Extracurriculars are an important part of any premedical student’s journey to medical school. Beside test scores and GPA, your extracurricular activities are one of the most important components of your medical school applications. Your involvements and activities become one of the best ways for schools to gain insight on who you are as a person and what kind of student (and future doctor) you might be.

Admittedly, you are probably juggling school, work, and other commitments that prevent you from being able to jump on any project that catches your interest. Here are five things to consider before looking for another extracurricular activity.

1) Reflect on what you’ve done before moving forward

This is arguably one of the most important things to consider before looking for new internships or volunteer opportunities. Be sure to take some time to reflect on ALL of your involvements over the past few years and write them down. (Tip: Fill out your PreMedStar profile to keep your involvements catalogued for future reference.) Once you’ve taken the time to get everything noted down, take a step back and look at your CV as if your were an admissions officer. Pay close attention to the types of activities and dates of duration. Types of activities can be anything ranging from clinical experience, research experience, community service, campus involvement, leadership positions, etc. Medical school admissions is becoming much more of a holistic screening process. Ideally, you want to demonstrate that you are a well-rounded and broadly interested/experienced person. Do you notice that all of your activities fall within one category of involvement? Are any of your categories filled with outdated activities? Do your hours of engagements fall much lower in one category compared to others? These types of questions may help point out any gaps or critical components missing from your extracurricular involvements.

I want to point out that there is no formula for doing all of the right pre-med activities. If any of your activities are unorthodox or unique, highlight them. Pursuing a career in medicine is a huge commitment. Be sure to support your candidacy as a medical student through your involvements. You want to make sure you have sufficient exposure (total hours/duration committed) to research, direct patient care, and leadership experience while also not limiting yourself to just those involvements.

2) Figure out what you’re passionate about

Ideally, everything you list as an involvement will also be something you’re interested in. The idea is that over the course of your time in university, or the years leading up to your application, you will have explored different interests and dedicated significant amounts of time to the activities you’re most passionate about. Signing up for an activity that you are passionate about will feel much less like a requirement and be more enjoyable and beneficial to you in the long run. Never sign up for something just because you feel like you need to. It’s normal and expected that somewhere along the line you will find a volunteer opportunity that doesn’t align with your interests. Get everything you can out of the opportunity and move forward knowing that you’ve put in a genuine effort and explored the opportunity.

3) Be realistic about the time you can commit

Your premedical years can be one of the most taxing and stressful times of your life.Your amount of free time each week is most likely limited by school, work, and other outstanding commitments. Before jumping into a bunch of new activities, be realistic in reflecting on the amount of time you can actually commit. You can’t rush your way into gaining experience. I’ve had multiple pre-med advisers and medical admissions officers tell me that the journey to medical school isn’t a sprint- they’re looking for the marathoners. For example, it’s not enough to say you have significant research experience when you’ve only committed one quarter to working in a research lab. Realistically, every internships/volunteer experience is different. Some of them may be designed to fit within the timespan of a summer or winter break. Besides these exceptions, here is the general rule I was told. You typically want at least one year of commitment. Two years shows significant commitment, and three plus years even more. As mentioned before, you can’t rush experience. If you know you can’t commit to a weekly activity, look for something that is every other week or once a month and plan on staying with them longer to gain that hands on experience over time.

4) Get creative in your hunt

There are tons of people looking for the same opportunities as you. Don’t get discouraged if you aren’t able to find what you’re looking for right away. I’ve had a few friends on PreMedStar ask for tips on how to find clinical/research experience. I will probably make another blog exploring this topic in further detail, but for now here is my shortlist of ways to find what you want. After graduating from university I found it extremely difficult to find new clinical volunteer opportunities as most of the positions I found were prioritized for undergraduates. I had to get creative. I began to search for opportunities that were not affiliated my university or those near by. Never underestimate the power of networking- reach out to people you already know who are in the field you are interested in gaining experience in. If that doesn’t work, look elsewhere. I found a surprising amount of opportunities on LinkedIn, volunteermatch.com, craigslist, and random google searches for positions. If you are persistent and put yourself out there someone is bound to respond.

5) Don’t be afraid to try new things

My last piece of advice is don’t be afraid to try new things. Jumping into a new field may be daunting at first, but there is no way you can come out of an opportunity knowing less than you did before. Explore all of your interests. Look for new things that get you excited and spark your creativity and curiosity. Take advantage of this time to really figure out who you are and what interests you. Most importantly, enjoy your journey and make it a good one. 

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