Hi, I’m currently a freshmen. And I have a opportunity to join a new frat in my university and become one of the founders (founding father) and potentially become a director or president.
But I’m not sure if I should do it. Would it help me get in to med school? Do med school look down upon frats? Is it worth money (kinda pricey) and time to join a frat for EC? Would it make any difference? Or should I just invest my money and time in something else?
It will not help you get into medical school. Do it if you want to and can afford it.
Spend more time on medically related activities such as hospital volunteering and shadowing will help med school applications.
Fraternities and sororities can provide a wonderful social outlet/social group during college. Frats/sororities may offer an opportunity to get involved in leadership activities.
But being in a frat/sorority won’t help you get into med school.
Thanks for all the information, ill be joining a research team instead.
Or you could do both–research AND a fraternity. The two activities are not mutually exclusive.
Btw, research experience is one of those activities that is highly overvalued by pre-meds. Med school admission officers at private med schools rank research experience as being of only medium importance when making decisions about extending interview invitations; med school admission officers at public med schools rank research as being of low importance.
https://www.aamc.org/download/434596/data/usingmcatdata2016.pdf
This is definitely different than joining a regular chapter. It will require more time because you are the ones creating this organization essentially from scratch. You will set the rules, you will set the ethos, you will be responsible for recruiting people into an organization that doesn’t have much in the way of tangible benefits (unless the national org is just throwing a ton of money at you to get a house and stuff).
My involvement in greek life was a major part of my application to MD/PhD programs, but as stated above, no one cared what fraternity I was in or the fact that I was in one. What I did in the various positions I held and the experiences I was able to draw from for essays were impressive though.