<p>I'm a high school senior who has some questions about going Pre-Med.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What kind of "extracurricular" or "leadership" activities do Med schools want to see? Wouldn't it be hard to have a leadership position in college?</p></li>
<li><p>Does undergrad matter? Going to Boston College wouldn't compromise my chances of getting into a TOP med school compared to going to UC Berkeley?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>These questions have been asked and answered. Please use the search function. ;
</p>
<p>1) <a href=“What activities should I do as a pre-med student? - Pre-Med Topics - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1634475-what-activities-should-i-do-as-a-pre-med-student.html</a></p>
<p>2) <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1484178-if-you-high-school-please-read-before-posting.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1484178-if-you-high-school-please-read-before-posting.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1122176-bluedevilmikes-ten-step-guide-picking-premed-school.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1122176-bluedevilmikes-ten-step-guide-picking-premed-school.html</a></p>
<p>Top medical school is a bit of misconception. The quality of medical education in the US is relatively flat. All US allopathic schools are accredited by the same accrediting body, follow the same basic curriculum and all students must pass the same national standardized exams.</p>
<p>Getting in ANY US med school is a feat in beating the odds. </p>
<p>67-75% of all freshmen pre meds never actually get to senior year still as pre-meds.</p>
<p>Of those who do persevere until junior or senior year, half who take the MCAT don’t score high enough to make an application a worthwhile investment of their time & money. (IOW, they don’t bother applying because their score is too low. The median MCAT for an accepted student for 2013 was 33–that’s up significantly in just the past 5 years.)</p>
<p>Of those who do apply (~66,000 last year), 60% get shut out of every medical school they apply to.</p>
<p>I can only tell you what D. did in UG and it was enough to get accepted to few Med. Schools. She did not care to apply to the very top Med. Schools, but she got accepted to couple top 20s. She graduated from in-state public UG (not anything like Boston College or UC Berkeley), where she was on full tuition Merit award. Not paying for UG has helped her not to have loans in Med. School.
D. had minor in Music (irrelevent to Med. School admission, but provided her great R&R away from challenging science classes and a wider range of friends)
She was in Sorority (again, wider variety of friends, great leadership opportunities). Not relevent to Med. School.
She was interning at Med Research lab for 2 years, wrote grant proposals, received couple of them, poster presentation
She was employed by university for 3 years as Supplemental Instructor for Gen. Chem prof. Sometime her classes had 40 kids. Did not need to study Gen. Chem. for the MCAT after this experience.<br>
She was volunteering for 2 years in unusual for pre-med position. In fact, she was the only pre-med there. Not very relevent to Med. School.
She went abroad.
Some whatever medically related club. This was the least time consuming, D. rarely mentioned it.
She did not take any summer classes. She could not find job during summers either. She had few volunteering positions and shadowed few physicians for few days during summers. Basically she relaxed at home during summers and it made a big positive impact on he academic year.<br>
Do not neglect your own personal interests, explore them, get to know wide range of people, not only in pre-med crowd, use any opportunties to grow personally. Activities that were irrelevant for Med. School admission were the most common topics during D’s interviews at med. schools. These type make you a person to remember, they show your personality. </p>