Thoughts on this plan for upcoming freshman

General Premed Discussion
1

Freshman year - get into hospice volunteering (once a week, 3 hrs), serving breakfast for community members (once/twice weekly, 2/4 hrs), look for research (a few months in), obviously hobbies

Sophomore year - freshman ECs, Meals on Wheels (once weekly, 1-2 hrs), join clubs I’m interested in (maybe try to get leadership?)

Summer: take/study MCAT

Junior year: freshman and sophomore ECs, maybe look into mentor programs for upcoming undergraduates?

Summer: application stuff

Senior year: continue ECs

Note: for med schools I am hopeful to apply (and be competitive) at any med schools around T30s. As for focusing on tuning in my study habits since college isn’t like high school, I would say that I have streamlined studying through notes and making high quality anki cards. I also plan to keep on my anki for prereq classes to lighten the burden for the MCAT when it comes. For shadowing, I have a parent who is a doctor (unfair I know) so I should be able to do it over breaks.

tl;dr: I will shadow and study through anki.

Any thoughts/advice? Am I shooting too high? All of these things listed I am passionate about but not through a significant life experience just through interest I guess. I also thought my ECs would be more cookie cutter but wanted to show passion through long-term commitment.

tl;dr: these ECs I am passionate for.

Also, what about committee letters? (this is what my undergrad says)

(Like most large, public universities, there are far too many candidates at [college] for a central evaluation by a single advisor or committee. So, you should seek letters from people who’ve directly supervised you in the classroom and profession-related activities.)

What should I do?

Any advice for research (what do I need to know besides biology and statistics, advice for finding a good PI)?

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While it’s good that you have stuff planned out, make sure you actually enjoy your time in college. Take everything one day at a time. As far as your planning, this looks like a solid timeline, just make sure you stay consistent. Med schools likely prefer that you do hospice, for example, all 4 years of college rather than just a year and then switching to something new. As far as how to find a PI, I was told by an advisor to always look at the younger/newer faculty first, because those are the PIs that are most motivated and want it the most (“it” being publishing). Good luck!