<p>I'm wondering about what ECs to adopt my second semester and was curious about joining student government. I didn't try out SG during HS, but after seeing how there are plenty of leadership capabilities in the activity, I am thinking of giving it a try in college. However, I have also heard that in college, SG basically uses up their freshmen ppl to do most of their rigorous works, and I really don't want to spend time doing that stuff while I could be focusing on my studies.
My question also lingers over on whether I should even join ECs my freshman year. People have already joined fraternities and everything in such a quick time and I'm lagging on the other side. I've looked at some clubs, but haven't really been compelled to join them. Do you think not joining A club my first year will hurt me when I apply for med school? </p>
<p>Oh and what do most successful pre-meds (aka ppl who got into med school straight out of college) participate in? It would be great to know if the choices I am making don't end up distracting me from my main goals. </p>
<p>Thanks Much!</p>
<p>I don’t think med schools really give a crap about clubs. Put your EC effort into medical related volunteer work, clinical experience, shadowing, and research.</p>
<p>Thanks man, I’m satisfied that med schools actually let me put some productive time over to my actual career lol.
But with this response, another thing comes to mind: What makes med schools decide on which candidate should receive their rare merit scholarships?</p>
<p>I wasn’t even aware they had merit-awards. My guess would be those are reserved for the uber geniuses who graduated from Harvard with a 4.0.</p>
<p>No offense Jason, but the fact that you didn’t even know med schools offered merit aid means your advice on admissions should be taken with a grain of salt (although for the most part you are actually right).</p>
<p>Jason is right that med schools don’t care WHAT clubs you’re doing, but to imply that they don’t care whether or not you do them is wrong. Yes, you need some medical ECs, but there’s no reason you can’t have other things going on, especially if you want to do them. Something like shadowing, while important, does not give you the possibility of having leadership responsibilities.</p>
<p>If you wait until sophomore year to get involved in groups, they won’t consider you in the same way they would a sophomore who did it as a freshman, in fact, you’ll probably still be treated like a freshman. The reason the frosh do all the grunt work is because they are the bottom of the totem pole, and often, the older students have wider reaching responsibilities (e.g. who do you think teaches/helps the frosh do the grunt work). You can’t expect to have real decision making responsibilities for an organization you have not been involved with. This will happen at every level in life, including in medicine.</p>
<p>Merit aid is a bargaining chip used to woo kids, and so yes, it goes to the cream of the crop applicants, and some of it goes strictly to “uber geniuses who graduated from Harvard with a 4.0” while some go to applicants that schools want for one reason or another. Most schools should list the various non-need based scholarships they have and how they are doled out. One of my friends from undergrad was planning to enroll at the same school as me when with a few weeks left to decide, one of the other schools lower down on his own list (although actually higher ranked according to USNWR) offered him a full ride, ultimately persuading him to change his mind. He was a very, very smart kid, although I had to carry him through physics lab (he was my lab partner).</p>
<p>He got a full ride to medical school? From what I’ve been told, most people barely get any financial aid at all. That’s really impressive. </p>
<p>And my statement about merit aid was an exaggeration. I didn’t know for sure if they did, but I could guess that some did (though, again, from what I’ve seen, so few get it it’s not really worth going super in-depth about).</p>