make it a significant commitment. Personally, it would make for a very boring application if you just joined the "typical premed stuff." </p>
<p>Preprofessional organizations should be for your personal support...if you're not an officer I don't see much of a point. </p>
<p>I really believe that finding ECs you absolutely love is much more important than participating the ECs you think admission committees want to see.</p>
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What are these "great" 1-year EC's?
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The types you mentioned in your mid-level and top quality EC's. Obtaining even one of those top quality EC's seems hard, so I might aim at having 3 mid-level EC's and 1 top quality. Would this be good enough?</p>
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However, if you can demonstrate the ability to get good grades while being Greek, it only enhances your application as it shows both social skills AND academic skills
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</p>
<p>This is so stupid I don't even know where to begin.</p>
<p>Piccolo...</p>
<p>As an extremely proud Greek Alumnus, I absolutely must disagree with your assessment of Greek life. In fact, if I was not in medical school, I would have gone to grad school in order to become a Director of Greek Affairs at some campus...that's how much I believe in the benefits of fraternity and sorority life. There are plenty of campuses, perhaps not yours, where Greeks are the most successful group of students on campus any which way you look at it. </p>
<p>I can attest that I went to one of those schools. My own chapter was even more successful than many. In fact, I wouldn't be in medical school if I hadn't joined my fraternity. My pledge class of 24 guys has two doctors, a dentists, three lawyers, two CPA's, 2 PharmD's, 3 MBA's, 2 architects (with Master's Degrees), and a CRNA to its credit. Other members are teachers, pharmaceutical reps, and engineers. If you expand the scope to look a year ahead and behind me, nearly identical patterns in which more than 50% of each class is getting an advanced degree.</p>
<p>And while we were excelling in the classroom, we were also partying harder than your typical independent. We were certainly more involved on campus.</p>
<p>Is this the case everywhere? Of course not. There are plenty of campuses where the fraternity members are more worried about keeping their bong full then showing up to class, but NCG is absolutely correct that if you can excel while being in a fraternity it's a positive thing.</p>
<p>Bigredmed, may I ask where you went to school? I have never heard such positive things about Greek life (I should maybe say "post-Greek" life). What about your sorority counterparts - have they experienced similar professional and educational success?</p>
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that's how much I believe in the benefits of fraternity and sorority life.
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<p>This is where I quote a good (and funny) friend of mine:</p>
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Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, keep yours to your damn self.
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<p>i have heard that medical schools actually favor fraternity involvement in the admissions process. probably for all of the reasons brm stated, provided that you excel academically.</p>
<p>piccolo, regardless of your opinions of how people involved in the greek society act and behave, the bottom line is that anyone can get into medical school with the necessary and appropriate qualifications. if the frat guy does better in school than you and is a more interesting person than you (not the collective "you," but you specifically, piccolo) - which, unless you are pms'ing this time of month, i am sure is the case - then he will beat you out in the admissions game. enough said, right?</p>
<p>hahaha...this is thread is so funny, frats at my school r pretty cool, not really social though because everyone gets drunk before they start talking and so can't really remember much...but i'm guessing it's different for different schools.<br>
Anyhow, clubs for other colleges, around how much money do u guys get from the school each year?</p>
<p>I'm amazed at how misguided some of you are about Greek life. My fraternity not only strives to become involved in as many activities as possible, but also to obtain leadership positions in all of them. We also demand that our members maintain very high academic achievement. Finally, we party harder and have way more fun than others on the campus.</p>
<p>piccolo, maybe you should grow up a bit before making completely inaccurate judgements.</p>