im the only one in my extended family doing premed and i feel like theres so much to know but its hard to find personalized advice for your own path. my school has mentorship programs but all the mentors are just students that want to put that on their resume rather than actually being passionate about helping others. where do i find people that actually care and ideally dont charge absurd amounts of money?
i just finished my first yr in uni and was able to get much more opportunities based on the things i've done during the summer of grade 12. not many first years have past experiences that they can directly talk to in interviews for competitive clubs and even summer jobs the following year so dont waste this summer!! always my biggest piece of advice to all recent grads, im so grateful for locking in a bit last summer (obv take a break and celebrate too!). not sponsored but last year i did this summer research program and actually got into a neurology lab at queens because of my project, i never stop talking abt their program lol https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf-zFf7ARb9ygI3TEzWLPDDexVydZzsNsXI3nlyg_UWOjbgEA/viewform?usp=dialog
it feels like everyone has research, hospital volunteering, etc etc. everything seems oversaturated so what are some experiences that actually makes you stand out? i get that the way you word it makes a difference, but can that really do enough to stand out of thousands of other applicants with the same ecs?
can i take it a year before applying to med?
lol i know this is a very niche and personal request but i feel like seeing an accepted cv would be pretty helpful in seeing what experiences were successful and valuable, how to frame activities to appear impactful, etc. if ur comfortable i'd greatly appreciate it! feel free to remove name from ur resume as well
as someone who just finished first yr for premed here are some things i wish i knew before coming to uni
dont waste the summer!! there's still time before school ends for u guys but this period of time is when u should start applying to summer jobs, volunteering, uni club positions, etc. just having some sort of experience in the field of research or hospital work is great before starting uni. another thing that really helped me was starting to apply or even join the team of current clubs of the uni ur going to. it helps build connections and gets you ahead of everyone else in ur year (shameless plug: my club is hiring summer interns :D pm if interested). at the same time tho, try and enjoy the summer as much as u can bc on the premed track this is lowk the last summer u have to fuck around before u gotta lock in (summer research, mcat, etc.)
LOCK IN on choosing classes! i couldn't stress this enough, esp for programs that have more choice in your electives. im at queens hs so i can speak to that, i lowk didn't expect classes to be so hard to get into so knowing what you want before the course selection date is important! also make sure you do ur research on bird courses (courses that are easy to get high gpa), i got demolished by an art course which i thought was gonna be easy but found out the prof is notorious for giving horrible marks. u still have lots of time before course selection starts but keep this in the back of ur mind
network and build connections. this is smtg ppl dont really think of but fr makes such a big difference. queens has this peer mentor program (called qsuccess) and im sure most other schools do where they link u up with upper year mentors, i couldnt recommend this more. i genuinely wouldnt be where i am if it werent for my mentor cause uni is such a new experience and learning curve esp in the first month of school, so having someone guide u through ur stupid questions or just things ur not sure of is very helpful and gets u ahead of the game. they also usually have past assignments from the courses ur taking which is nice lol. make sure u build a strong relationship with them too bc if they like u they can nepo u into higher club positions and really just help u out alot
thats all i can think of rn feel free to ask me anything!
