<p>Hi. My daughter is a freshman at PITT and is interested in medicine. She is concerned about the leadership, volunteer and research requirements for med school and finding time to make all of the requirements. I would appreciate if somebody out there can address some of her concerns.</p>
<p>First, she currently is a pathfinder and next year she will also be an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant. Are these two positions considered good leadership roles for med school?</p>
<p>Second, she just found out she made Lambda Sigma Honor Society and she can apply to leadership positions with that organization, but she is concerned about the time commitment. If Pathfinders and Teaching Asst are good leadership should she even try for the officer positions with LSig? She just is very concerned about over committing and not having enough time for volunteer and research </p>
<p>Third, if you can comment on volunteer and research. She volunteers every summer for an organization where she works directly with teenagers and young adults who have developmental disabilities, such as Down syndrome and Autism. Is this sufficient . She was thinking of also volunteering at a hospital, but again how do you find time for all of this.</p>
<p>Finally research. Just how important is research. She hears that volunteering is much more important then research and she prefers doing volunteering over research. She has also heard that research can take up to 15 hours a week. So just how important is research? And any suggestions.</p>
<p>So to summarize, she is very concerned (and so am I) that she cannot do everything . Being a pathfinder, a teaching assistant, another leadership position, volunteer and research. Please let us know how to manage all of this. What is important, what is not? Thanks!!!!!!!</p>
<p>The answers to these questions can vary based on the med school she is interested in applying to. And honestly, the admission committees are made of up of people with their own individual biases so it can even vary over time at the same school. She really should take advantage of the Honors College Health Professions Advising. Set an appointment and talk to them about these concerns. </p>
<p>I think all of her work so far is great, but I do think she should add something to show her serious interest specifically in medicine, and thus, I would advise looking into some volunteering at UPMC… maybe physician shadowing in a specialty she may be interested in. If the Honors College doesn’t direct her to possible contacts, she could cold call email some med school faculty involved in some areas that she may be interested in. Approach it like trying to set up an informational interview where she meets with them to talk about their research and clinical work, but at the same time she’ll also be able to get their opinions on building a competitive med school application from people with varied experiences and backgrounds. Maybe such a meeting will turn into a research or shadowing opportunity, maybe it won’t, but it never hurts to meet people.</p>
<p>The other thing about getting some research, volunteer or shadowing in the medical center is that she will build relationships for getting better recommendations from physicians or medical scientists that will be able to directly speak to her character and potential as a physician. People on committees are going to value recs more from people in these positions, because, well, they hold the same positions and have similar backgrounds. And you can easily tell when a letter of rec is a form letter that a professor cranks out 100 versions of vs a real customized one from a true mentor.</p>
<p>So regardless of which activity, I would try to find one or two that can specifically demonstrate that she has a serious interest in being a physician. </p>
<p>But in any case, don’t let her get overloaded to the point where her GPA drops. You still need that stellar GPA. </p>
<p>BTW, my own bias would be to value the greek leadership positions less, but then, I wasn’t greek. See, a lot depends on the background. In the end, you have to sell your experiences just like anything else and relate them to how it has prepared you to be an outstanding medical student with an unwavering dedication to a career as a future physician.</p>
<p>I agree with what wgmcp101 said. Your D’s current activities sound fine, but she should add in something during the school year that is more medical related. The two popular ones at Pitt are volunteering at the hospital (generally the ER wing at Presby) or doing clinical research through a lab at Pitt. She needs to look online into how to contact people for both (I’m sure there is a hospital rep. For the clinical research she has to find what labs are available).</p>
<p>As for the time commitment- it may be something like 10-15 hours a week, yes. You generally split it up over the whole week (i.e. either 2 hours/5 days or 4 hours/3 days etc.) Keep in mind that you can volunteer late at night (many friends worked overnight shifts) and weekends. A lot of people brought their homework with them to work on.</p>
<p>As a last note: I know you mentioned she was a pathfinder, but does she do any other “fun” clubs? (Play an instrument, sport, etc.) My roommate from last year was often asked about how she “destressed” or what she did for fun. Keep in mind that the med schools don’t want science robots, they want people who know how to have a life outside of medical school.</p>