My friends used to tell me “don’t go into medicine, you won’t ever have time to do the things you enjoy.” Although this statement may seem somewhat true with the incredibly high standard expected for pre-med students to get into medical school, with difficult classes such as Organic Chemistry to constantly study for, as well as the comprehensive MCAT, it is definitely possible to make time for the things that you enjoy and still use that time to effectively improve yourself and improve your chances to get into medical school. If you would like to learn more about what extracurriculars you should do for medical school check out our other article.
So you are probably wondering, “how can I get free time when my life is so busy.” Fair question. The secret is boosting your productivity as described here (article coming soon). Productivity does not mean doing more, but rather being efficient and intentional with your time so that you can finish your tasks more quickly and have more time to yourself. So when you do create some free time for yourself, how should you spend it?
Table of Contents
Enjoyment
The most important thing is to enjoy this time. Studies have shown that spending time doing what you enjoy has correlated with more efficiency when you get back to work and also decreased burnout rates in the future.
Medical school expects applicants to be smart with top-notch MCAT scores and GPAs, but there are thousands of applicants that have competitive scores. How do medical schools distinguish between these amazing candidates? Things like research and volunteering (which we will discuss later in this article), as well as letters of recommendation and essay responses, come into play, but intangibles such as your personality during the interview are also a major component when it comes to selection processes. One of the most common questions during medical school interviews is “tell me about yourself” and it can be beneficial to humanize yourself by talking about your interests and passions outside of academics.
Exploring your hobbies and interests during your free time can definitely be helpful in this situation so you can connect with others over things like playing music or sports, reading a book or watching a movie, or sharing your best recipes.
Turning Hobbies into Extracirriculars
You can also channel your enjoyment for certain things into extracurricular activities. This is probably the most important takeaway from this article: DO WHAT YOU LOVE. Find activities that you genuinely enjoy doing and you will automatically be committed to them and grow in them. This will lead you to take more initiative in the activity and impress the people around you, leading to a great story to tell in essays and interviews and great letters of recommendation. If you do an activity that you do not actually enjoy just because you think it’ll make you look good for medical school, there is a high probability you will not be as engaged in the activity and will not get as much out of the activity as you would have if you genuinely enjoyed it.
For example, if you love being with little kids then you can volunteer in after-school programs and mentor the kids. Or if you enjoy playing basketball or reading you can start a basketball training camp or a book club with grade school children to inspire them to love reading. The important thing is to use your passion for something to make a positive impact on others and learn about yourself and grow throughout the process. The possibilities are endless! Do what you think would be best for you!
Research
Participating in research is a great way to pursue academic interests outside of the classroom during your free time. It is an engaging way to bring to life the things we learn in lectures and advance the current state of science. Many students join different types of research activities, most commonly a structured summer course or working with a research group over a long period of time.
Structured summer courses are often ideal for those who have a dedicated time during the summer to pursue research and prefer a structured environment. These programs are offered at many institutions throughout the nation including undergraduate campuses and medical schools.
The AAMC has a list of many different summer undergraduate research programs that you can check out here. Oftentimes, these programs will compensate you for your time and sometimes even pay for travel and accommodations. This is a great way to explore a different institution and immerse yourself in their culture. There are a variety of fields that these research programs focus on, so apply to those that you are most interested in and want to learn more about.
One of the best features of these programs is that they structure your experience to ensure you get to meet lots of other colleagues and faculty researchers and also complete a tangible project before the end of the summer. If you really enjoyed this experience, you can also ask to continue working with the research team once the summer is over.
Long-Term Research
Another option for research is working with a research team directly and participating in the research actively for a longer period of time. This would usually be in the institution that you attend and you would reach out to a researcher who is doing something that you are interested in. In this type of research opportunity, there may not be a structured schedule for you to follow, so a lot of your experience depends on your passion and initiative. It is crucial to pursue research in something you are genuinely curious about so that you are motivated to ask lots of questions and get more involved in the research. By doing so, you will start to incorporate yourself into multiple different projects and get a much more pleasant and fruitful research experience!
Volunteering
Volunteering is another great activity to do when you have some free time. As mentioned above, there is no “right” thing to volunteer in. The important factor is volunteering in something you love doing so that you can go above and beyond to make a greater impact on the community. The joy of volunteering knows no bounds and the mere fact of knowing that something you did brought a smile to someone else’s face is priceless.
Not only does volunteering serve as a great break from the regular grind of studying, but it is also a great opportunity to make your medical school application more unique and demonstrate your passion to help the community in your own way. If you would like help planning for medical school applications or would like tips on how to make your application more unique by bringing out your personality, feel free to reach out to TDJ tutors! We are here to help 🙂
By Bhagvat Maheta