Wow! All very helpful. @twogirls Yes, I’m aware of how lofty the goal is. ? But I will absolutely take your advice. @MYOS1634 Yes, that’s something I highly intend to do. I’ve been looking for appropriate study materials. As far as socialization, I just mean parties, frat activities… that’s just stuff in which I have zero interest. If I must attend socials, I will grin and bear it. Not that I’m incompetent, but to be honest it’s not my forte.
@ImBlue_23 - Socialization doesn’t mean frat parties. There will be lot of cultural activities on the campus and you can attend or even participate in those. You can also attend some games.
^ Exactly. There is a lot of socializing going on that has nothing to do with parties. Clubs and volunteering will have social events, there will be dinners to attend etc. Some of these will be organized by the school. There are speakers etc on campus where you will have an opportunity to socialize, discuss, etc. You don’t have to go to any parties at all if you don’t want to.
As mentioned earlier, if you have not taken advanced science classes, I would review the material before starting. Also be prepared to have summer assignments after your first year, before you head back.
Avoid parties.
Do socialize productively: activities that allow you to DO something with others and/or learn about them and/or learn about yourself.
There are research symposiums to participate in. You will have a chance to present, meet with others, discuss, socialize, etc.
There are guest speakers on the weekends discussing a variety of topics…anthropology, environment, etc…followed by an opportunity for discussion. No need to party on a Friday night…you can attend one of these events. Again…this is another way to socialize and meet some interesting people.
Work hard and get good grades…but take advantage of some of the other things that are offered. As mentioned above, you may learn about yourself and others in the process.
And of course…there is basketball. ?
Also don’t be so quick to discount fraternities/sororities. They offer other things besides just parties. Most frats/sororities are involved in on-going community service projects. They offer in-house tutoring for members. They promote opportunities for members to getting involved with leadership roles within the individual house, on the campus Pan-Hellenic committee and on a national level. Greek organizations sponsor speakers on a wide variety of topics, including career development.
@ImBlue_23 Having made it successfully through the app cycle as a traditional applicant this past cycle (and attending a top 20 med school this fall), here’s the advice I have: (note, I didn’t read through the whole thread so forgive me if some of this is repeated info).
-
GPA/MCAT is of the utmost importance. Admissions are holistic, but you set yourself up with an uphill battle if your stats are average. Unless you’re a psychopath, terrible at expressing yourself in writing, and/or don’t have any of the basic ECs needed, most top schools will be hard pressed to not invite a 3.9+/520+ applicant to an interview. Don’t sacrifice your GPA for ECs, you can always take gap years or dedicate some summers for beefing up ECs. I highly recommend starting light with your ECs for at least freshmen fall or even the year. However, don’t put undue pressure on yourself to get a 4.0—Have I gotten a B? Yes I have. Have I gotten multiple ABs? Yes I have. For top schools, it’s still fine to have a few blemishes on your academic record as long as they’re not part of a bigger trend. Strive for the A, but don’t beat yourself up if you fall short a couple times.
-
Reach the minimum benchmarks for clinical and non-clinical volunteering (200+ for each). Getting into top schools is really, really hard, but there’s also an added mystique that makes people think you need to have thousands of volunteer hours. You don’t. You need meaningful, quality experiences that you can maturely reflect on and express to others. More is ALWAYS better, don’t get me wrong, and I think I could’ve gotten into more schools if I had gotten started a bit earlier and had the time to try a different clinical experience, but don’t think of it as an insurmountable task. Getting this stuff done is (imo) more important than research as well.
-
Don’t stress about the 15 competencies. I didn’t know about those until I applied—they are more useful when you start writing your application and consider how you want to spin/present your activities. If you volunteer, do well in your classes, and maybe pick up a leadership position, you’ve pretty much fulfilled them all. Also, it’s actually not very common for people to have 15 long term activities (and forget about 20, the application only allows you to fill in up to 15 activities). For # of activities, it’s a case of quality over quantity, as well as sanity over neuroticism.
-
Research is good, and most T20s like to see some kind of research experience. However, I want to emphasize that it’s very uncommon for applicants, even T20 applicants, to have publications of any kind (including posters). I personally had only 1 poster presentation at my university’s undergrad symposium (which doesn’t really count for much lol) at the time of application. It’s more important to have shown you’ve put the work in, understand the importance of research/scientific inquiry, and can speak intelligently about your projects.
-
Don’t waste too much time on shadowing—just be sure to get some time in with a primary care provider, then maybe 2 additional specialties, and get a sense of what being a physician is like. Personally, applied with less than 50 hours of shadowing, never came up once lol. IMO it’s an activity of rapidly diminishing returns.
-
This is more of a summary point, but I really want to emphasize that I really believe that being able to present yourself and your activities well is a huge decider of whether you actually get accepted. 3.9+/520+ applicants can and do get rejected from all schools they apply to every year, and two big reasons are usually no social skills (or offputting personality) or utterly failing to express their narrative properly. Take time to reflect on what you learn and experience as you go through college.
-
In regards to setting yourself apart: be yourself. Engage in clubs/activities that you love and are passionate about. Keep up your hobbies and non-science/academic interests. Find enjoyment and meaning in what you do. I don’t mean to sound wishy-washy, but being genuine about who you are and having that being reflected in your activities is huge. I think you are on the right track with this based on the OP—just be careful about not biting off more than you can chew!
-
Be humble. You will meet so many talented and intelligent people in college, you will meet and hear of so many talented and intelligent premeds and successful applicants, and at one point you will probably feel that you are nothing special at all, and to a certain degree, you would be absolutely right. To relate to #7, there are so many applicants every year that you will be hard pressed to find something that someone hasn’t done before. Take that as something to both learn from and strive towards. However, be confident in your path and abilities, and realize that it’s how YOU think of and approach your activities that makes them unique.