Future Medical Student needs advice on Premed Courses

melancholly

Swirlywurly wrote: »

I would find something else to write about in a personal statement unless you are really stuck. All these courses show is that you can afford to go on one of these courses. They do not show dedication to medicine in any way and they are not a novelty as many people go on them.

Work experience is a must if you want to apply for medicine and along with other extra curricular activities, should be part of what makes up your PS.

Basically what No Future said.

although i agree that an expensive course is not the best plan of attack for getting experience, having been involved with interviewing prospective medical students, it is a hell of a lot better than nothing! if people have other experience to talk about then that's great, and so much the better, but it's not fair to completely dismiss these courses as they can be very useful for some people, but as with everything there is no option that will be appropriate for everyone....

some people struggle to get experience and it can be limited to those with personal contacts, which is tough. i've interviewed some people with outstanding experience on paper who just didn't seem to have taken in anything from what they had done so came across badly. the only rule i can see is that no experience at all is very bad - from there on it's what a student takes away from it that matters. i certainly wouldn't bother with more than one paid course though.