<p>Oh, I said “the best”, I meant it “the best”, I did not mean “the only”. You got my OK to apply with B-, but no more, please, straight As from now on…unless your mother says otherwise…</p>
<p>It’s not as good as an A but its certainly not an auto reject (pretty sure only felonies and social/academic disciplinary sanctions are the only things that are even remotely close to auto rejects). I assume that’s what you mean by is it ok?</p>
<p>I meant will it hurt my chances</p>
<p>A single B- in a single lab? Don’t be absurd!</p>
<p>It won’t. (Unless there are a whole lot of other B- and C grades to go with.)</p>
<p>Reiterating iwannabebrown’s earlier point and adding a few specific examples for the OP, who isn’t a premed and thus probably doesn’t know a ton about premed ECs:</p>
<p>1) ECs and hobbies are not the same. Med schools aren’t looking for students who have a bunch of wacky talents, bake great cakes, go kayaking on the weekends, or rewire computers. Granted, some hobbies are nice because they show that you have interests outside of medicine. I’d say hobbies are necessary but not sufficient.</p>
<p>2) For premeds, ECs break down into a few categories. Each is important and you should aim to hit as many of these categories as possible if you want to be a successful applicant (ie be accepted). For time’s sake I copy/pasted this from a previous reply:</p>
<p>You need to cultivate a wide range of high quality extra curricular activities. You should shoot for covering a range of the following: </p>
<p>-Research (bench and/or clinical) to demonstrate that you care about learning for the sake of learning, that you are familiar with what it takes to make new discoveries, that you understand how science (which drives medicine) progresses; --and/or-- that you have some knowledge about the process of moving “things” from lab to clinic, which is critically important to advancing this field.
-Shadowing (both a broad range of specialties and a lot of time spent with one doc to really get to know him/her) to demonstrate that you are familiar with the day-to-day life of a physician, that you’ve seen patient care from the provider perspective, that you’ve watched a doctor think through a clinical problem and have reason to believe that you could similarly be a great doctor
-Clinical experience (although you can get a lot of this while shadowing and doing clinical research) to supplement the above activities, and to show that you have some idea of what it might be like to treat patients in the future
-Volunteer work (something you’re passionate about) to show that you genuinely care about the well-being of others, because as a physician you are committing yourself to a life of service to others
-Hobbies (to show that you’re more than just a drone who does school) because, as others have already pointed out, people tend to prefer doctors who are kind and compassionate and can hold a conversation with them. Having hobbies keeps you grounded, and that balance is important in maintaining your sanity.
-Leadership experience because doctors are leaders in their communities, they are expected to understand complicated patterns of human behavior, they are expected to be a voice of reason during crises (eg after natural disasters), they are expected to be involved with professional organizations, they are expected to understand health policy and other complicated legal matters, and they are expected to understand their role on a health care team
-Employment, if possible because it helps demonstrate that you have a strong work ethic and know what it’s like to work hard to make a buck.</p>
<p>Does every doctor do every single one of those things? No, but you can bet your bottom dollar that doctors are expected to do most of those things. As such, people who want to be doctors must prove, through their activities, that they have the potential to be the type of professional med schools are looking to graduate.</p>
<p>In addition to great ECs, I believe the following is true for applicants:</p>
<p>You need to have a high GPA, preferably including a collection of very difficult courses in a discipline that you are interested in. Aim for >3.6.</p>
<p>You need to do great on the MCAT. You will need to study extensively (for at least a few months) and dedicate a nice portion of your academic energy to MCAT and MCAT prep. Aim for >30 (or its equivalent on new 2015 scoring).</p>
<p>You’ll need to form deep and meaningful relationships with professors and mentors who can attest to your character and your dedication to a career in medicine so they can write stellar recommendation letters for you.</p>
<p>Ideally, there will be an underlying theme to the work that you do, which not only resonates with you personally but also sets you up for professional success as a physician. You should be able to communicate this passion and drive–both written and verbally–superbly.</p>
<p>Once you’ve accomplished the majority of the above, then you’ll need to dedicate about another year to actually applying–researching schools, crafting a list, applying, completing secondaries, attending interviews, etc. Another huge investment of your resources.</p>
<p>Take home point: applying to medical school is a huge investment of your resources, which include time, energy, and money. It is a commendable goal, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right path for everyone. While you’re exploring whether medicine is for you (which you should be able to do by completing the above), you should also have a critical eye toward medicine and seriously consider alternative careers (if, for no other reason, than it will give you peace of mind that you chose the right thing).</p>
<p>Woah, very detailed and awesome! Thanks for the info. Helps a lot. </p>
<p>Yeah, I’m not pre-med, but my sis is haha…</p>
<p>I’m going to make sure we chat about this!!! Thanks!</p>
<p>(makes more sense now…that there’s a special kind of pre-med EC rather than just like being able to cook a mean apple pie, lol)</p>
<p>One final question: how does one even get to “shadow” a physician? Is there like an internship or shadowing application that students fill out and compete to get?</p>
<p>Shadowing is not formally organized activity like an internship is.</p>
<p>A pre med hopeful needs to arrange their own shadowing opportunities. Your sister can start looking for a shadowing opportunity by call her PCP (primary care provider) or any family friends or acquaintances who are doctors and ask them if they would allow her to shadow them. Continue asking and networking. Someone will eventually say yes.</p>
<p>One caveat: any activity that occurs before the first day of college doesn’t “count” on the AMCAS application.</p>
<p>You contact the docs and ask them. You also contact all your friends who have MD parent(s) and ask them. After several months of this activity you might get something…or might not,…just have to keep going at it. There are no miracles.</p>
<p>@brownug</p>
<p>Well yes and no. I honestly feel like that scenario is irrelevant because not all doctors become surgeons - only the top doctors do. I would want the book smart guy to be my surgeon. But I wouldn’t mind if the friendlier guy were my general practitioner. I feel like if you managed to get through medical school and residency – even if it was barely, then there is some place for you in the medical field. </p>
<p>Also, my father was a general practitioner for some time and graduated from a russian medical school and got placed into an american residency, so I guess he wasn’t as “qualified”. But he never even came close to a medical malpractice lawsuit in the 10 years he was practicing. The nature of his field just isn’t that risky and with his charisma and him being a nurturing type person, patients flocked to him. He was also a victim of medical malpractice surgery that was supposed to not even be that risky which also happened to be performed by one of the most highly regarded surgeons in the country. IMO just because you went to harvard medical school and graduated top of your class does not mean you will never have a malpractice lawsuit.</p>