Leadership:
-club sports athlete (on the team 4 years, captain 1 year, 1000+ hours)
-TA for physics department (3 years, 500 hours)
-RA (2 years, 1000+ hours)
Volunteering:
-club at my undergrad that paired college students with community member with a disability to hang out once a week (member 4 years, program coordinator 3 years, 500 hours)
-patient advocate for Spanish speaking patients at local free clinic (1 year during application cycle, 100 hours)
-volunteer at local Arc as chaperone for events for people with developmental disabilities (1 year during application cycle, 50 hours)
Paid employment:
-camp counselor at sleep-away camp for people with disabilities, providing typical counselor stuff as well as personal care (1 summer, 1000+ hours)
-camp counselor at day camp for people with disabilities, acting as gym teacher/leadership staff and assisting with personal care (1 summer, 400 hours)
Research:
-typical undergrad lab gig, resulting in poster presentation (1 summer, 400 hours)
-clinical research technician at big academic medical center, no posters/publications (1 year during application cycle, 2000+ hours)
-senior comprehensive project for my major: involved literature review/giving a school-wide lecture/writing up a paper (during 1 semester, 100 hours)
Shadowing:
-50 hours with family medicine physicians working with underserved & Spanish speaking populations
-10 hours in ICU
Awards:
-department award for achievement, commitment, and leadership in my major
-award for compassion in medicine which came with a prize to help finance my application cycle
Other notes:
-Im half-Mexican/half-white, and was very clear about this in my application; while Im sure I got some sort of URM boost, I am white-passing and both of my parents are physicians, so I grew up privileged. My cousins, aunts, and grandparents on the Mexican side of my family had a much tougher time and many of them lived with us to escape domestic violence, alcohol/drug abuse, general chaos/poverty, etc. I did not grow up speaking Spanish since one of my parents does not speak it, so I learned in school. I now speak at a high level, but did not claim I was by any means fluent.
-One of my siblings has very significant disabilities (hence my interest in working with people with disabilities) and this influenced my life, interest in medicine, and personal statement a lot. This came up at every single interview.
-A big advantage I had was that I did a lot of creative writing in high school and spent a lot of time on my essays/personal statement (which were brought up quite a few times on the interview trail). This is one area where I think applicants can really distinguish themselves!
-Another big advantage: I saw a therapist both as a teenager and through my undergrads psychological services. I technically had a diagnosis of depression while in high school but I honestly think I just needed someone to talk through the things I was going through with (as the twin of someone with significant disabilities, the roommate of a cousin who was addicted to heroin and ended up overdosing, etc). Going to therapy really helped me learn to talk about the different parts of my life that made me who I am but are typically not so easy to talk about. It also made me way more introspective/helped me understand who I am, what motivates me, what my values are, etc. This definitely made me a better interviewee!
