Advice For Doctors In Training - Part Two : College Students

View Part One
I've recently had a lot of enthusiastic interest from people at varying levels of training! Some very good specific questions as well as requests for generalized advice. I'm always happy to answer specific questions and I encourage my readers to keep them coming! I've also decided to release a series of posts with my specific thoughts about things that may benefit future doctors at different times during their training. I'll post a new one periodically.
Part Two is geared towards college students that are interested in neonatology. Again, I'll break it down into five points:

1. Study HARD! You may recognize this as a repeat from Part One. Studying for me was always the number one deciding factor for academic success. I put it at the top of this list for a different reason. For most people interested in a career in medicine, the biggest hurdle will be getting accepted to medical school. The ratio of number applying to number accepted is much different than for colleges. You may ask "what about the difficulty of medical school?" Well, the fact is that once you are accepted to medical school, they've made a pretty sizable investment in you and will work hard to help you succeed.
2. Get involved in some extra-curricular activities. I was always told "college is the last time that you will live in close proximity to so many people of similar age with similar interests ever again." This is very true. Join a club, fraternity, sorority, etc. However, if your main activities involve a fraternity or sorority, make sure that you pursue a position involving responsibility and get involved intimately with all philanthropic efforts. Volunteer work also looks great on a medical school application.
3. Regardless of your major, take a course in developmental biology. As a neonatologist, it is great to have a strong background in embryology which starts with a good undergraduate developmental biology course ( I still have the textbook from mine).
4. Take an MCAT Review course prior to taking the test. The parts of this strongly basic sciences based test that you have a strong background in will probably not be affected so much by this, but your weaker areas will really get a boost from a review course prior to taking the test. Most Universities offer a course for a small fee, or you can take more "private" course for a little more. I took the University course myself.
5. Have fun! Back to point 2, this is likely the last time that you'll have the opportunity to live amongst so many people of similar age and interests. So take some time to enjoy it! Just don't enjoy it so much that you neglect the other points!