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Been feeling some level of ennui with my life. Like I'm not doing enough as an undergraduate. My grades are solid, and I have research and clinical experience, but I just feel as if I'm falling behind my peers in terms of actually accomplishing anything. I look at my engineer friends who are increasingly landing internships with firms like Boeing and Google, or other friends that hold executive positions in student groups or are CAs. I don't have any club activities to speak of, and I feel like all this time I spend idle is going to bite me in the ass when I apply to medical/postgraduate programs.

Meeting with my advisers, I think I'm going to try to find some more research work.

(10-24-2011, 02:50 PM)Eightball link Wrote: [ -> ]I look at my engineer friends who are increasingly landing internships with firms like Boeing and Google, or other friends that hold executive positions in student groups or are CAs.

I find it extremely hard to believe they'd be landing an actual management position at a place like Google or even Boeing. Unless you are friends with people who are essentially super geniuses and have people skills.

A position in a student club or org sounds much more believable.


My two cents, those positions at school are good for networking mostly. The same goes for a research position (which IMO are more worth your time), but at least at those you get paid and get on your professors contact list if they know someone who needs a position filled.

Grad programs care more about your test scores and GPA than "how many clubs you were in". This isn't highschool all over again where people try to make themselves look like well rounded super student who headed 4 different extra curricular clubs while pulling down a 4.0 GPA.

- Did you get top % on your MCATs and other relevant grad school tests
- Did you graduate top % of your undergrad class

These two things + professor rec or research experience count for so much more, they show that you can both handle the level of knowledge at the graduate level and are interested genuinely in the subject.


I mean hell you're a sophomore at this point, enjoy your undergrad while you can and don't overly bog yourself down worrying about those things.

(10-24-2011, 03:13 PM)Caffeine link Wrote: [ -> ][quote author=Eightball link=topic=3709.msg228178#msg228178 date=1319485831]
I look at my engineer friends who are increasingly landing internships with firms like Boeing and Google, or other friends that hold executive positions in student groups or are CAs.

I find it extremely hard to believe they'd be landing an actual management position at a place like Google or even Boeing. Unless you are friends with people who are essentially super geniuses and have people skills.

A position in a student club or org sounds much more believable.

[/quote]

I think he meant the latter. But yeah, Eightball, the solid grades and MCAT you already have are your ticket in to med school. If you want to join the assfuckery of student orgs (as I did), go ahead. Not that tough to get an "executive" position, but it won't really stand out on your resume next to your scores and clinical and lab experience.

Shit, I need better grades. Fuck everything.

The positions were not for upper level or managerial positions, though I don't know what positions they actually are interviewing for. I know Ford and local pharm groups were also picking up undergraduates as part of some career expo that the Engineering school hosts.

Clubs...I've basically given up on. Honestly I think most of the clubs are just there to give the founders something shiny to put on a resume--there are literally 6 pre-health groups on campus, few of which have that many activities. If that's the case (that they just exist to bolster the execs) then I don't want a part of them. I've lined up some profs to ask for research positions, and I'm looking into more clinical work outside of campus. Maybe I'll do something in downtown Chicago and commute.

Also I'm a Junior now

Actually, medical schools DO look at your extracurriculars because almost everyone who applies to med school are outstanding GPA and academics-wise. They especially like to see applicants with a "leadership" position. I have no idea what they mean by that but after talking to my advisor, my involvement in ultimate frisbee counts as a "leadership" role. LOL.
I've heard from the pre-med advisor that shadowing a physician will count towards "clinical experience" but volunteering at a hospital will not (it counts towards "volunteering" experience instead).
Speaking from my own experience, I would advise you to not join a lab just because you need it on your resume, because more often than not you end up not having fun for the hours you spend each week in the lab. Through laboratory-hopping for about two and a half years, I've finally realized that research is just not what I'm interested in and so I've stopped contacting profs for a lab position. But I'm also more interested in primary care rather than medical research. If you're hoping to go into medical research (MD/PhD or something), then long-term lab experience will be very helpful....and even better if you manage to get a publication  (and you can usually get a really good rec from your PI if you establish a good relationship)
For clubs, you don't need to hold a pres/vp/etc position, you just need to get very involved in a club that you are really interested in and that you can talk about during interviews. We have a lot of pre-health clubs on campus and from the looks of it, everyone is super competitive in running for a position on the council (and I have a feeling it's just for the title). Those clubs here also don't do anything exciting besides having meetings to talk about "How to interview for med school, etc" like 50 times per semester.

And I'm pretty sure you're a junior, not a sophomore?

If you want to be a physician, then you need to demonstrate the potential to lead a team of highly motivated people from different backgrounds (nursing, assistants, allied health, etc.). Activities that demonstrate your ability to initiate a project or plan and lead it to completion will be to your credit. (better hope no one finds out about the Dong Derby).

As for activities, it's best to do things related to what you want to do. So, if you like the ER, do paramedic work or volunteer for the Fire Co. or something. Even if you do something like lab work and find out you don't like it - like Kase said - that can be beneficial in the interview process (and life) as it demonstrates that you have the self-reflection skills to know what you like and don't (and you are not an ass-kissing MBA that will say anything to status-climb a little higher).

However, most post-secondary institutions also want to see that you can lead a balance life and have recreational activities and other pursuits to let off stress.

(10-24-2011, 02:50 PM)Eightball link Wrote: [ -> ]Been feeling some level of ennui with my life. Like I'm not doing enough as an undergraduate. My grades are solid, and I have research and clinical experience, but I just feel as if I'm falling behind my peers in terms of actually accomplishing anything. I look at my engineer friends who are increasingly landing internships with firms like Boeing and Google, or other friends that hold executive positions in student groups or are CAs. I don't have any club activities to speak of, and I feel like all this time I spend idle is going to bite me in the ass when I apply to medical/postgraduate programs.

Meeting with my advisers, I think I'm going to try to find some more research work.

Become an OB/GYN and put watching porn down as Clinical Experience  :p

(10-24-2011, 04:56 PM)Käse link Wrote: [ -> ]Actually, medical schools DO look at your extracurriculars because almost everyone who applies to med school are outstanding GPA and academics-wise. They especially like to see applicants with a "leadership" position. I have no idea what they mean by that but after talking to my advisor, my involvement in ultimate frisbee counts as a "leadership" role. LOL.
I've heard from the pre-med advisor that shadowing a physician will count towards "clinical experience" but volunteering at a hospital will not (it counts towards "volunteering" experience instead).
Speaking from my own experience, I would advise you to not join a lab just because you need it on your resume, because more often than not you end up not having fun for the hours you spend each week in the lab. Through laboratory-hopping for about two and a half years, I've finally realized that research is just not what I'm interested in and so I've stopped contacting profs for a lab position. But I'm also more interested in primary care rather than medical research. If you're hoping to go into medical research (MD/PhD or something), then long-term lab experience will be very helpful....and even better if you manage to get a publication  (and you can usually get a really good rec from your PI if you establish a good relationship)

Yeah, the leadership thing seems kind of open-ended. I might slap down "managing an e-sports team" and see how that flies, at least for my resume as I apply to on-campus lab work. I haven't actually shadowed physicians yet but I have arranged plans to do so. And I'm currently open to either research or primary care. I'm enrolling in a 2-year track now to get into more research and eventually write for my own grants and come up with research proposals. So we'll see how that goes.

And the Dong Derby 1.0 was played to completion! Just not to much excitement.

I've done fuck all my university career. I got to class, drink, party, get mediocre grades.

And yet, I don't feel like I've wasted time.

my ceiling is dripping water yet again, but this time it's from right next to my window onto the sill so I can't put a garbage can underneath it. I have 2 coffee mugs precariously placed on the sill atop one another to cover the dripping area and I know they're gonna fall over in the middle of the night.

find a seal, take his bukkit

Create a rube goldberg-esque machines that siphons the water outside.

fix your damn roof. 

(10-25-2011, 12:42 AM)LT Crow link Wrote: [ -> ]fix your damn roof. 

I live in a university apartment and it's the ac unit in the place above mine.

(10-25-2011, 12:45 AM)matter11 link Wrote: [ -> ][quote author=LT Crow link=topic=3709.msg228250#msg228250 date=1319521358]
fix your damn roof. 

I live in a university apartment and it's the ac unit in the place above mine.
[/quote]

Call maintenance and wait a month.

|:

(10-25-2011, 01:39 AM)Didzo link Wrote: [ -> ][quote author=matter11 link=topic=3709.msg228253#msg228253 date=1319521528]
[quote author=LT Crow link=topic=3709.msg228250#msg228250 date=1319521358]
fix your damn roof. 

I live in a university apartment and it's the ac unit in the place above mine.
[/quote]

Call maintenance and wait a month.

|:
[/quote]

Shoot AC with shotgun, will be fixed quicker. 

(10-25-2011, 02:37 AM)LT Crow link Wrote: [ -> ][quote author=Didzo link=topic=3709.msg228259#msg228259 date=1319524753]
[quote author=matter11 link=topic=3709.msg228253#msg228253 date=1319521528]
[quote author=LT Crow link=topic=3709.msg228250#msg228250 date=1319521358]
fix your damn roof. 

I live in a university apartment and it's the ac unit in the place above mine.
[/quote]

Call maintenance and wait a month.

|:
[/quote]

Shoot AC with shotgun, will be fixed quicker. 
[/quote]

I like your thinking.

(10-24-2011, 08:02 PM)Eightball link Wrote: [ -> ]I might slap down "managing an e-sports team" and see how that flies,

do it do it do it do it

(10-25-2011, 01:39 AM)Didzo link Wrote: [ -> ][quote author=matter11 link=topic=3709.msg228253#msg228253 date=1319521528]
[quote author=LT Crow link=topic=3709.msg228250#msg228250 date=1319521358]
fix your damn roof. 

I live in a university apartment and it's the ac unit in the place above mine.
[/quote]

Call maintenance and wait a month.

|:
[/quote]

last time when it was leaking over my desk I did. After a while he came down and said it would soon. It eventually did but a few days later it started to drip again. I said fuck it, I'll live with it because the amount of water coming through wouldn't fill the trash can before it stopped. A coffee mug on the window sill on the other hand...