It's important to have a balanced, well-rounded application for med school, but it's hard to know what that looks like. These are a few things that I think are the most important components of a well-rounded resume for those who think they have holes to fill or don't know where to start:
1. Please Don’t Say Grades…
Grades.
via GIPHY
The thing that no one wants to talk about but we all worry about anyway. Medical schools need to see that you will be able to do well in the even more rigorous environment of med school. Unfortunately this means you do have to worry about your GPA. But don’t put down your computer and cry into your textbooks yet; your GPA is not the only important part of a strong medical school application.
2. Healthcare Experience
Employment, shadowing, and community service related to healthcare are essential to a medical school resume because medical schools want to know that you have spent time in a clinical setting and know that it's still what you want. Otherwise, you could end up in 3rd year rotations and realize you hate medicine. That sure would be an expensive way to find out, wouldn't it?
You can get healthcare experiences from internships through your university, or applying to jobs at local hospitals. Scribes for physicians or patient transporters are available positions at many hospitals, even smaller ones. You could also become a volunteer in an emergency room for a few hours a week if you have a busy schedule.
3. Be the President
Okay, maybe not. Not everyone has time to lead the country and be a full-time undergraduate student. You may not meet the age requirement either. But leadership roles are extremely important to a med school resume. The kind of skills you learn through leadership positions, such as interpersonal skills, responsibility, and conflict management are necessary skills of a physician.
Leadership experience could come from holding an office in your fraternity or sorority, a club, or organizing events and forums on campus.
4. Community Engagement
Community service was important to your undergraduate applications and it's still important to your medical school applications. Volunteer work shows a medical school that you care about others and have a desire to meet their needs without compensation.
This could be volunteering in a clinic or an emergency room, mission trips, tutoring, or any other kind of uncompensated altruistic work. You know what volunteering is.
5. Research
Research experience is a great addition to your resume because it shows you have experience in engaging in scientific discovery. Doing research you can learn the basics of scientific writing, research techniques, and how to think creatively. Your research does not have to be in medicine, but finding the cure for cancer may be a plus.
You can look for research opportunities at your school with professors or with other hospitals and institutions. Many research internships offer stipends so that you can pay for housing if the institution is far from home.
6. Something Different
Are you inner-tube water polo national champion? No? Well there needs to be something on your medical school application that separates you from other students. Application boards read so many similar applications from students with mostly the same grades and same clinical hours, so you must have something that separates you from the rest of the pool. These experiences show a medical school that you are a well-rounded student that pursues other interests and has competency in social situations and skills outside of the sciences. Your patients weren't all pre med in college so you need to know how to communicate with people outside of the bubble of science classes and activities.
This could be an extra-curricular you are passionate about that is outside of medicine, such as ballroom dance club, or the Varsity field hockey team. It could be that you majored in something outside of the sciences, or you studied abroad for a semester.
What other experiences to you think are essential for applying to medical school? Comment below!
For more ideas on relevant experiences, see this helpful guide from Johns Hopkins University
