Years One and Two

The first two years of college for me in terms of getting ready for med school involved classes, volunteering, and the same stuff I liked in high school. It goes without saying, but getting good grades during college is a good thing - as far as med school is concerned. One, because it helps your GPA. As premeds, we do obsess about this crazy little number, but only because it is one of two big numbers admissions committees look at and also obsess about. The second reason getting good grades in premed coursework is also beneficial is because it helps with the MCAT, the second important number schools look at. Believe me, you do not want to have to learn redox reactions, electrostatics, and renal physiology during your MCAT semester junior year, while you've got other classes going on also. IMO, your MCAT semester should be all about reviewing, not learning the material you need to. But I digress. This is about the first two years. Classes: take them and do well. Also, aside from the med school prerequisites, take classes (i.e. major) in something that you're interested in. Naturally, most people wanting to do medicine have some interest in biology, and if that's your thing then go for it. But if you are all about Classic Civ, then by all means major in that. Med schools don't really care what you major in so long as you do well in your major and your pre-reqs. Speaking of pre-reqs, they'll usually include at least the following: a year each of biology, chemistry, physics, and organic chemistry, each with lab. Random other things some school might require: psych, calc, statistics, english/comp/rhet.

Now as for non-class stuff, please have at it. One of the most common things to do is volunteer, and usually at a hospital. Again, volunteering - a good thing. Schools like to see that you do things outside of class and also that you're getting some clinical exposure. Clinical exposure is pretty important in that it conveys you have some idea of what goes on in medicine, aside from all the business of Scrubs, House, and Grey's (all shows which yours truly claims viewership to). I volunteered at a hospital in my college town starting my second semester freshman year, something I kept up through college. I also volunteered at my hometown hospital for my first two college summers. In addition to demonstrating commitment (aka staying with something longer than a week) another thing you'll get out of staying with something for an extended period of time are anecdotes and experiences you can actually talk about in your applications and interviews later on. Outside of the hospital, I was involved in the premed club (mostly for the different volunteer activities), EMS club, and a program teaching grade-schoolers chemistry. Now while I spent the majority of my volunteer time in a hospital, this doesn't mean that that's all you're confined to. Similar to the whole college major thing, do what you're interested in. I for one, wanted to get an idea of what went on in a hospital and in different departments, so that's what I did. If you're a hands-on person, you've got Habitat for Humanity; if you're a counselor, crisis lines are a possibility.

Also, definitely keep up with the stuff that you were interested in during high school. Myself, I trained in Tae Kwon Do in high school. Buuut, I never finished my black belt there. So my freshman year was spent, among other things, retraining and getting ready for my black belt test at the end of the year. Not only did it give me something other than winter break and spring break to look forward to, nothing really beat working on a punching bag, pad work, and some sparring to burn off some energy. Again, do what you like. Makes sense, but some people just don't do it.