Extracurriculars: what's the deal?

Heaps of students say that extracurriculars are good for Med entry. 

If you haven't done many extracurriculars, you're probably panicking. 

I just want to say that extracurriculars are beneficial but not crucial. 

Many students gained entry, despite not being involved in many extracurriculars. 

The reasons why extracurriculars help: 

1) You might be able to talk about it in your application letter 

The application letter that you write should have reasons as to why you want to do med. If you've done med/health-related extracurriculars, it can give you something to talk about. 

2) It can help in your interviews 

Questions that you get in your interview can involve attributes they seek in medical students/doctors, and how you've attained them. If you have done extracurriculars, you can dissect them to discuss the traits that you've developed as a result of your experiences. 

So extracurriculars really help to give some leverage as to how you've gained skills and attributes. 

But let me stress, THEY ARE NOT A NECESSITY. 

You can gain heaps of skills from your normal job if you work, from group work on projects, from babysitting, any community experience, personal experience with the health system (your doctor visits, or family members with medical encounters), hobbies, friendships or other relationships, etc. 

There are a myriad of experiences, and you can pretty much find things to discuss from any of your experiences. Your experiences don't all have to be health-care related, you'll be able to show that you're a well rounded person. 

Think of ways to show that you have some of the following attributes (from https://www.fmhs.auckland.ac.nz/en/faculty/for/future-undergraduates/undergraduate-study-options/mbchb/entry.html): 

• Maturity
• Leadership
• Social responsibility
• A strong commitment to the study and practice
• Humanistic qualities such as empathy and sensitivity
• Excellent communication skills
• Fluency in English
• A strong academic background in sciences
• An enthusiasm for life-long learning
• A wide knowledge of New Zealand's multifaceted communities and cultures
• Awareness of prevailing health needs and community issues
• Awareness of the nature of the health profession
• Certainty about career choice
• Enthusiasm for people and their well-being
• All round abilities and interests across a wide variety of activities

Your experience may not directly fit one of the attributes, but you can always find something to discuss. Just spend some time thinking about it and being imaginative. Other attributes such as time management and organisation are also discussable. 

For example, I talked about working at a call centre (Auckland Council) for 3 months, and how it empowered me with social responsibility, because I was tasked with speaking and addressing the public's concerns, and tailoring each conversation to the person on the other line. This therefore also helped me develop empathy, sensitivity and excellent communication skills. Since I was dealing with a wide range of people, I also gained awareness of New Zealand's multi-cultural community because different cultures have different ways of communication and various events that I gained awareness of through my discussions. I also had to be mature because I was only 19, but had to communicate effectively and appropriately with people aged 15 through to 90. While we mainly worked alone, I reported to a team leader and interacted with other Auckland Council employees - ranging from engineers, planners, park rangers, to other call centre members - so had to be mature. I also gained awareness about team work and cooperation. I had to be responsible for being at work on time, completing tasks to the highest standard, organise my workspace and multi-task, all which can be further attributed to aspects of maturity. Since a call centre role is primarily dealing with people, it also shows enthusiasm for people, since I have to be approachable and well-mannered. There were various systems that I had to learn to work with, and a variety of topics that the public wanted to discuss, thus showing that I enjoy the learning process and am capable of arming myself with knowledge about lots of things. 

As you can see, thinking about the aspects of a single job can already give you half of the attributes that they are looking for. 

It's not about the specific extracurricular, but how you can talk about it as a learning experience. 

Certainty about your career choice can stem from your personal or family interactions with the health system and how you have seen them as experiences to pursue. For example, if you've broken a bone, you can talk about how you've been to ED and to orthopaedics, have surface knowledge about how a hospital works, and have firsthand experience of being a patient. You could talk about how the doctor had a positive impact on you. 

If it's a family member, you can similarly talk about how it impacted you. For example, my father had cancer and had to see an oncologist. I discussed the communication between my father and the doctor, how he included our family in decision-making, how the process worked, how the doctor broke bad news, how the doctor discussed new research showing that some trials may be effective. I discussed how this had huge impacts on me, because the doctor ended up giving my father an extended life, allowing him to see me grow up, graduate primary, intermediate and high school, gain awards, and scholarships. 

This has been a long post, but I hope it gives you ideas about how you can discuss your experiences.