Experiences Don’t Come Looking for You
Being a pre-medical student notoriously comes with a busy schedule. Medical schools want to see that you are committed to your extracurriculars, engage with your community, and take your academics seriously. However, students planning on applying to medical school are not the only students in need of experience on their resumes.
After digesting countless forums and Reddit pages about how to get into medical school (which I don’t advise), and getting into medical school myself, there is one thing that I would want everyone, pre-medical student or not, to take seriously. Your experiences matter more than your grades and test scores.
Of course, your grades and test scores do very much matter! For any student applying to graduate school, whether it be PA, PT, medical school, law school, or any other master’s or doctoral program, the admissions team wants to see if you can handle their curriculum. The easiest way to do this is to ensure you have good grades. But, having good grades is just the way to get your foot in the door. Having stories to tell about who you are and what you are passionate about all comes from your extracurriculars.
I’ve had a lot of students ask me, ‘How did you find doctors to shadow?’ or ‘How did you get that job/volunteer opportunity?’ I feel like most people expect me to answer with something personal. Something that I was able to do but for some intrinsic reason they can’t do. I think it’s human nature to blame difficulties, in this case finding a job, on outside factors. It’s much easier to assume that not having opportunities is outside of your control than it is to take initiative. Hearing “Oh I already knew the physician because she was my brother’s doctor” is a lot easier to stomach than “I emailed and asked.” If I already had the connection then it makes sense that I came across the opportunity and not you. It becomes easier to accept because it’s outside of your control. I have fallen into this trap before. But what is important is getting yourself out of it as quickly as possible.
Some people do have lots of connections and maybe it is easier for them because of it. But I can assure you they probably did not develop the skills that I have in simply asking. For shadowing hours, I looked up the names and emails of physicians in the area and I straight up asked. I had never met them, they don’t know me, they are just physicians. For everyone who responded, I emailed eight who didn’t. At the end of the day I shadowed four different physicians in different specialties, consistently. I followed up, I asked questions, and I showed up early. I put in the initiative 100% of the time. At the end of the day, I am following them around. They are working their everyday lives and I am infiltrating it. They have no reason or responsibility to follow up with me and ask if I want to shadow them. Eventually, I got a letter of recommendation from one of these physicians and I trust it was well written. The lesson here is that getting experiences is on you. The follow-up is on you. Taking accountability is on you.
In order to find shadowing opportunities I just looked it up. A simple Google search stating “general surgeon at UPenn to shadow” was enough to get me started. This technique can really be applied to anything. “Legal internships near me,” “volunteer opportunities near me,” “EMT jobs near me.” The possibilities for a Google search are truly endless.
I also stumbled across some interesting opportunities by attending events on campus. The career fair, American Chemical Society, Pre-Health Professions Club, Honors Program, Office of Career Education, and many other departments have connections or information on possible jobs. This is where networking and planning ahead comes in.
Having the understanding that meaningful experiences are key to succeeding in graduate school applications allows you to start reaching out for these opportunities as soon as you get to Arcadia. Figure out who your department head is and talk to them. Tell them everything about you and who you want to be and slowly start to form the connections you will need to eventually ‘stumble’ across job opportunities instead of having to actively seek them out. It is theorized that everyone can be connected by 6 degrees of separation. The idea is that anyone can be connected to anyone by just six different social connections. The more people you know, the easier it is to connect with new people and new opportunities.
Now it is time to address the definition of meaning. Too many students treat graduate school admissions requirements like checkboxes. Getting a volunteer opportunity because you have to, doing research because it looks good, doing an internship because it shows teamwork, etc. Many people will find these experiences, put in the required hours, and move on. On the other hand, people will try to pack in as many experiences as possible. Running four clubs, working three jobs, and volunteering with 5 different organizations. I would argue that neither of these is the best path to take. Demonstrating a meaningful experience involves picking a few things that you are truly passionate about and dedicating a lot of time and energy to them. The trick here is that it doesn’t even really need to be connected to the field you want to go into. If you are applying to law school but have a huge passion for the environment, having many hours of work dedicated to a club you started to promote sustainability on your college campus is okay. Putting your energy into something you can truly tell stories about is more important than filling your application with activities you think your grad school wants to see. I myself have camping/traveling on my application because it is something I love to do and spend a lot of time doing.
One of my most meaningful experiences came from a scroll on Instagram. I was lying in bed looking at Arcadia’s Biology Department Instagram and wondering why it hadn’t been updated in so long when I came across a post from three years prior promoting a volunteer opportunity. It was to be a summer camp counselor with the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I applied, got accepted, and went the following summer. It was one of the most life-changing things I had done throughout college. I have gone back to the camp every year since I first discovered it. This goes to show that some things are just an accident. So, keep your eyes open and jump on opportunities when they come across. You never know what will impact you so deeply that it changes your perspective on life.
