For many people, the first year of undergrad is when the thought of extra-curricular activities come into mind.  It is at this transition from high school into undergrad that most of us realize that everything you do from this point forward counts towards med school applications.  For many, the start of university is a prime time to join existing clubs, to start new ones, and to just get involved in general.  Inevitably we all end up at the same question: Which extra-curriculars should I choose? And seeing as how most pre-med students are keen (and often overly keen), this first question transforms into “What do MED SCHOOLS want me to choose?”.  Fortunately there is no straight answer for that (because if there was a straight answer, people would be doing those activities for the sake of getting into medicine and not for the more virtuous reasons).

So given that there is no straight and easy answer, how can you choose your extra-curriculars?  Well one philosophy that I have adopted over the years is to always aim to “Make myself a better person, make the world a better place”.  As much as I can I try to apply that principle to my decision making, especially the big ones.  To answer “What extra-curriculars should I choose?”, I instead ask you, “Which will make you a better person? Which will make the world a better place?”.  So this means that if you really enjoy working at the food bank, there is no need to stop doing that, because that clearly makes the world a better place.  If you enjoy competing in Dragonboat, then there is no reason to stop doing so. If you are an upcoming musician, than keep pursuing that as much as you can, because these are all interests that help to make you a better person. You will find that by following this very simple philosophy, you will be able to more easily choose your activities. Don’t worry about what med schools want. What they want is for you to be yourself, for you to show yourself through your work. The worst is to choose an activity that you think medical schools will like, even if you don’t want to do it.  You will hate the experience and when it comes time to talk about that experience in an interview or essay, it will be harder to describe what you gained from it because to be frank, you probably did not get very much.  Instead of benefiting from those experiences you likely just wished you were not there.

Of course there is this underlying notion that you should have some “clinically relevant” or “medically-related” experiences.  Well if you come across any clinically relevant experiences which you believe you will enjoy and that will benefit you, then why not do them!  So if you are excited to be in a hospital environment, then shadow a doctor, or volunteer in a hospital.  If you want to start helping people, then maybe volunteer for the Red Cross or St. John’s ambulance. Just don’t force yourself to do things just for the sake of your application/resume.  Even if med school is your endpoint, you still got to enjoy the journey right?

Trust me when I say that the most rewarding experiences are those that you enjoy – and likely the reasons you enjoy them is because they made you a better person, or made the world a better place.

Good luck hunting!