A lot of college students set out to attend medical school after graduation and hence pursue a set of courses assigned to pre-med candidates. If you’re one of the many high school students interested in medicine out there, why not start pursuing medicine-related academic and extracurricular work right now? Having a specific course load and focused activities can help set you apart.
While you have a number of years left before you actually begin your applications to medical school, the following steps can help you stand out as a prospective pre-med student while you’re still in high school.
Challenging (STEM) Course Load
What you choose to study and how much you challenge yourself with your course load in high school will demonstrate to admissions officers how seriously you take your learning and what type of student you’ll be in their classrooms. While a rigorous curriculum is important for all students aiming for selective colleges, it is especially important for students who are interested in being pre-med or applying to combined BA/MD or BS/MD programs to choose courses that will deepen their learning in STEM subjects.
BA/MD and BS/MD programs usually last 6-8 years, and are offered at schools such as Brown, Penn State, and Howard for students who are 100% certain that they want to commit to a career in medicine. These programs are extremely competitive. Qualifying for such rigorous programs means enrolling in AP/IB/Honors classes that your school offers, especially for science and math classes.
You should take math all four years (including calculus senior year) and four years of science (including biology, chemistry, and physics). If you’ve taken all possible STEM offerings at your school, perhaps consider taking advanced STEM courses at a local college or even online. This will help ensure that you’re prepared for pre-med learning in college.
Excellent Grades and Strong Organizational Skills
While a challenging course load is an important part of demonstrating academic rigor, the grades you get in those courses are especially important. Although you don’t have to receive all As and have a flawless record, your transcript should be made up of mostly As.
Your high school counselor can help guide you through what a rigorous schedule looks like for other students at your school. For some, it may mean taking five AP classes while for others, it may mean a few AP courses with some regular classes.
Time management in high school is difficult, but knowing what kind of schedule works for you to succeed in classes goes a long way to helping you achieve strong grades. Stay organized— maintain a calendar, prioritize what’s important, and leave clubs that aren’t beneficial to help you improve in your classes.
Internships and Research
Seek out work in medicine-related fields if possible. Students can often achieve this through an internship or a research project. Hands-on work in the field can help you stand out to admissions officers. Seek such opportunities with university researchers, research institutions, or organizations that focus on STEM. Ask your local hospital if they have any opportunities for you. Start your own volunteering initiative in your community—some project ideas could include COVID cases in your neighborhood, measuring pollutants in a local river and its impact on communal health, or a program encouraging your friends and neighbors to get their flu shots. Take advantage of your summers to build your application profile around activities related to medicine.
Leadership in Extracurricular Activities
Sustained involvement in extracurricular activities can help show admissions officers that you’re a leader in the field. The longer you’ve been involved in an activity, the more confidence admissions officers have in your passion and know that it is not something that you’re suddenly involved in just to add to your activities list. Being a general member of a club shouldn’t be where you stop. You need to stand out from other high school students interested in medicine. A great way to do that would be to initiate your own club or take any initiative which helps bring out the leader in you. Start a veterinary organization that helps out at local animal shelters. Coordinate with the Red Cross and help run a blood drive. Arrange a lecture series by different doctors or researchers. Medicine is a wide field and the possibilities are endless.
Strong Essays
Your essays will be an opportunity for admissions officers to hear your voice and learn about you through your own words. You can use either your personal statement or your supplemental essays to drive home your interest in the medical field. Your essays will give voice to your identity and what matters to you. Make sure that whatever topic that you choose to write about is something that couldn’t have been written by anyone else. Be true to yourself, and pick a topic that conveys your unique story to admissions officers. And even if medicine is not the core focus of the essay (unless of course the essay asks about career goals specifically), show that you possess qualities that are key in a doctor, such as confidence, compassion, and determination.
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