Applicants who demonstrate leadership and take initiative often impress medical school admissions committees. Leadership is appealing because medical schools frequently seek individuals who have the potential to become leaders in the field of medicine and within their respective specialty.
While there are many ways to demonstrate leadership, it is important to first consider what leadership means in this context. Leadership is the quality of taking on responsibility for an activity or project, assuming ownership over it and directing a team to ensure the project is accomplished successfully.
[Learn about pursuing leadership skills for success in a health care career.]
Leadership often requires taking initiative and being a self-starter. Premedical students can demonstrate these skills in myriad ways, even through activities that do not directly relate to medicine, such as athletics, the arts and music.
Regardless of the activity, focus on taking an idea and bringing it to fruition. The skills you develop in this process will help you during your medical education and future career as a physician, where you are expected to lead a team of health care providers and take on the immense responsibility of caring for others’ health.
Here are four common ways you can cultivate these skills.
1. Start an organization: Starting a club on campus or a nonprofit organization is an excellent way to demonstrate leadership skills. It can also serve as an opportunity to highlight your ability to work well with others.
If you plan on doing this, it is crucial to ensure that you have a clearly defined mission. Just starting a club for the sake of starting a club does not qualify as leadership.
You have to define the club or organization’s mission very clearly, recruit a team of dedicated people and determine specific activities through which you will realize the club’s mission.
R emember : What you accomplish through your organization is much more important than your title. Being an organization’s secretary and successfully providing on-campus tutoring to freshmen is much more impressive than being a club president without a defined mission or tangible accomplishments.
[See how extracurricular activities may improve medical school applications.]
2. Lead a research project: If you enjoy research, it is a great way to develop strong leadership experience. While it may be difficult as a premedical student to initiate your own research project from scratch, you can gain leadership by becoming involved in a professor’s research study, joining an established ongoing project, and gradually branching off and cultivating your own project as you gain more experience.
When you first join a research team, make sure to educate yourself about the specific topic and show your interest in it. Gradually, as you demonstrate your commitment, most professors will give you the autonomy to design your own experiments or studies. You can then use this opportunity to produce tangible results, which you can incorporate into a manuscript or presentation.
[Explore how to elevate medical school applications with research experience.]
3. Champion a cause: If you are passionate about a specific cause, identify an organization that is working on that cause and become a champion for it by joining the organization’s team.
For example, if you are interested in HIV in developing countries, find an organization that is working to provide HIV treatments in sub-Saharan Africa, volunteer with the organization and devote yourself to helping the organization realize its mission.
Organizations are often looking for dedicated volunteers. You can help by fundraising, increasing awareness about the cause and making yourself available to participate in the organization’s events.
You can fundraise in a variety of ways, such as organizing an event or using social media to initiate a fundraising campaign. Like research, you may not have much autonomy and responsibility early on, but as you demonstrate your commitment, you will gradually earn more responsibility.
4. Give to the underserved: One excellent way to demonstrate leadership is to develop a project to give back to underserved populations. Make sure you create a project that is specific and addresses an existing need.
For example, you may find that diabetes is a common problem within homeless shelters near you. You can work with the shelters to develop a program focused on educating this population about diabetes prevention, including teaching shelter residents how to prepare healthy meals and beginning an exercise program that can help them lower their blood sugar levels .
Another example is working with a local after-school program for children from low-income backgrounds to promote healthy eating habits. There are countless other ways to develop leadership, and these are just a few examples to help you get started.
Whatever you choose, remember that becoming a strong leader requires time, dedication and commitment. Avoid spreading yourself too thin by wanting to assume a leadership role in too many projects.
Additionally, regardless of the activity you embark on, keep in mind your ultimate mission, make sure that you see the project through and achieve results. In doing so, you will gain invaluable experience, prepare yourself to take care of patients and prove to medical schools that you have the aptitude to become a leader who could one day advance the medical profession.
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4 Ways Premed Students Can Develop Strong Leadership Experience originally appeared on usnews.com
