By Shalom Adams
At AUC, there are plenty of opportunities to join a club, organization or interest group while continuing through medical school. With 20+ student organizations on campus, students come together over a variety of shared interests, including academic, ethnic, service-based, recreational, religious and more.
Each group hosts events throughout the semester, from social gatherings and sports tournaments to alumni talks and clinical workshops.
Interest groups range from AUC-specific clubs to campus chapters of national organizations, such as Phi Chi, one of the largest medical and service learning fraternities in the U.S. AUC’s Phi Chi chapter offers students access to mentors and one-on-one tutoring for all classes, as well as numerous events throughout the semester.
In addition, there are academic and medical interest groups which help students gain clinical experience and provide learning workshops around suturing, intubation, imaging and other key skills, such as the American Medical Student Association (AMSA).
Students also have the opportunity to join groups focusing on particular specialties including radiology, emergency medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, neurology, surgery and more. These interest groups enable students to explore a specific career path while still in medical school.
Many groups will also host meetings with alumni who can share their own experience with a specialty and offer career advice, enabling students to get a head start on establishing their professional goals.
Interest groups are just one of the many aspects that make AUC’s community so special. These experiences give us a new perspective on our current studies and help us focus on aspects we enjoy in our day-to-day material.
They allow us to meet new friends, build leadership and clinical skills, relax and socialize, find new hobbies and maintain longtime interests, and develop into the future doctors that we’re all striving to become.
