#a few random premed questions

22 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

clear tartan
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Hey guys, I hope all of you are doing well! I was just wondering a few things regarding premed extracurriculars etc. don’t feel pressured to answer all of them. Apologies in beforehand if some are really stupid

  1. How do we prove the hours spent on an extracurricular on med school apps?

  2. When is it recommended we take the mcat, (seen many recommend to take it in 3rd year) and formally prepare and self study them? What if we have never taken a course before in the mcat, how much time would you give yourself to self study that? How much time would you give yourself to review a course that you are somewhat familiar in?

  3. When should one apply to med school (as an undergrad)? I’ve seen a lot of amazing people who have managed to apply in 3rd year undergrad, so I really feel pressured to apply then instead of 4th year onwards.

  4. Length of extracurriculars: how long should volunteer/work/research experiences last? Does the longevity matter more than the number of hours? (For example, 300h as a summer camp counselor over 2 months vs 200h as an assistant teacher over 2 years)

  5. Quality of extracurriculars: I feel like sometimes, a few of my extracurriculars just don’t really seem very impactful to me: for example working at a summer camp as a counsellor really allows me to bring out my leadership side and grow as a person. Whereas being a club secretary does not force me to exert myself socially, and really doesn’t trigger me to grow. What do I even do in such cases? Just exaggerate what I do on my apps and keep these extracurriculars to pad up my app?

  6. I have also heard that the best extracurriculars are the ones you can build yourself up in, for example turning from a general member of a club -> secretary -> president. In this case, since you are investing so much time in climbing these extracurriculars, could around 6-8 of such extracurriculars be enough to get into med school?

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  1. Around how many hours of extracurriculars should you commit yourself to for each semester?
remote phoenix
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  1. I've seen some universities talk to them directly like contact them and all for a couple of the activities because you need to list out the information and everything, but its usually based on the honor system. What ends up happening is that in the interview they can tell if you did those hours to that extent yk like if you worked as a scribe or like a med assistant they'll expect you to know the information that is expected based on your experience

  2. Honestly I would say after your second year, like start studying in the summer this is a mistake I made and I started studying in my third year and didn't get it the first time around so now I'm planning on a gap year. It honestly depends on which subject that you're planning on self studying for, like if its psych yeah no problem you'll be fine, but if it's something that you find tough I would try to take the class before or while you do your content review

  3. So third year is like the super ideal thing, thats if you have everything ready, like your mcat score and all of that but if you don't have everything by the start of the cycle it really is just best to wait it out and apply in your fourth

  4. This is honestly based on university, but I would say that no matter what you do try to stay consistent and let your application tell a story, like oh yeah first year I was a part of this org and then I expanded and went into something related and then I started research on that. But honestly I would say 200h as a teaching assistant is better because of that consistency you know. But with the way applicants are right now I would say as many hours as you can get

  5. Let me be honest with you, pretty much yeah, and go based off the notion that even though you aren't socially active you did this and did that and basically make it a bigger deal than it is. Its mostly based on how much you can talk about something and how passionately you can talk about it

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  1. I think that's enough honestly but again its based on your gpa and your mcat score as well, like if you literally were super involved in something and you have an amazing gpa and a good mcat score as well as shadowing and clinical hours that should put you in a decent place

  2. This again varies based on your current stats so I would say as many as you can get without disturbing your academics

clear tartan
remote phoenix
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Honestly I wouldn’t recommend taking it at the end of third year, a lot of people do it but the earlier the better

clear tartan
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I see, I will take that advice! Though if I score well in that second year mcat, could that score still be used should i apply in fourth/third year?

clear tartan
remote phoenix
# clear tartan I see, I will take that advice! Though if I score well in that second year mcat,...

Just so I understand your question here, I’m gonna say like hypothetical dates, so let’s say you’re in your second year, like you finished first year started studying over the summer, and then September of your second year you take it, you get an amazing score, this is only valid for like 3 cycles, so it would only be valid until the cycle where you finish your 4th year but if you want to apply after that like take a gap year and apply you’d need to take the mcat again, I know it’s weird and I’m probably not explaining it in the best way

clear tartan
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yeah that makes sense

remote phoenix
clear tartan
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ok

clear tartan
remote phoenix
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If they really are hard yeah I’d just say go with it because med schools do require some of the courses

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Like they want you to take gen chem, orgo and physics and all of that

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So if you don’t have your pre reqs in you should definitely do them

clear tartan
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In Canada, only a few schools actually require prereqs I believe. Many actually dont require any. I will double check though

clear tartan
remote phoenix
clear tartan
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i'll just take bird courses in uni and self study then