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American Medical Students Association

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Extra-curricular Activities

Extra-curricular Activties and Medical School

You should choose your extra-curricular activities based on your interests. Remember that your activities reflect you. Medical schools don't care about whether you were in every club at college or whether you were involved in one; they want to see that you were committed to the things you chose to do in your spare time.

Imagine yourself in the interview room: "So, I see you were involved in the Dog Lovers' of NYC Society. Can you tell me a little about your experiences?" If you can't talk at length about an activity you put on your application, why bother even being a part of that club? Make sure you pick activities you are passionate about.

Clubs

NYU has almost 400 of them. Look around and find something you like. Here's a link to the NYU Club Directory.

Volunteering / Clinical Experience

Is very important. Medical schools want to see that you have interacted with patients. Besides, volunteering shows your character and that you are giving back to society (yeah yeah...you know the clichés). Just remember the importance of meeting sick people. Med schools don't want to accept someone who is easily scared by patients.

Research Experience

Is also very important. Although primary care schools might not care as much about your research as they will about your interaction with patients, most prestigious schools will want to see that you have some research experience.

Sports

We might not have a football team at NYU, but as with any extra-curricular, a particular sport can reflect your personality. Participating in a varsity sport is time consuming and med schools realize that. Remember the general perception that jocks get bad grades; if you're an athlete and you get good grades, you're showing that you can manage your time well - a very important quality for med school.

On a bootnote, do support our athletic teams; we have a pretty decent basketball team and an excellent fencing team (the only Division I sport at NYU). It won't help you get into med school, but fencing is just a really cool sport to watch ;-).

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