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Part VII: Summary Points About Extracurricular Activities

In the previous sections, we have discussed the various aspects of a successful medical school application and provided strategies and tips on how you can become a competitive applicant to medical school. We have placed a great deal of emphasis on extracurricular activities and their role in boosting your medical school application. As previously mentioned, a strong GPA and MCAT score are necessary but not sufficient for gaining admissions to medical school. In addition to your numbers, what you do outside of the classroom will help set you apart. In fact, above a certain GPA and MCAT threshold, the rest of your application is going to matter more than your numbers. We have seen students with GPAs in the 3.5 to 3.7 range and MCATs in the low 30s who have good extracurricular experiences gain more acceptances than those with 3.9 – 4.0 GPAs and MCATs in the high 30s who lack sufficient experience. We discussed the importance of clinical experience, research, community service, and leadership experience in making a successful application. Below are some general points to consider as you are planning your extracurricular activities:

Fore more efficiency, combine activities: You can bring together different activities like volunteer work, community service and leadership together to accomplish more in the same amount of time. This will also give you the chance to gain in-depth experience. For example, if you are volunteering at a clinic for the homeless where you shadow physicians and assist the nursing staff, you can also work with the same clinic to provide community service to the demographic that your clinic serves. You may also demonstrate leadership by adding a new program or project, which helps the demographic you are serving. And remember, taking initiative does not mean setting your sights too high and working on projects that are too ambitious to implement. To be a successful leader set well defined, measurable, and realistic goals and work towards meeting those goals.

Try to tell a story through your activities/experiences: Try to find a theme that links your various activities and provides a narrative of why you chose the specific activities that you were involved in during your premedical career. For example, if you are passionate about working with children, demonstrate that through your various experiences. You may serve as a volunteer at a children’s hospital, do community service for inner-city children, and do research in the department of pediatrics at a nearby medical school. This may not always be feasible, but when it is, it helps to make you a stronger applicant and gives more meaning to your activities.

Strive for depth over breadth: While it is important to gain a breadth of experience in leadership, community, service, research and clinical work, the extent of your involvement in each activity is equally important. If you demonstrate continuity within each of the broad categories you will be more successful in your activities. Too many students make the mistake of becoming involved in multiple organizations, taking on several research projects, and jumping from one volunteer setting to another. In so doing, they are not able to accomplish anything substantive in each setting. Furthermore, they do not develop strong enough relationships with professors/supervisors to be able to get strong letters of recommendation. Remember, medical schools pay more attention to quality than quantity.

Activities that are not related to medicine can still be impressive: Some students think that every activity they take part in has to be directly related to medicine but this is not necessarily the case. If you have some accomplishment or activity that sets you apart from other applicants, this could be very impressive. For example, participation in athletic activities, the arts, music, or other similar activities are highly impressive to admissions committees if they are done in a formal structured stetting. Students who play a musical instrument or a sport at an intermediate to advanced level tend to be impressive to medical school admissions committees. These types of activities show commitment, passion, discipline, and ingenuity. Therefore, if you have interests outside of medicine, cultivating these interests can help make you a stronger applicant.