Varsity Sports

somemom
Fri, 14 Aug 2009 02:41:09 +0000

From what I have read it seems like just like with college apps, it is the authentic people that they seek out. I will, of course, know more this time next year when DD is done with the application cycle, but my DD has not done ANYTHING because she was ‘supposed’ to. In fact she deliberately chose to do other things; she did not seek internships her junior summer, she went to another country, studied for the MCAT, worked to pay for her living expenses and volunteered.

In other words, in each decision she made, she was aware of the ‘you shoulds’ but she pursued what she wanted to to do to actually determine if med school was for her, not to convince an adcom, but to convince herself. I have to believe that the authentic ness about her entire profile will shine through.

So far, with very average at best numbers she has 1 interview and a large number if screened secondaries, so something is making sense somewhere.

You really will be best served by serving yourself, BUT that also means pushing yourself. I don’t think some one who never does any ECs is going to be an attractive candidate, but some one who honestly pursues their interests is going to present a very cohesive picture overall.

My Dd was really not sure medicine was for her, even when taking the MCAT, it was her upper div bio and some shadowing that pushed her over the line to decide she had to pursue medicine.

DD did play her sport at her university, at her study abroad school, for the USA jr national team and she also coached an upper level team one summer. She did not play her senior year, so she had more time to shadow etc, but she is already playing in an adult league this summer. It is a cohesive overall picture that happens to nicely fill out boxes- not as pretty a picture as if she had played senior year and been captain, but she needed to do other things this year so she had to skip that, but what she did do would make sense to any adcom that she had a serious commitment to her sport. If you love your sport, play it, whether DIII or IM; if you start DIII and it does not work for you, go IM, do what feels right and you should be okay, as long as you are doing something you love