Being a pre-med student in college can be challenging. Because of this, I wanted to share a few tips and tricks that I’ve learned or have been advised about throughout my time as a pre-med student at Saint Louis University (SLU) so that fellow students who may have not learned about them yet or upcoming pre-meds who are about to start on their college journey, can best prepare themselves for future medical school applications. 

The main things I’m going to be focusing on are shadowing, volunteering, research and leadership positions, building connections and relationships with professors, and grades. It’s important to start as early as you can with all of these tips, especially since some require certain forms to be filled out that could take some time to process. 

1. ) Shadowing 

Key Takeaways: 

• Make an appointment via EAB Navigate to participate in SLU’s Shadowing Program 
• Email the SLU SSM Emergency Department for twelve hours of Emergency Department Shadowing
• Call multiple hospitals to ask about their shadowing programs and opportunities 
• Ask your own personal doctors if you can shadow them
• 100+ hours of shadowing needed for most medical schools 

The summer time is a great time to do shadowing. If you are struggling to find doctors or hospitals that allow you to shadow and you’re in the St. Louis area then there are a few options SLU offers its students for shadowing opportunities. SLU Shadowing Program: Pre-Health Student Resources is a great way for you to start. You can book an appointment on EAB navigate specifically for shadowing with an advisor who will help you take the necessary steps to take part in the process. All you do is fill out a few necessary forms, send them over via email, and your shadowing advisor and the program will help find a doctor for you that you can shadow. 

The program allows you to get up to 80+ hours of shadowing with a variety of specialities in which you can choose to shadow in. You can also reach out to SLU’s Emergency Department  by emailing them @[email protected] for shadowing experience and get a total of twelve hours of shadowing with them. This already puts you at 92 hours of shadowing, only eight hours shy of what most recommend of the 100+ hours. If you have already done the paperwork for the physician shadowing program, most of the time there’s no additional paperwork required for you to shadow through the emergency department as long as you have specified that you have already filled out the paperwork prior when emailing them. 

Most will tell you to ideally aim for 100 hours of shadowing if you currently don’t have any hours or have less than that, but keep in mind the more the better. This is especially important when shadowing different doctors and fields of medicine as it will show medical schools that you have properly been exposed to a variety of different doctors and fields and that you are genuinely serious about going into medicine. You can try to reach out to different hospitals and ask about their shadowing opportunities. Unfortunately, there are many hospitals that require you to connect with a physician yourself to shadow, which can be very difficult if you don’t have many connections or know many doctors. Nonetheless, keep trying, ask around, you could perhaps even try asking your personal doctors or primary care doctor to shadow them. 

2.) Volunteering

KeyTakeaways: 

• Look at  Saint Louis University Community Partners Database : SLU and the service opportunities and the community partners you can reach out to 
  • Can also complete the Service Interest Form – Serve, Learn, Engage (google.com) to have them help you find an opportunity based on your specific interests and requirements
• Look and reach out to organizations and clubs listed on SLU Groups that provide volunteering opportunities for you to do during the school year
• 100+ hours of community service should be the aim
• Quality over quantity

Volunteering is a must as well. You can head on over to Saint Louis University Community Partners Database : SLU where there are multiple volunteering opportunities and organizations listed you can reach out to based upon your interests. It’s a great way to find out more about what types of organizations are around you and which ones you resonate with and want to volunteer in. If you are looking for something specific, like a one time volunteer opportunity with a specific number of hours, that’s in person vs remote, etc., you can also fill out the service interest form listed on the website where once the form is sent over someone can help you find something specifically tailored to your needs and interests and send the information over. 

Another important aspect to volunteering, is that it is important you find something during the school year that you can volunteer at regularly and consistently to show medical schools that you are not just only volunteering during the summer. This can be done through organizations on campus like Campus Kitchen – SLU Groups where you can volunteer and choose a shift to volunteer in weekly and stick to regularly throughout the whole semester. You can also look at all the different organizations and clubs listed on SLU Groups and find tons of different clubs and organizations that provide volunteering opportunities for students you can reach out to and be a part of. 

It’s also important to aim for at least 100 hours of volunteering if not more. Each medical school’s requirements vary, however most definitely want some volunteering and service based time. It’s also important that you focus on the quality of the community service. Some examples of volunteering that can be done through volunteering at a hospital or clinic, going on a medical service/shadowing trip (can look into Saint Louis University Global Brigades – SLU Groups (sluconnection.com)), volunteering with organizations that help those in need, etc. 

3.) Research

Key Takeaways: 

• Send emails to professors at SLU or other universities who have labs that you are interested in joining and don’t give up!

Not everyone does research, but this can be a great way to set you apart from other medical school applicants, especially if you stick with it long enough to have your name listed in some publications.. You can either do research for paid work, college credit or volunteering. It may seem hard to find a research lab to work with or that has an open spot for you, but it’s all about trial and error and being consistent with reaching out to different labs until one eventually says yes! Try reaching out to professors with labs that peak your interests in the universities and campuses around you. You can simply send emails giving a brief description of who you are, why you would like to join their lab and an attachment of your resume. Therefore, they get a sense for the type of person you are and are more inclined to consider you as a potential candidate for being a research assistant or undergraduate student worker. If they say that they don’t have an open position currently, don’t give up, keep going! Some may even tell you that they don’t currently have an open position in their lab but that you can reach out again during the school year to try to get a spot, since not as many students continue with doing research during the school year and more positions are available to take up. 

4.) Leadership Positions

Key Takeaways: 

• Explore the different forms of leadership positions
• Be a leader in something you’re passionate about and do for the long term

Leadership positions are also very important. You don’t have to be the president of a club to be a leader, leadership can be found in different forms. For example, you can be a summer camp leader, a mentor, a TA, etc. You can go out of your way to get more involved in multiple organizations and clubs to establish your presence on campus and to find out what you like. The most important thing about leadership however is that you are joining organizations that have a message that resonates with you and that you know you are willing to dedicate time and effort into. People who read your medical school applications and interviewers who talk to you are going to be able to tell whether the things you’ve done are genuinely important to you or not. Therefore, it’s important that you do what you like and enjoy spending time on it. That way the passion and enthusiasm is able to show itself naturally. 

5.) Building Connections/Relationships with Professors

Key Takeaways: 

• Go up to professors after class and during office hours to ask questions
• Sit up near the front of the class for recognition

This is extremely important. It can truly be one of the most beneficial tips for future success. In the future, you’re going to need recommendation letters for jobs, applications, etc., there’s no way around it. Networking and building connections in general is very important. By building connections and genuine relationships with your professors, they’ll be so much more inclined to write recommendation letters for you. Not only that, but they will actually know you on a personal level and will be able to talk about your character and personality. The types of letters that you get from teachers you had a good class grade with but never got to know the instructor on a personal level, are going to be the types of recommendation letters that are not going to be as detailed or insightful into your character. 

Because of the fact that you are most likely going to find yourself in large courses in lecture halls sometimes with over 150+ students, you need to go out of your way to talk to your professors and get to know them. Go to their office hours, go up to them in the few minutes after class is over to ask them questions before they leave, sit up near the front of the lecture hall so they are able to recognize you more, etc. This is one of the main tips that people will tell you that they should have done more starting from the very beginning of their freshman year. 

This tip isn’t so much for the summer, but instead just a gentle reminder to keep in mind when the school year starts, so that you can go to office hours or reach out to your professors more often. You don’t always have to have specific questions to ask them about the content. You can come in and quickly preview some of the material to have them reassure that you understood it correctly and then overtime establish a relationship with them to where you can simply just stop by and say hi.   

6.) Grades

Key Takeaways: 

• Take required core class during the summer to free up more room during the school year for study time or for more science classes to increase science/math gpa
• Review previous material and upcoming material to stay up to date with content and knowledge needed for the MCAT

They’re most definitely important, if not the most important thing of all. Now, there’s not much to do with course grades in the summer, especially rigorous STEM courses that are usually taken during the year, but you can still get a head start on making sure you’re prepared for the upcoming school year ahead. If you’re able to, you can try getting some of your core requirements such as public speaking or sociology during the summer so you can have more room or time in your schedule to study during the school year. You can also do this to try to take more science or math courses during the semester if you need to boost your science/math gpa for medical school applications.

For example, one thing that you could do if you’re going to be a sophomore this upcoming year, you can start by getting a general gist of what Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology are going to be like by watching a few videos or skimming through a few online sources. It doesn’t have to be anything intense, after all the summer is meant to be a break from school. However, by reviewing over past prerequisite courses you’ve taken that are going to be helpful for you in the future, like gen chem or gen bio, and by having a preview of upcoming courses, you can mentally prepare yourself for what’s to come and be ahead of the game and stay up to date with the information needed to take the MCAT. 

All in all, I hope some of these tips help some of the new incoming freshmen or sophomores, or perhaps maybe even provide a new tip or two to the upperclassmen as well before they send out their medical school applications, to prepare for any future medical school applications. Make sure you do your own research for what is required for your applications because every medical school is different and may require different amounts of hours or requirements. 

Bonus tips for those who have stayed along this far is to look at the medical school’s mission statements. Some schools like WashuMed are going to be more research oriented and therefore be looking for applicants with more research experience vs schools like SLUMed that have mission statements that are more service based and are most likely going to be seeking out applicants with lots of service and volunteering experience. In those cases, you may consider wanting to get more than a 100+ hours of volunteering and really make sure that you’re working with a variety of different volunteering organizations. Another bonus but often forgotten tip, is to look at the Pre-Health newspapers sent out and the information and events posted on the Pre-Health canvas page. They often have multiple job and volunteer opportunities mentioned in their newsletters and good informational sources about medical school applications on their canvas page. Stay up to date, it’s going to be a constant work-in-progress so don’t give up and good luck!