As a premed, the challenge that I've always faced in the realm of extracurriculars was striking the right balance between volunteering for interest and volunteering for the purpose of medical admission. I must confess that the latter was the bigger motivator, and because of this, some of my volunteering experiences have been subpar. Of course I've heard times and times again the statement, "you should do what you are interested in". However, I took this piece of advice with a grain of salt as I knew that the admission committe had a fairly specific scoring system when it came to extracurriculars. Heck, I've even heard from a reliable source that at one school, with a name which I will not disclose, you get 1 point for donating blood! Sure, donating blood can possibly signify a sense of altruism and dedication to patient care, but such a thing can be demonstrated in a multitude of ways. Why should adcom reward 1 point for such a specific action? With such information during undergrad, I had acquired a mindset that admission selection is a checklist, and that I must satisfy a list of criteria to make myself a strong candidate. Therefore, I did my fair share of research, community service, hospital volunteering, sports, leadership, etc. It is not to say that I did these activities simply for medical admission; I really enjoyed many of my experiences and learned much from them. However the persistent thought that burned at the back of my mind was medical admission, and several activities were initiated to achieve this purpose.

So was my approach correct? The purists would frown and condemn my actions as short-sighted and to a degree disgenuine. The pragmatists would applaud it and approve of the approach as realistic and sensible.  In retrospect, being comprehensive certainly made me a stronger candidate, but at the same time I must agree with the purists that it was a short-sighted approach. My fault was seeing medical admission as the one and only goal. With such a mindset, I had the natural tendency to evaluate extracurricular activities based on their value on paper. When the question of "how will this look on my application?" is running in the back of my mind, it is hard to focus on the activity itself and get the most out of the experience. Extracurricular activities should be done in the context of self-discovery and personal growth. Ultimately, it will be your character and values as a person that will show through at the interview table, so take the time to develop yourself as a person. As I am a firm believer that success in life is the side-effect and manifesation of one's character, I think developing yourself should take precedence over medical admission . Furthermore, admission criteria should simply serve as a guideline as to what categories of experiences you should sign up for. Within each category of experience, whether hospital volunteering, research, leadership, etc., there are always opportunities that fit your interests and can facilitate your growth as a person. Therefore it's a poor excuse to say "I hate such and such".

After going through the admission process, I think the best approach is to be comprehensive with your extracurriculars and try to satisfy those criteria that adcom wants, but while you are at it, focus on learning and developing yourself as a person rather than just admission into medical school. Volunteering experiences are what you make of it, so don't settle for an accessible subpar experiences even if it looks equally as good on paper as another more challenging/demanding experience. Challenge yourself and get out of your comfort zone. Live and learn. By the end of your journey, instead of saying to yourself, "I think I have enough experiences to convince the admission committee to accept me into medicine", you should be able to say, "I've become the person that is ready for the challenges offered in medicine, and I deserve to be in this profession."