3
3 years ago
Admissions Advice

Suggestions to strengthen my ECs? Please help
Answered

I'm currently a sophomore who is interested in attending medical school and majoring in biology. How can I demonstrate that I have a spike in biology/something that has to do with the medical field (such as nutrition/health) and connect it to my other interests (art)? What seems to be a theme that I have in these extracurriculars?

Here are my current ECs/awards for reference:

- Scholastic gold key for drawing/illustration

- CRT's 29th national annual arts program honorable mention

- Sophomore Class Treasurer/student government

- National Spanish Exam Bronze Medal (freshman year; I took it again this year and most likely according to last years percentiles, I would have a silver medal)

- Highest honor roll for all semesters of high school

- Math A team, attended states and placed 2nd

- Varsity swim team (freshman, sophomore)

- competitive swimmer for 6 years

- studied art outside of school for 8 years

- summer internship at local health care dental clinic (this coming summer)

- lifeguarding (this coming summer)

- relay for life (2017 - 2019)

- planning on starting a HOSA charter at my school for junior year

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@rayne.rose3 years ago

Did you decide on your major just recently? If so, why? Because I am seeing a humanities spike in your profile, one that many students dream of.

[🎤 AUTHOR]@sLu3953 years ago [edited]

I’ve wanted to attend medical school since the start of freshman year (upon getting ortho k which made me realize how science could solve some common problems that some face). I just thought that majoring in biology was the most common/easiest way of getting into medical school. In terms of humanities, I do not see a future in studying history or art, despite the awards I have because I don’t really enjoy subjects like history/language? These subjects are usually my weaknesses relative to STEM

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Accepted Answer
3 years ago

Let me start by saying that as only a sophomore you are already off to a great EC profile which will make building it out further pretty easy hopefully. Having said that, the current theme in your profile does not scream that you're into biology/nutrition/health in my opinion. I think it definitely trends more towards arts/humanities like @rayne.rose mentioned.

A summer internship at a dental clinic will go a long way I think. Learn as much as you can, be helpful, make the live's of the people you intern with easier when you're around. Don't be one more thing they need to manage. Starting HOSA at your school will be great too. I don't know how involved starting a charter is but try and get a headstart this summer so you can hit the ground running come Fall and start HOSA meetings basically asap.

Look into bio or science olympiads. Maybe volunteer or fundraise for a cause that you care about that is related to the medical field. Maybe there are ortho-k organizations you could look into raising funds for? Totally possible you've already seen this article but check it out for some more potential ideas: https://blog.collegevine.com/extracurriculars-for-high-schoolers-interested-in-studying-medicine/. You're most definitely on the right track and it seems you are trending towards a strong EC profile. With HOSA and an internship lined up you're well on your way to demonstrating the medical spike you want. If you can get deep into 1-2 more medical related things then it will be very clear you are interested in both medicine and art.

By the way - have you considered trying anything regarding art therapy? Based on your interests that could be an interesting path to pursue. There may be some pretty unique EC opportunities to look into if you follow that path even if you don't plan on doing that for a career.

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