Introduction to EC for Pre-Med

Today, we will explore EC for Pre-Med.

There are three main ways to enter medical school in the United States:

• Combined BA/MD or BS/MD

• EAP: Early Assurance Program

• Pre-Med

Among these three, we will discuss the following based on entering medical school through pre-med. Pre-Med refers to the process of completing a general major and then studying in medical school for 4-5 years.

This is the track that many students take to enter medical school. In fact, many students say they have entered Pre-Med, but only Duke University and the University of Notre Dame offer a true Pre-Med program within the Top 20.

This means that if you choose Pre-Med in the Common App, there are only two schools, and the rest mostly take the path of choosing a general major, taking the medical school entrance exam in the third year, and then proceeding with the interview. Even Duke and the University of Notre Dame have well-prepared prerequisite subjects for medical school preparation, but it’s not that they study the medical course right after admission, so it would be good to note this. Since students who are considering the Medical field have high academic achievement, many of them want to go to a high-ranking university. It is true that you need to be competitive by preparing all the elements needed for university admission, such as GPA /Standardized Test/ Essay/ Extracurricular Activities. It is true that the higher the GPA and Standardized Test scores, the better, and the important thing is how to structure the EC. Then, I will talk about EC for Pre-Med.

The majors shown in the image above (Biology/ Anatomy and Physiology/ Organic Chemistry/ Neuroscience/ Biostatics/ Biomechanics/ cognitive Psychology/ Biochemistry/ Physics/ Human Anatomy and Physiology/ Psychology/ Genetics/Nutrition and Dietetics) are popular majors chosen to enter medical school. In addition to this, it is possible to enter medical school with majors that have nothing to do with Pre-Med. However, since most students who want to enter medical school choose these majors, universities want to select very smart students when selecting students from these majors. Therefore, it is true that you need to strengthen your advantages with EC because your competitiveness may be insufficient with only GPA and Standardized Test scores.

Students can choose Extracurricular Activities in three main categories.

• Summer Program - Research Program

• Competition

• Volunteer

What I will focus on here is the Summer Program. Among many summer programs, I will introduce a research-based program that is considered to be academically complete.

The summer camp list introduced by MIT is in the image of the photo. In fact, these camps are hard to pass and need to have academic completeness, so use them for reference and start talking about Summer Camp that students who want to major in medicine would be interested in.

Preparation for Summer Camp Application

The application documents for the Research-based Summer Camp are as shown in the image. You need to show that you have academic completeness, so there are many documents to submit to the summer camp. From now on, I will introduce a Competitive Summer Camp.

*CDC Camp - Center for Disease Control Museum Disease Detective Camp

CDC, which has become familiar thanks to the pandemic, opens a camp for high school students at the Center for Disease Control Museum Disease Detective Camp. It’s only a 5-day camp, but it’s a very competitive camp with a pass rate of less than 5%. It’s a very good summer camp for students preparing for Pre-Med, who mainly collect and analyze public health data.

*SSRP - Summer Science Research Program

It is a program conducted for high school students at Rockefeller University, which produces strong research results in the medical field. The research process is conducted with a mentor. It is a program where professors and Ph. D also participate as mentors and very in-depth research is conducted. It is only open to 11-12th graders, and the peculiarity is that it is impossible to apply for a competition with one research in this camp. However, it is possible to apply for other summer camps with that research. It is a fact that it is a very good opportunity because the mentor is mainly a professor or Ph.D in a high-level camp.

*SSP-Summer Science Program

It is a summer camp where three students form a team and conduct research for 39 days, and research is conducted with professors according to three categories, Astrophysics, Biochemistry, and Genomics. There is a camp cost, but the cost can be exempted depending on the parents’ income.

*Jackson Laboratory Summer Student Program

It is a summer camp conducted at The Jackson Lab, and rather than targeting only high school students preparing for university, it is a camp for students who want to go to medical school later. It is a peculiar camp for 12th graders who have decided on a university, and after completing the camp for 10 weeks, you can receive a salary. Research is the main activity, and there is also a separate program for college students who will enter medicine later, so it would be good to remember.

*Simons Summer Research Program

It is a very meaningful Research Camp that completes a paper abstract and makes a poster to finish the Science Summer Camp program.

*Other Summer Camps

The other summer camp programs in the list of photos are also very high-level camps, so it would be good to refer to them. What you need to remember is that the camps listed at the bottom marked with a line are regionally limited programs, so they are only offered to students in that region. Among the elements needed for university admission, today we looked at Summer Camp for Pre-Med students who would like to participate in Extracurricular Activities. Remember the deadline and apply to get a chance to be evaluated as a competitive student.

If you have any questions about the Summer Camp that suits the student’s interests, please feel free to contact us, A-One Institute, and we will explain in detail. Thank you.