The Best Extracurriculars for Medical School & What Counts

Extracurricular activities are some of the most important aspects of your medical school application. But most students focus only on getting a high GPA or MCAT score. That’s a huge mistake because non-academic factors are arguably even more important than high stats.

Think of it this way: If you had to choose between two students with similar high stats, but one has volunteered for two years in a hospital, and the other student has five different activities they participated in for six months each, who would you admit?

That’s exactly what an admissions officer would think when they have thousands of students to decide between. Your activities likely won’t make or break your application, but they’re still a vital piece of the puzzle and something you need to dedicate time and effort to.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the best extracurriculars for your medical school application and exactly how to approach writing about them.

Our List of the Best Extracurriculars for Pre-Med Students

The table below shows the best extracurricular activities for your medical school application:

Note: No single extracurricular activity will automatically guarantee your admission to medical school. Strong applicants typically demonstrate meaningful involvement, sustained commitment, leadership, service, and reflection rather than simply accumulating as many activities or hours as possible.

Methodology

We chose these activities based on what we see in successful applicants accepted to medical school. Here’s what we considered when building our list:

• Activities that show leadership: We prioritized activities that can easily show leadership skills, as these are some of the best activities to put on your application
• Activities that prove you know what working as a physician feels like: We looked at activities such as clinical experience that prove you’ve actually been involved in the process of running a clinic or hospital. This is the best way to show you know what it takes to be a physician.
• Activities that show teamwork: As a physician, you’ll work with surgeons, colleagues, nurses, and other individuals every day. Your teamwork skills need to be impeccable, so we prioritized activities that can easily show this on your application.
• Activities that prove you have good communication skills: Communication is one of the skills you’ll use every day as a physician, as you’ll constantly have to be communicating with patients and other colleagues. We looked at activities that show these communication skills, since admissions committees are actively looking for this trait.
• Activities that emphasize your empathy: Admissions officers are looking for students who show genuine empathy, not forced kindness. The best physicians can truly put themselves in their patients' shoes to give them the best care possible, and admissions committees like to see this in your activities.

After working with thousands of successful applicants, we know what admissions officers like to see in your activities and extracurriculars. We handpicked the best activities to strengthen your application.

Ideas for High Schoolers Interested in Medicine

Here's an overview of top extracurricular opportunities for aspiring pre-med students:

Tips for International Students

As an international medical school applicant applying to U.S. schools, your extracurriculars must prove academic readiness, show you understand the U.S. healthcare system, and demonstrate how your international background strengthens a U.S. medical school class. 

Because fewer U.S. MD programs accept international students, your experiences must be deliberate and clearly explained. If you’re planning on applying to an Ivy League medical school, it’s especially important to choose strong extracurriculars. 

Here are the most important, practical steps for choosing the right extracurriculars:

1. Get Verifiable Clinical Experience in the United States, Even if It’s Limited

Many U.S. medical schools prefer that students have some U.S.-based clinical experience. Even when it’s not explicitly required, it significantly strengthens your application.

Don’t rely solely on clinical experience from your home country. Instead:

• Obtain U.S. hospital volunteering or clinic roles.
• Complete structured shadowing with U.S.-licensed physicians (even if it’s virtual).
• Work in a U.S. patient-facing role such as medical assistant or scribe (if eligible).

This shows admissions committees that you understand:

• HIPAA and patient privacy expectations
• U.S. physician-patient communication norms
• Interdisciplinary team dynamics

Without U.S. exposure, reviewers may question whether you understand what practicing medicine in the U.S. actually looks like.

2. Build Real, Substantial Clinical Experience in Your Home Country 

Choose a role in your home country where you interact with patients or directly support patient care. Stay in that role long enough to handle real responsibility and see patterns over time. Aim for consistent weekly involvement for several months or longer, not a few isolated shifts.

When you write about the experience, don’t assume the reader understands your healthcare system. Spell out the details:

• Where you worked: public hospital, private clinic, rural health center, mobile clinic
• Who you served: uninsured patients, low-income communities, refugees, older adults, etc.
• What you did: patient intake, translation, transport, discharge support, health education, assisting staff with patient needs
• What you learned: a specific barrier you saw repeatedly (cost, distance, language, stigma, limited staffing, limited equipment) and how it affected care

Connect your experience to U.S. training on AMCAS and throughout your personal statement, secondary essays, and interview answers. For example, you could write, "This experience taught me to communicate across language and cultural barriers, which will help me support diverse patients in U.S. clinical settings” as part of your activity description/Most Meaningful experience section.

This approach makes your international clinical work easy to evaluate and shows the distinct perspective you bring as an international applicant.

3. Use Research to Demonstrate Academic Readiness for US Medical Training

Research experience gives admissions committees a universal signal that you can think critically, analyze data, and engage with scientific literature at a high level.

Research experience is also extremely common among U.S. matriculants. At many top Ivy League programs, nearly 100% of applicants report research or lab experience. That means research isn’t a bonus application booster; it’s often expected. As an international student with low acceptance odds, you want to have as much as you can.

Focus on depth and intellectual contribution. Be specific about:

• Your research question
• The methods you used
• Your role in data collection or analysis
• Any presentations, abstracts, or publications

A publication is helpful and can help you stand out more, but it’s not required. What matters more is showing you understand the research process and can clearly explain your contribution.

If possible, collaborate with faculty who publish internationally or present your work at conferences. Even one poster presentation can strengthen credibility.

How to List and Write About Your Extracurriculars in AMCAS

The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) Work and Activities section allows you to enter up to 15 extracurriculars/experiences. Don’t write a full essay for each activity. Try to be as descriptive as possible while staying within the 700-character limit.

For each experience, AMCAS requires:

• Experience Type (e.g., Clinical Experience – Paid, Clinical Experience – Volunteer, Research, Leadership, Community Service, Teaching, etc.)
• Experience Name
• Organization Name
• Start and End Dates
• Total Hours
• Contact Name and Title
• 700-character description

You can then designate up to three entries as most meaningful, which increases the description character limit to 1,325.

How to Write the 700-Character AMCAS Experience Description

Your activity descriptions are more important than the activity itself. This is when you connect the activity to how it’ll help you as a future physician.

Follow this formula when writing each activity description:

1. State your role clearly. Include where it was and your title.
2. Describe what you actually did. In paragraph form, list every responsibility that shows you took initiative and learned from the experience.
3. Include scope or outcomes if possible. Whenever possible, quantify your impact. If it’s not quantifiable, explain how your presence supported the organization’s efforts.

Here’s an example of what an experience description could look like for an Emergency Department Volunteer at Mount Sinai Hospital:

“Emergency Department Volunteer at Mount Sinai Hospital

I assisted nurses and patient care technicians in a 50-bed urban ED. I transported patients to imaging and inpatient units, restocked procedure carts, prepared rooms for incoming admissions, and supported discharge workflows. I communicated with patients and families during high-volume shifts, helped elderly patients with mobility, and participated in team coordination during trauma activations.”

In the above example, the individual uses specific responsibilities that show they understand the ins and outs of a hospital. Talking with patients and families during their shift shows that the individual has seen the hardships of patient care and still wants to pursue the career.

How to Write the ‘Most Meaningful’ Section (1,325 Additional Characters)

For your three most meaningful activities, clearly explain:

• Why this experience mattered
• What responsibility challenged you
• What changed in your thinking
• How it shaped your understanding of medicine

Don’t use vague phrases like “This strengthened my passion for medicine.” Instead, explain what actually changed in your thinking, behavior, or skills and why that change matters.

Use this example to understand how to write the most meaningful activity description:

“I volunteered weekly at a women’s homeless shelter, helping distribute meals and hygiene supplies. During one shift, I spoke with an attendee who quietly asked if we had tampons. We didn’t. She explained that feminine hygiene products were rarely donated and often rationed.

That conversation stayed with me. I realized that dignity, not just shelter, affects health and self-worth. Over the next month, I organized a donation drive focused specifically on feminine hygiene and personal care products. I partnered with two campus organizations and assembled 120 care packages, which we distributed before the holidays.

This experience changed how I define healthcare service. I stopped thinking about volunteering as completing assigned tasks and started thinking about identifying unmet needs and responding to them. I now approach service with more initiative and awareness of how small interventions can restore dignity.”

In the example above, the volunteer shows initiative. They turned a conversation with a stranger into action. The volunteer saw a problem and worked to solve it by organizing a drive focused on feminine hygiene products.

An admissions officer sees the initiative here, but this example can also support the narrative of helping underserved individuals.

FAQs 

Do I Need Clinical and Non-Clinical Extracurriculars to Get Into Med School?

No, you don’t need clinical or non-clinical extracurriculars to get into medical school. However, the vast majority of applicants apply with both clinic and non-clinical extracurriculars, so you should also do the same if you want to be competitive.

How Do I Gain Leadership Experience in Extracurriculars?

To build leadership experience in your extracurriculars, ask your supervisor for more responsibility. Take initiative to build trust and connections so your supervisor feels confident you can take on additional tasks. A supervisor is more inclined to give you additional tasks if they’ve worked with you for a while, which is why longitudinal involvement is so important.

What Are the Four Tiers of Extracurricular Activities for Medical School Admissions?

The four tiers of extracurriculars for medical school are Rare and Exceptional Achievement (Tier 1), High-Level Leadership and Recognition (Tier 2), Moderate Responsibility and Involvement (Tier 3), and Basic Participation (Tier 4). Ideally, you should have at least one extracurricular activity from each tier to show a diverse profile.