A question about volunteering experience and hours

[Granny Watkins]

So far I have about 84 hrs of volunteering. This was actually a meaningful experience because I always had patient contact and every once in a while I had to do the odd photocopying and paper work. Around 95% involved meaningful patient contact. The hospital I was at is too far away from my university so I won't be able to continue and I am wondering if I should volunteer at hospitals near my school. The problem is that I read and hear about volunteering consisting of....I don't know how to put it, duties that no one wants to do as expressed in parts of this thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=1006862.

I'm a junior but will be applying in my senior year and I don't know if it will be worth it to do more volunteering in hospitals. I think I should be spending more time on other parts of my application. How bad would it be to apply with just over 80hrs considering a lot of people seem to have over 100hrs? At this point I don't want to spend time on anything that isn't meaningful or giving me the right experience. At this point I really want to do something I enjoy, not something I feel obligated to do(I know there are some things I can't avoid). If I never get into a medical school I don't want to feel like I wasted my time in college. I suppose this brings up another issue of how have you all found things you enjoy that also make you competitive for med school? For me its been difficult to find meaningful experiences.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Juan Solo]

So far I have about 86 hrs of volunteering. This was actually a meaningful experience because I always had patient contact and every once in a while I had to do the odd photocopying and paper work. Around 95% involved meaningful patient contact. The hospital I was at is too far away from my university so I won't be able to continue and I am wondering if I should volunteer at hospitals near my school. The problem is that I read and hear about volunteering consisting of....I don't know how to put it, duties that no one wants to do as expressed in parts of this thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=1006862.

I'm a junior but will be applying in my senior year and I don't know if it will be worth it to do more volunteering in hospitals. I think I should be spending more time on other parts of my application. How bad would it be to apply with just over 80hrs considering a lot of people seem to have over 100hrs? At this point I don't want to spend time on anything that isn't meaningful or giving me the right experience. At this point I really want to do something I enjoy, not something I feel obligated to do(I know there are some things I can't avoid). If I never get into a medical school I don't want to feel like I wasted my time in college.

It sounds like you have it figured out (I would probably do the same and find something else to do for fun to build other areas of your app). If your 86 hours is as meaningful as you say then my guess is that you are good to go.

 

[mvenus929]

If volunteering at a hospital close to your university isn't appealing, then find another volunteering opportunity. Do what you enjoy... you'll get more out of it, and adcoms will see that you're passionate about it. You don't have to do hospital volunteering to get into medical school; you just need enough clinical experience (in whatever form) to be able to explain why you want to go into medicine.