<p>Aside from research and hospital volunteering, what kind of EC's are good to do for pre meds? All through high school I was in choir (top ranked choir in the state) and I really enjoy singing, I think that in college I will continue singing, will this be ok to do as a pre med or will it just be a waste of time (as for as admissions and what gives me an upper edge.. thats all i want)???</p>
<p>Also, are classes like private music lessons offered by the college ok to take as a pre med (assuming you have time for them)? I don't want it seem like I took such a class as a filler to boost my GPA..</p>
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<li>Finally, when undegrads to research, what is it that they generally get assigned to do? Or does this differ from school to school?</li>
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<p>Things like sports and music are less impressive to med school admission committees than they are to undergrad admissions. You usually don't see med school applicants with a long laundry list of EC's. Though it doesn't sound like much, a couple years of research, extensive community service (in hospitals and in non-health related fields), and perhaps a few leadership positions are pretty good EC's. Now, if you are able to do something spectacular like publishing a paper or starting an organization that aid underprivileged kids in Asia that's awesome but rare.</p>
<p>As for research, it depends on the professor you're working with. In most cases, particularly in labs that have many grad students, the undergrads end up doing a lot of the grunt work. For example, at the lab I work at, I'm pretty much the youngest person there so I end up doing all of the planting, the mini-preps for PCR (extracting and purifying DNA from plants), and PCR itself. The grad students design the experiments and I pretty do all of the experimental work while they analyze the results of the PCR (pretty much everything in my lab is PCR-based). If you're lucky, you get a professor who'll let you design your own experiments.</p>
<p>Speaking of starting organizations to help kids in asia... I know a girl who was just named one of Glamour Magazines' MOST succesful college students. She's a junior at Stanford and started an organization with the UN to help refugees in Africa.. wow. that's AMAZING. </p>
<p>Anyway, back to MY topic... What kind of hospital volunteering to pre med students do? I volnteered at hospital for a year in a half and NEVER got to have contact with patients beyond pushing their wheel chairs around and dilevering meds the nurses gave me. Do pre meds get to have more contact? Do pre med advisors help with these kind of issues? how do u get these positions? </p>
<p>Are there clubs on campus like Interkey or Interact (community service clubs) students can join up with? what kind of community service looks the best? </p>
<p>Also, one more thing? All the aformentioned activites sound awesome, wholesome and activites that would be expected of pre med students, but what are things I can do to stand out against everyone else? Apparently music wont do it huh? what about music therapy...? Or is that unless u publish a major paper you cannot get yourself noticed?</p>