Nadia
How many clubs, internships, and work study programs is too much?
I am attending the University of Washington this upcoming fall and will be majoring in biochemistry. My goal is to get accepted into med school in the future which obviously requires many extracurricular activities and volunteer work. Currently, I am signed up for work study, I plan to get involved with at least 2 science-based clubs (maybe even become coordinator or president of those clubs), and do volunteer work on the side at the local hospital. Is jumping in head-first the right thing to do? Should I ease back on everything? If so, will my med school application be less desirable if so have less going on during my undergraduate?
Thank you to whoever can help me! #internships #medical-school #undergraduate #college-applications #extracurriculars
2 answers
Jennifer De Anda Plascencia
Jennifer’s Answer
Ollie Jones
Ollie’s Answer
The three most important things on your med school application will be grades, grades, and grades. Figure on studying (including in-class and in-lab time) about sixty hours a week.
As for extracurricular stuff, med school admissions committees look for signs that you're committed to a medical career. Accordingly, working in a hospital or research lab can be helpful. Publishing a paper or two, or doing some scientific / technical journalism, might also be good.
If you can get assigned to do work-study at a hospital or research lab, do that. That way you can start getting paid for doing scientific work, and you can learn and earn at the same time.
Medical school admission isn't quite the same kind of pad-the-resume hustle as getting into college. Good grades and the statement "I paid 30% of my education costs via work-study in a lab" (or whatever's true) are good credentials.
So, spend your first college year aceing those pre-med introductory science classes. Make sure you have enough time allocated to study when you take organic chemistry. Skip the sorority / fraternity scene unless there's an organization that's focused on science.
You'll get decent advice from fellow students and faculty about how to spend your time. You can always add activities, but you can't go back and fix a C in molecular genetics. So, prepare to be a library and lab rat, at least for your first couple of years of college.
(I know this because I was pre-med once. In those pre-managed-care days, pre-med was insanely, destructively, competitive, so I changed direction. Things are likely a little more relaxed today. But they still demand relentless academic excellence.)