Extracurriculars for medicine

11

Hey I'm a year 12 student and I'm hoping to apply for medicine and I need advice on extracurricular and supercurriculars and all that stuff. At the moment I am a St John's Ambulance Cadet, play in my school's netball team (only on the second team lol) and am a part of the MedSoc at college. I've done a few days work experience on one ward at my local hospital (I think I'm applying for more work experience in the summer) and have just applied to be a ward volunteer but if that doesn't work out I'm hoping to volunteer at a charity shop or a charity orginisation in my local area. I've also done the BSMS virtual work experience and have a few virtual conferences to look forward to in a couple of weeks. I've got my DofE bronze certificate and hopefully I'm going to help out at a school and maybe do the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge or the Biology Imperial Challenge. I feel a bit unorganised and this all feels like a lot of stuff writing it out but I feel like there's definitely more that I could do. It's so easy to feel like you're not doing enough when you see other med applicants online doing loads of extra and super curriculars lol :smile:

Reply 1

TSR Hippocrates

11

Hey there, thanks for posting a question in the Medicine forum. :biggrin:

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Reply 2

klafow

14

Original post by hats879

Hey I'm a year 12 student and I'm hoping to apply for medicine and I need advice on extracurricular and supercurriculars and all that stuff. At the moment I am a St John's Ambulance Cadet, play in my school's netball team (only on the second team lol) and am a part of the MedSoc at college. I've done a few days work experience on one ward at my local hospital (I think I'm applying for more work experience in the summer) and have just applied to be a ward volunteer but if that doesn't work out I'm hoping to volunteer at a charity shop or a charity orginisation in my local area. I've also done the BSMS virtual work experience and have a few virtual conferences to look forward to in a couple of weeks. I've got my DofE bronze certificate and hopefully I'm going to help out at a school and maybe do the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge or the Biology Imperial Challenge. I feel a bit unorganised and this all feels like a lot of stuff writing it out but I feel like there's definitely more that I could do. It's so easy to feel like you're not doing enough when you see other med applicants online doing loads of extra and super curriculars lol :smile:

you’ve done great - do more if you want but honestly you don’t need it
quality >>>> quantity
i’d say try your best to get volunteering sorted but other than that just do what you enjoy. it’s more important to reflect well on everything you’ve done till now than to do more and more things just for the sake of it if you get what i mean :smile:

Reply 3

hats879

OP

11

Original post by klafow

you’ve done great - do more if you want but honestly you don’t need it
quality >>>> quantity
i’d say try your best to get volunteering sorted but other than that just do what you enjoy. it’s more important to reflect well on everything you’ve done till now than to do more and more things just for the sake of it if you get what i mean :smile:

Amazing thank you so much!!!

Reply 4

iamthebestxoxo

4

Original post by hats879

Hey I'm a year 12 student and I'm hoping to apply for medicine and I need advice on extracurricular and supercurriculars and all that stuff. At the moment I am a St John's Ambulance Cadet, play in my school's netball team (only on the second team lol) and am a part of the MedSoc at college. I've done a few days work experience on one ward at my local hospital (I think I'm applying for more work experience in the summer) and have just applied to be a ward volunteer but if that doesn't work out I'm hoping to volunteer at a charity shop or a charity orginisation in my local area. I've also done the BSMS virtual work experience and have a few virtual conferences to look forward to in a couple of weeks. I've got my DofE bronze certificate and hopefully I'm going to help out at a school and maybe do the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge or the Biology Imperial Challenge. I feel a bit unorganised and this all feels like a lot of stuff writing it out but I feel like there's definitely more that I could do. It's so easy to feel like you're not doing enough when you see other med applicants online doing loads of extra and super curriculars lol :smile:

hello!! can you tell me a bit about being a cadet at st johns ambulance?

Reply 5

UoL Students

Official Rep

15

Original post by hats879

Hey I'm a year 12 student and I'm hoping to apply for medicine and I need advice on extracurricular and supercurriculars and all that stuff. At the moment I am a St John's Ambulance Cadet, play in my school's netball team (only on the second team lol) and am a part of the MedSoc at college. I've done a few days work experience on one ward at my local hospital (I think I'm applying for more work experience in the summer) and have just applied to be a ward volunteer but if that doesn't work out I'm hoping to volunteer at a charity shop or a charity orginisation in my local area. I've also done the BSMS virtual work experience and have a few virtual conferences to look forward to in a couple of weeks. I've got my DofE bronze certificate and hopefully I'm going to help out at a school and maybe do the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge or the Biology Imperial Challenge. I feel a bit unorganised and this all feels like a lot of stuff writing it out but I feel like there's definitely more that I could do. It's so easy to feel like you're not doing enough when you see other med applicants online doing loads of extra and super curriculars lol :smile:

Hi!

Everything you are doing sounds great already - keep it up!
The key is being able to balance these things with getting your A/A* and a strong UCAT etc
A lot of people tend to do too many things, then feel overwhelmed leading up to exams, so try not to overload yourself! Universities typically care about how you can use your experiences to make you a great medical student, and eventually doctor, so i would recommend taking note of situations where you show leadership, teamwork skills etc, so you have strong evidence to refer to in interviews.

Keep up the great work!

Lindo
2nd Year Medical Student

Reply 6

hats879

OP

11

Original post by iamthebestxoxo

hello!! can you tell me a bit about being a cadet at st johns ambulance?

Hi!!!
Of course! So basically we meet every week and we usually have a 'lesson' where we learn about issues in our community (homelessness, for instance) or we learn a bit of first aid. We work our way through lessons to get different awards, so there's bronze, silver, gold and grand prior (which depends on how many lessons you've done) Sometimes cadets can go out into the community and shadow first aiders/ paramedics or they can present at county fairs and stuff. We also do an awards ceremony. My sessions usually start with recall from the last session and then finish with a game of dodgeball which is always super fun 🙂 I don't know what other groups do so this is only my experience. Hope this helps!!

Reply 7

eobrien - UOS

Official Rep

4

Original post by hats879

Hey I'm a year 12 student and I'm hoping to apply for medicine and I need advice on extracurricular and supercurriculars and all that stuff. At the moment I am a St John's Ambulance Cadet, play in my school's netball team (only on the second team lol) and am a part of the MedSoc at college. I've done a few days work experience on one ward at my local hospital (I think I'm applying for more work experience in the summer) and have just applied to be a ward volunteer but if that doesn't work out I'm hoping to volunteer at a charity shop or a charity orginisation in my local area. I've also done the BSMS virtual work experience and have a few virtual conferences to look forward to in a couple of weeks. I've got my DofE bronze certificate and hopefully I'm going to help out at a school and maybe do the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge or the Biology Imperial Challenge. I feel a bit unorganised and this all feels like a lot of stuff writing it out but I feel like there's definitely more that I could do. It's so easy to feel like you're not doing enough when you see other med applicants online doing loads of extra and super curriculars lol :smile:

Hi there,

Everything you are doing sounds amazing! I know at Sunderland they value more public facing experience rather than shadowing. In public facing roles it's easier to improve on your skills like leadership, communication etc. So anything extra you can you do public facing is great. This also includes part time jobs!

I hope this helps,

Ellen
Y5 Medical Student
Uni of Sunderland

Reply 8

UoL Students

Official Rep

15

Original post by hats879

Hey I'm a year 12 student and I'm hoping to apply for medicine and I need advice on extracurricular and supercurriculars and all that stuff. At the moment I am a St John's Ambulance Cadet, play in my school's netball team (only on the second team lol) and am a part of the MedSoc at college. I've done a few days work experience on one ward at my local hospital (I think I'm applying for more work experience in the summer) and have just applied to be a ward volunteer but if that doesn't work out I'm hoping to volunteer at a charity shop or a charity orginisation in my local area. I've also done the BSMS virtual work experience and have a few virtual conferences to look forward to in a couple of weeks. I've got my DofE bronze certificate and hopefully I'm going to help out at a school and maybe do the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge or the Biology Imperial Challenge. I feel a bit unorganised and this all feels like a lot of stuff writing it out but I feel like there's definitely more that I could do. It's so easy to feel like you're not doing enough when you see other med applicants online doing loads of extra and super curriculars lol :smile:

Hi!

I am a current 4th year medical student at the University of Leicester. The extracurriculars you have done sound absolutely amazing! UoL (I can't speak for other universities!) is very understanding that hospital/GP work experience is difficult to come by, so the fact you have managed to do a few days is great. What they really look for is long-term volunteering in a relevant setting - St John's ambulance, ward volunteering and working in a charity shop are all perfect for this.

The most important thing to do is reflect on the things you have done and think about how this has taught you the skills and values relevant to being a doctor. For example, in a charity shop, you might come across an upset customer - this might teach you about communication and dealing with stress! It might be helpful to keep a reflective diary for this, as you might not remember everything. For the virtual/ hospital work experience, maybe reflect on how healthcare roles are different from each other - why do you want to apply for medicine and not nursing, for example?

I hope that was helpful, please do message me if you have any questions about medicine, applications, the University of Leicester or university in general! Good luck with applications 🙂

Frankie (4th Year Medicine)

Extracurriculars for medicine

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