Importance of extracurriculars

<p>Hi I'm aspiring to go into a 7 year course. Currently, I'm in Math Team, Science Team, Class Reps, Key club, and Debate team. For athletics I do Karate (Brown belt), Winter Track, and Tennis. I'm also starting to volunteer in a hospital (just finished tb test) and I'm planning to shadow and partake in the Siemens challenge later on. Do colleges look at leadership positions or your role in the clubs/extracurriculars you're in? I'm a freshmen. Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>Yes, they do. That Siemens challange is the thing the ivies ask about the most. Go to your public library or buy “A is for Admission” by Michelle Hernandez. Study it cover to cover since of lot of it applies to both the ivies and the joint programs. </p>

<p>Try to shadow doctors rather than just volunteering in hospitals. Take the most rigorous courses your school offers if you can handle it. Take tutoring courses at your H.S. or Kaplan Ctr before you take the PSATs ,SATs and the ACT. If you don’t score high enough try to get a SAT tutor if you can swing it financially. It is not too early to plan your future. Good luck</p>

<p>For med programs I’d have to say that in comparison to ivy admission, they care a lot less about leadership positions (rather just interest in science/medicine field) and more about the experiences you have such as research, shadowing and volunteering among others. Of course leadership positions can only help but I’d say the bulk of extra curriculars emphasis for med programs should be on the experience. For ivies it’s a whole different ball game and they do care about that leadership stuff.</p>

<p>Med programs care a lot about you making an informed decision to go into medicine. Even with great stats, you need EC experiences to use in your essays/interviews to explain how you are sure about being a physician at a much younger age than the average applicant to medical school.</p>

<p>Union/AMC cares greatly about leadership since that is its main focus unlike Siena which concentrates on public service. Combines and the ivies both have the same acceptance rates of 5-7 percent and the stats of the accepted mirror the lower 4 ivies. Neo is right about using your ECs to demonstrate your interest in medicine at an early age and to show your interest in the betterment of society which is what they want to see in combines.</p>

<p>Hi guys thanks for the responses! I’m currently doing SAT tutoring and I will definitely look into shadowing. I got a mid 1700 when I took the SAT in 8th grade for John Hopkins CTY so there’s a lot of room to improve. Another thing is importance of class rank. I’ve seen for Ivy League schools they take the top 10%, but for 7 year programs, I’ve only seen valedictorians get in.</p>