Extracurricular Options for Pre-meds

Medical professional schools are genuinely interested in what students have accomplished in college aside from taking courses and preparing for the MCAT/DAT/GRE. Successful applicants are more than a composite of GPA and test scores. However, impressive extracurricular involvement will not save students if their grades and scores are too low. The health professions need people who have learned how to balance their professional responsibilities and their personal lives. Some health professionals say that maintaining such a balance is the most difficult thing they have had to learn. College is an excellent time to start learning how to balance these elements. One's interests should guide one's extracurricular activities. No activity is intrinsically better than another: there is no value distinction between sororities, literary societies, orchestras and football teams. Leadership in one or two activities is probably more attractive to admissions committees than membership in a slew of activities. Some say that health professional schools favor activities that involve service to others (children, the elderly, the homeless), and others say schools favor activities that involve judgment, efficiency, organization, and team work. Students should pursue that which appeals to them.

Students should look for experiences that will help them to learn and grow outside of the classroom. They should consider stepping outside of their comfort zones, and pushing themselves to learn about and interact with diverse communities.

Employment

Paid employment is also viewed as an extracurricular activity. Although many students would find it pleasant and interesting to work in a doctor's office, a hospital, or a lab, it is not the only type of work experience which is valuable. Many non-medical jobs require intelligence, responsibility, integrity, judgment, good humor, and the ability to deal well with the public. These qualities are of interest to health professional schools. Students must make a point to do whatever they do well.

Lab and Clinical Experience

There are two areas of extracurricular activity which might be seen as specifically appropriate for premedical students: lab experience and clinical experience. However, there is a long-standing myth that medical schools "expect" lab experience. While it is certainly true that much of the information upon which medical treatments are based was ascertained in the laboratory, and that laboratory work is a significant component of the first two years of medical training, it is also true that the vast majority of practicing physicians are not involved in research. Most practicing physicians have only the most peripheral interest in research. Scientific research in the laboratory, like any other intellectual investigation, may be enormously interesting to some students. If it is, students are encouraged to pursue it; if it is not, students are not encouraged to pursue it. Course work done at Columbia adequately prepares students for the work that's required of them in medical school laboratories.

The exception, of course, is the student who is seeking a career in medical research and applying to a combined M.D./PhD. program. Students interested in medical research will not only want, but need, to obtain research experience beyond that of their course work. Opportunities are legion, both in the College's departments and at Columbia's medical school, including the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships. Research opportunities also exist at many of the medical schools and research establishments throughout the city.

Clinical exposure

Clinical exposure is a different matter. Nothing in the premedical course work or extracurricular activities prepares students for the actual business of providing medical care. Many kind, compassionate, concerned, and good-hearted individuals find that they are not well-suited for medical caretaking. Ideally, students should discover this before entering medical school.

Most medical schools would like to see applicants pursue clinical volunteer work, for many of the same reasons that students want to pursue it: it is important for students to discover if what they find attractive in theory is something they enjoy in practice.

Columbia students may acquire clinical experience in a number of ways. The most convenient way is through volunteering at St. Luke's Hospital. St. Luke's is one of Columbia's own teaching hospitals, is located close to campus, and trains prospective physicians at every stage of their education. As early as the second semester of the first year, students may begin volunteering at St. Luke’s either through their Premedical Volunteer Program (5 hours week) or the Academic Associates Program (clinical research program in ER 8 hours a week).

Although St. Luke’s is the most convenient option, it is certainly not the only one. It is also possible for students to volunteer in a number of other hospitals and health care facilities throughout the city during the academic year, as well as near their hometowns during the summers.