I just entered my junior year, and I want to pick up more extracurriculars that convey my interest in pre-med in my college applications. Suggestions?
Pre-med is an intention, not a major in college.
You really don’t need to do anything special in high school to indicate to a college you want to be a pre-med. The intention to be a pre-med (or not) isn’t going to have any influence on your chances of college admission. (Partly because there are sooooo many college freshmen pre-meds. At some colleges, as much as 1/3 of the freshmen class identify themselves as pre-meds.)
Med schools don’t look at high school ECs when considering applicants for admission. Med school admission is all about “what have you done lately?”
The only circumstance where pre-med type ECs matter is if you plan to apply for a BA/MD program.
You’re not too young to be sure the medical path is for you. Spend time shadowing doctors or see if you’re old enough to volunteer in some way for Hospice, etc. The high school I work at requires all juniors to spend a day shadowing someone in a field they think they would like. It’s a terrific requirement. Some kids come back sure they’re on the right path, but others come back knowing they’d better take another look at other options.
I would definitely volunteer at a hospital or the like to see if you like the field of medicine.
@WayOutWestMom Thank you for your response! I could have explained what I meant better. On my application, I will likely put my major as biology or biochemistry. I have been interested in medicine for a very long time and intend to go into that field.
I would like to add aspects to my application that will differentiate me from that large proportion of people who identify as pre-med but don’t have EC’s to back it up (so I want to develop a Spike, in other terms).
@Creekland @bopper Thank you for responding! I am very sure I want to follow the medical path. I work during the summer at a clinic, and I am going to sign up for volunteering at a hospital.
If anyone has suggestions for someone who wants to go into medicine, I would appreciate your response.
You need to be able to answer the question “why a career in medicine.” Your experiences will help you develop that. Try to find summer research opportunities, volunteer or shadow doctors to confirm your interest. Many students start out with premed intentions but very few make it to senior year due to poor grades or loss of interest. College is expensive so you want to make sure you take the right classes to graduate with a degree in four years. If you for some reason don’t apply to med school you need to think of a 2nd career you would be interested in pursuing.
@raclut Thanks for the advice. I am very sure I want to follow the medical path. I was really just asking if you know of any extracurriculars/competitions I can join/compete in as someone who likes biology.
Pre-meds can major in any field. You don’t need to be a bio or biochem degree to apply to med school. (Neither of my kidlets–now both doctors–majored in bio or biochem. Their med school classmates had majors ranging from agriculture to music performance to women’s studies and just about everything in-between.)
When you apply to college, you aren’t asked to choose a major as part of the application process. When you’re admitted to college, you not admitted to a particular major. (The exception is engineering.) You won’t officially declare a major until sometime in the middle of your sophomore year.
And as I said earlier-- pre-med is not a major–it’s an intention.
College admissions officers won’t ever ask if you if you intend to pursue pre-med.
If you think you may want to pursue pre-med, I suggest that you do some job shadowing: physicians, of course, but other types of healthcare providers as well. You should also explore what other careers you could pursue with a biology or biochem degree (if that’s what you plan to study) and try to shadow in those fields too. Why? 75% of freshmen pre-meds never actually end up applying to medical school. Of those who persist and do apply to med school, 60% fail to get a single med school acceptance. Every potential pre-meds needs to start college with a back-up career in mind.
Summer activities you can do–
–community service with the disadvantaged (medicine is a service profession and potential physicians need to demonstrate the qualities of altruism, compassion and service to the less fortunate)
–hospital volunteering (if your local hospital allows under-18 volunteers) or volunteering at sites like nursing homes, daycare centers for the elderly or mentally disabled, summer camps for mentally or physically disabled children, or similar programs
–bio/biochem/chem/neuroscience research programs for high school students
Look into your local colleges for summer research opportunities. Contact all the hospitals in your area. Get involved in community service.
The Common App does ask what career interest(s) and may still ask about academic interests. Any supplement can ask what possible major(s.) Some answers to your question depend on how competitive your college targets are. Some colleges care less.
OP has been working at a clinic and thats good, depending on what you do, how closely you work with patients. The comm service WOWM notes is important. But if you’re aiming high, not just any random work with the disadvantaged. There’s a big difference between, say, playing with little children and being involved in healthcare delivery and/or issues. Try to make a commitment and take on (or work up to) responsibilities. I hesitate about nursing homes, etc, unless, again, this relates to healthcare, not just socializing. And shadowing, while important for med school, can be seen as passive, for an undergrad application. It’s not an “it.” (These last things are fine, but not rolling up your sleeves and digging in, testing your interest in medicine, challenging yourself.) You can also consider local advocacy, where you work alongside adults on issues related to community health improvements.
Also make sure to have math-sci ECs in your hs. Not just clubs where kids talk about med goals or sci honor societies.
But in HS, no need to go overboard with the med activities…other than exploring if you in fact are interested in medicine. In college you need to do more to show Med Schools that you have sufficiently explored medicine and your HS activities don’t count.
This is so often about the UG admit first. For med school, right, you need a pattern of strengths. And you can get there from many colleges.
But a lot of hs kids claim to be driven to be docs, then do little to establish that. And we have no idea what colleges OP has in mind.
If you have time and interest, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with participating in any of the activities suggested above, or for that matter, participating in any other activities (eg working PT). But your short term goal is getting into college. (And as a note pretty much any college will offer you the opportunities and resources you need to be a successful premed, whether you take advantage of them will be more on you, less on school attended). Trying to convey your long term interest in medicine will be of little, if any, interest to a college admissions office. As to achieving your short term goal (aka college), continue to do well in school, and focus on building skills that will serve you well no matter what pathway you go down after starting college (eg reading comprehension, critical thinking, time management, social skills, etc). Enjoy your remaining time in hs. Good luck.
Frankly…there are not too many places that will allow a 15 or 16 year old to have an active part in providing healthcare. That’s just an unrealistic expectation. In many hospitals and nursing homes, folks under 18 are not even allowed to volunteer anymore handing out magazines or just socializing.
Shadowing a doctor for one day just isn’t enough to determine whether or not a career in medicine is something you might want to do…or not. Shadowing a variety of health care providers might also be a good idea…physician assistants, nurses, APRN, variety of different kinds of doctors (simply put…there is a huge difference between being a ER doctor and being a family practice doctor and being a surgeon). You say you want to enter the medical field…lots of ways to do this that are not “doctor”.
The OP can major in something that will get him or her into medical school without impressing the undergrad adcoms at all. The OP needs to get accepted to undergrad college, take the requisite courses required to get into medical school. While in college…and over age 18…the OP should consider taking a CNA course or medical assistance course…and look into summer jobs doing one of these things…which would be related to actual patient care.
And shadow a doctor for a committed length of time. We know Med school applicants who shadowed the same doctor for 2 full years one shift a week.
The question you need to answer is “why a career as a physician?” There are a lot of careers in medicine that don’t require an MD.
You do NOT need to answer this question to be admitted to undergrad school planning to apply to medical school after undergrad.
You might need to answer that for medical school…but not for undergrad.
No undergrad adcom cares that you plan to apply to medical school. They aren’t admitting you to medical school!
It’s not that they don’t care about your future interests (it’s a question on the Common App.) It’s that the tougher the college is to get into, the more competition, the more they look for the level of your thinking. The app and supps are a snapshot.
Say you want to study X and have a future in Y and they can look for how you prepared academically and tested this interest, got some relevant experiences. Say you want to major in STEM and they look for STEM ECs (and others, of course.) Indicate a pre-med interest and they can look for relevant activities. Math-sci in the hs and someting outside.
Not “an active part in providing healthcare.” Those roles are very rare (maybe you get to take blood pressure, but deeper roles are unusual.) Rather, experience related to healthcare delivery or the setting, with those activities. Not hanging at the nursing home, socilaizing, or daycare center. Not some hs club that sits around talking medical careers. Again, I’m referring to UG admissions.
OP asked about “extracurriculars that convey my interest in pre-med in my college applications.” That’s a legit question. He/she has worked in a clinic- that’s good. Of course, we have no idea of the level of colleges, how competitive. Or OP’s suitability. But the higher the tier, the more it matters to “show” that you aren’t just dreaming, you identified opportunities/challenges and went for them.
No, this is not about a med school app.
And we also don’t know about the colleges…because there are plenty out there that do NOT admit by major at all. So the undergrad intended major doesn’t matter…one bit.