While I can’t speak to the athletic component, which is a major consideration for this student, I’ll share these two topics which address the preparation required for a med school application. There are other topics in the pre-med forum, such as paying for med school, which may also be of interest for the OP and her parents.
There’s a saying in medical school admissions: Your stats get you to the door, but it’s your ECs that get invited inside for an interview,
So what exactly are the ECs that all pre-meds are expected to have? There are 6 categories; 3 are “critical, must-haves”; the other 3 are “good to haves” if you want to be competitive applicant.
With regard to the ECs, it’s not the number of hours you have accumulated over the course of your pre-med journey, but what you have learned from them. The capacity for self-reflection is one of the 14 expected competencies that all med schools expect in incoming med students.
I am reluctant to list a specific number of hours for various activities, but except for physician shadowing, which has diminishing returns after about 75 hours, you should consider any hours listed as the minimum expected.
Have people been accepted with fewer hours? Of course they have. But some schools do screen for minimums in clinical exposure and community service.
Since th…
If you or your student is considering a career in healthcare, this thread is for you! The intent is to set expectations early in the undergrad experience to help students plan a realistic path to a medical school application, especially if they do not plan on a gap year or two. Please post any questions about the process in the thread so our pre-med experts can answer or direct you to an appropriate resource. (Feel free to share this thread in the main forums if a student expresses interest in medicine.)
Many incoming college students feel like they need to do everything immediately — research, volunteering, shadowing, leadership, clinical hours, MCAT prep — all at once. But none of those things matter nearly as much if you don’t first build a strong academic foundation. It’s much easier to add experiences later, even through a gap year if needed, than it is to repair a damaged GPA.
Your first semester of college should mostly be about learning how to succeed. Figure out how to stud…
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