Top 5 Advice As a Pre-Med Student
Introduction: My pre-med experience
This post is for my fellow pre-med students just entering college, or even aspiring high school students wanting to pursue a pre-med path in the future.
I was also once a college freshman, excited to start a new chapter of my life. After being admitted as a neuroscience major, I claimed I was a pre-med student. But deep down I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I wanted to take my first few years in college to explore my options, so I didn’t become serious about pursuing the medical path until late sophomore year when I saw other pre-med students on the grind for volunteering and internship opportunities. That was when I realized I was already late to the game. 😱
Of course, my passion for medicine developed throughout my undergraduate years as I built experience in medical settings. But upon reflection, there was so much I could’ve done to improve my chances of getting accepted to medical school. Starting from my freshman year.
I didn’t have anyone to guide me in the right direction. So, here are the top 5 pieces of advice as a pre-med student to stay on track (please don’t repeat my mistake):
#1: Start building experience from freshman year
I didn’t get involved in any pre-med-related extracurricular activities until late sophomore year. Part of it was due to COVID-19 and in-person options were no longer available. The biggest reason was that I was not aware of what consisted of good extracurricular activities for pre-med students. I got a late start, and I want others to learn from my lesson.
Medical school admissions indeed want to see quality over quantity. Instead of joining a bunch of activities and quitting after participating for a month, stick with one or several key activities you plan to participate in for years.
But Rinka, what if I’m not sure which activity to continue?
I think it’s alright to test the waters and explore by joining as many clubs or extracurriculars that interest you during your freshman year. But starting from your sophomore year, choose one or two that you want to be more involved in throughout your undergraduate years. Some questions to ask yourself before choosing are: do you love what you’re doing? Can you see yourself continuing in the future? Spreading yourself thin is NOT the strategy when it comes to standing out as a pre-med student. At the end of the day, how can you get the quality out of an activity without investing the time?
I have to say, the healthcare field is not for everyone. You might realize that you’ve never really enjoyed interacting with patients, or found the fast-paced environment of the ER too overwhelming. This is why it’s so important to actually have experience volunteering at a hospital or working as a medical assistant. It’s not just for you to build clinical exposure, but also to find out if this path is right for you. If you don’t love interacting with patients, then perhaps medicine is not a good fit for you.
By building experience, I don’t just mean medical-related activities, but also experience with leadership, research, community service, and even employment.
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#2: Log all accomplishments
Thankfully I had the habit of logging all events and accomplishments from high school, so I had a whole Word document prepared with all my events and accomplishments listed during college. The purpose of logging is for you to read and refer to later down the road, so it doesn’t have to be worded too formally. Think of it like a diary, but you write about your awards or achievements instead. Log the title, date, amount of hours, and a short description of what you did or earned. This could also include what lessons you learned, how you felt, the significance of the event, etc.
I promise you, this will become useful later when you write about your awards and experiences in your application to medical school because you’ll have something to refer to rather than write everything from scratch. Plus, we tend to forget about the details and the emotional significance of the event after a while. So logging consistently is a way to ensure you capture the experience in full. For example, if you made the dean’s list during college, write it in your log as soon as you receive it. We remember our emotions best right after we feel it.
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#3: Establish relationships with professors (EARLY ON)
The key word is EARLY. You never know which professors you end up asking for recommendation letters by the time you apply. Try staying after lectures to introduce yourself to the professor and get to know them. Raise your hand and ask and answer questions during class if you really want to stand out.
Or, if you don’t have the courage to speak publicly in front of others, make an effort to attend office hours. The professors usually don’t mind if you decide to listen in and occasionally ask a few questions. It’s the effort that counts. Even showing up to office hours through Zoom and turning your camera on to let the professor know you attended their sessions can make a huge difference.
Talking to professors is also helpful if you’re looking for research opportunities. If you come across a professor researching a topic that you’re interested in, get to know them first and see if you can join them as a member of the lab.
Most medical schools look for recommendation letters from at least one science faculty. This could even be a professor from the department of your major. Start looking early and think about who you may want to ask for recommendation letters.
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#4: Have a strong reason for “Why medicine”?
Think back to why you wanted to be a pre-med student anyway. You have to be able to give concrete examples as to what specifically made you interested in this career path. The “why medicine” prompt for medical school personal statements usually won’t change from year to year. This will give you a head start.
Of course, you don’t have to have an answer right away. It is possible that, like me, you develop a passion for medicine as you discover more about yourself during college, and that’s totally fine! You might have a clearer answer once you engage in more opportunities. As long as you reach a conclusion that you want to pursue medicine and have enough evidence to support this claim, you are good to go. For example, this could be episodes with patients or with physicians during shadowing.
#5: Explore your hobbies
You might be wondering, what does your hobby have to do with being a pre-med? College isn’t just about spending more than 8 hours a day studying. Yes, studying is a huge element of being successful in college and later on in medical school. However, on top of the academic rigor, it’s important to make time to explore your hobbies and immerse yourself in something you love doing.
The admissions committee wants to see more from you than your ability to learn in a classroom and earn good grades. Having a hobby will make you stand out as someone who can balance both academics and their personal life. Ask yourself, what’s your passion?
Also, I think a great time to explore your hobbies is when you’re in college as an undergraduate. You’ll have way more time to do that now than in medical school. It would be best if you could find something that you love doing, but that you’re also good at.
I hope you find these 5 pieces of advice helpful as you navigate college as a pre-med student. The journey ahead isn’t easy, but please don’t give up!
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