PART 5
High School/College Activities and Leadership
http://med.umkc.edu/bamd/apply/ (Go to “Activities and Leadership”)
From excerpts from the application posted earlier in the thread: “reviews your high school/college activities to better understand you and your involvement and leadership in activities outside of the classroom.”
These are to show your involvement in things that are not straight academics (i.e. grades and standardized test scores). Are you someone who just does the required: wake up, go to school, come home, study, eat, sleep and repeat? Do you have some level of involvement outside of just required classes? What is the extent of your involvement and why in those specific areas? Do you take leadership roles amongst your peers? How well do you get along with other people and in working towards a goal (including people you may not naturally agree with or even are friends with personally)? Why is all this important? Because part of being a physician involves some aspects of being a leader, at some level. It doesn’t mean you have to be a leader in every single thing you attempt, of course. This is overall what this section shows. Remember, you are limited to 10 activities and these are to be NON-healthcare oriented activities.
Leadership:
http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/what-qualifies-as-leadership-on-college-applications/
http://www.studypoint.com/ed/high-school-student-leadership/
https://www.noodle.com/articles/how-to-get-leadership-experience-in-high-school
From the application for each activity (limit 10):
*** under the description, list any honors or awards you’ve gotten for that activity, since there is no separate section for honors & awards on the application
Activities that count as part of this category:[ol]
[]school sponsored clubs and organizations - officially school sanctioned student organizations
[]community related activities - activities outside of school (non-healthcare) that aren’t volunteering/community service
[]volunteer experience and/or community service - non-healthcare, pretty self-explanatory
[]work experience - a job in which you are getting monetary compensation usually outside of school, i.e. a part-time job or full-time job during the school year or over the summer[/ol]
Examples of school sponsored clubs and organizations[ul]
[]Class Officer, Student Council President
[]Cheerleader, Dance Squad
[]Sports – Football, Basketball, Soccer, Track & Field, Tennis
[]Speech and Debate
[li]Clubs – Academic Bowl/Decathalon, Math & Science Club, Chess Club, Foreign Language Clubs, Community Service Clubs[/ul][/li]Any leadership positions (if applicable) – head cheerleader, varsity football captain, drum major, first-chair saxophone, officer of a specific club or organization, etc.
Examples of Community Service/Volunteering
being a teacher’s aide in the summer, reading to kids at your public library, taking part in a recycling/environmental initiative, doing Meals on Wheels, taking part in Habitat for Humanity, etc. There are TONS of great ideas (non-healthcare related), more of which you can find here, in your area:
http://www.volunteermatch.org
http://www.allforgood.org/