Med School Extracurriculars

Answered

Hi there,

Starting the pre-med track in your junior year of high school isn't the end of the world - and don't worry, you're not behind! That being said, you need to do a few things when applying to undergrad.

- Stay consistent with your current extracurriculars if you have heavily invested in them already. There's no need to quit speech and debate or a service club, as these will provide you transferable skills to college and admissions officers want to see your commitment to extracurriculars through all four years of high school.

- Add on some new, pre-med extracurriculars. This could include volunteering at a hospital or shadowing a physician. In your essays, you can write about how you realized your passion for medicine and then followed through on it by melding your other passions in with pre-med extracurriculars. Crafting a narrative like this will show undergraduate admissions officers your trajectory and make it more likely that they'll accept you.

- As for med school, the admissions officers will not be looking at your high school grades. They will look at any community college or undergraduate college courses you took after you graduated, though. As for extracurriculars, the same thing goes. The benefit to starting pre-med extracurriculars in high school is that you can have the experience to join them in undergrad. Clubs in college can be hard to get into - sometimes you have to apply and interview. And the more exclusive they are, the more prestigious they'll probably look on med school apps. So, the more experience the better.