Leadership Experience Question

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p>Sorry to be a bother, but I have a question. I am a rising college junior who needs leadership experience. I am pre-MD/PhD but I will still be applying to several MD schools. I have participated in clubs and will be an editor of an undergrad scientific journal this upcoming yr, but I doubt that this will suffice the med school leadership criteria aspect. I have also TAed classes and done community service volunteering, but I doubt that any of that counts or fits the bill of leadership experience considering that I was mainly focused on maintaining my GPA and achieving pubs and research honors. Does this heavily set me back when I apply to med school? And how can I catch up? </p>

<p>I have not taken my MCAT yet but am planning to start reviewing this summer and hopefully pull off a decent score this upcoming year when I take it. Any advice is appreciated in terms of filling in my application flaws. Thanks so much.</p>

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<p>Let me preface this by saying I’m in <em>no</em> way an expert on this subject; just chiming in because no one else seemed to have a better idea. That said, I think “leadership” is highly variable, and that the majority of applicants to MD/PhD programs are like yourself, that is, didn’t start an Internet company at 16 with 8,000 employees, or lead a charge up San Juan hill, so don’t get too hung up on it. </p>

<p>But as you know, MD/PhD programs are extremely competitive, so it’s best to try and cover all the bases, provided it doesn’t affect your MCAT and GPA - no amount of “leadership” will overcome poor stats here. For MD/PhD, I’m thinking “38” is your target, so you need to focus on the MCAT far more than any missing leadership hours. And even if you’re not planning to take it until Spring, one thing you’re going to want to do this summer is take an assessment exam, and see where you are. That way, you can build a study plan. You’ll need to be pretty rigorous on that part. </p>

<p>Anyway, you asked about leadership - tutoring and TA are “leadership” positions. If you can accumulate, say, 100 hours of either of these, this would seem “adequate” - to me, anyway, others may disagree. You’ll need a lot more “community service” hours than “leadership” - the niice thing about “tutoring” is that is builds both volunteer hours and leadership hours. Similarly, “mentoring” program volunteer will do this. </p>

<p>You didn’t mention shadowing/clinical, but if you haven’t done these yet, get it done this summer if possible. There are a lot of things you’ll have to take care of before you submit your application; clear the decks of whatever you can, as early as you can. </p>

<p>No single thing will be “hard” (well, “impossibly hard”) - but applying to med school requires managing all of these different activities and deadlines, not to mention your courseload, and it can be overwhelming sometimes. Get started early, and start putting together a calendar, which ends with your med school application, and begins, well, “today.” </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>Thanks a lot for the response. I have the community service aspect and shadowing aspect covered. I have garnered around 200 hrs in each. But I do see what you are saying about MCATs and where my emphasis should lie. </p>

<p>I mean I have spoken to other ppl and they have told me to focus on research more than any other activity, which is what I have been doing and my success has been shown through pubs and awards. But then I see all of these other applicants with a ton of clubs and stuff, but who let their GPAs trail, which is something that I know I cannot afford. But then again there are those who were apart of a few clubs, did research, had community service/shadowing, and overall did very well. Thanks for your input and I’ll get on the MCAT asap.</p>

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That’s what I thought initially, but I heard from an adcom on SDN that tutoring and TA are not considered leadership.</p>

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<p>Well I assume that you can shape it into leadership, if lets say that you were head undergrad TA. For instance, in my school, there was this one student who TAed organic chem and he knew as much if not more than some of the grad TAs. So he was made head UGTA and of course when the other TAs were unsure of something they would all ask him.</p>

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<p>Tutoring and TAing are leadership experiences but they’re not leadership experiences that’ll impress adcoms. One of my classmates leads a bunch of Native American women (with various ailments) in art therapy. It takes a lot of guts to go to the local Native American center, pitch your idea, get it accepted, and then lead a group of people who are vastly different from you in age, health, ethnicity, and culture. Hence, that would be a more unique experience that shows assertiveness, creativity, and leadership.</p>

<p>BTW: One of my classmates did found his own biotech company so it can be done.</p>

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<p>Those are very unique activities but at the same time, is it possible to do all of that with a tough courseload, some clubs, and research? I am not saying that its impossible but you may be sacrificing either your GPA or your research accomplishments for it.</p>

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<p>I don’t see why that activity (the Native American one, not the founding your own company one) should take more time than TAing or tutoring. It requires more guts and more creativity and probably better social skills. If you’re aiming for top schools (and most MSTP schools are top schools), then you are competing with students who excel both extracurricularly and academically. Academics is usually not the limiting factor for applicants to top med schools. There are plenty of 3.7+ GPA, 35+ MCAT students. The difference b/w a student who has just tutoring (which is a fine but mundane activity) and a student who dances semi-professionally ballet is usually the deciding factor. This kind of non-research EC isn’t as important for MSTP apps but you mentioned applying to a few MD programs as well.</p>

9

<p>

Nicely done, norcalguy. Couldn’t have said it better myself. </p>

<p>This approach worked well for my D in the past. I labeled it “see a problem, fix a problem”. Y’all are college kids. Do what you can with what you’ve got to fix something that you see around you. </p>

<p>Bravo to your classmate,too.</p>