I'm worried right now.
Since high school, I've always been a leader in Amnesty International. I'd organized (sometimes single-handedly) many benefit events, raised thousands of dollars, and last semester I worked my ass off trying to introduce and pass a high school genocide curriculum bill including $25k of state funding. The bill passed in both my state's House and Senate, but was not signed into law by the governor due to budgetary issues. Basically, I've always been heavily involved, but apart from lots of shadowing, I've never volunteered in hospitals. I've done research during both summers of college, too.
Now, I'm hearing that volunteering in a hospital is a must. I'm a junior in college. Next semester I'm taking a 19-credit course load, teaching two Kaplan SAT courses, and prepping for the May MCATs. Are admissions committees going to be so narrow that they won't consider my other activism? Do I need to try and cram in a so-called "volunteer" hours at a hospital to satisfy adcoms?
What's the deal here? I'm really freaking out. I switched from aerospace engineering to BME pre-med my sophomore year and I have a 3.8 GPA, so I've been really working hard to catch up and graduate on time but I was just unaware of the hospital volunteering requirement.
Should I cram in a semester of volunteering and look like an appeaser, or just say **** it and keep up the human rights work?
Since high school, I've always been a leader in Amnesty International. I'd organized (sometimes single-handedly) many benefit events, raised thousands of dollars, and last semester I worked my ass off trying to introduce and pass a high school genocide curriculum bill including $25k of state funding. The bill passed in both my state's House and Senate, but was not signed into law by the governor due to budgetary issues. Basically, I've always been heavily involved, but apart from lots of shadowing, I've never volunteered in hospitals. I've done research during both summers of college, too.
Now, I'm hearing that volunteering in a hospital is a must. I'm a junior in college. Next semester I'm taking a 19-credit course load, teaching two Kaplan SAT courses, and prepping for the May MCATs. Are admissions committees going to be so narrow that they won't consider my other activism? Do I need to try and cram in a so-called "volunteer" hours at a hospital to satisfy adcoms?
What's the deal here? I'm really freaking out. I switched from aerospace engineering to BME pre-med my sophomore year and I have a 3.8 GPA, so I've been really working hard to catch up and graduate on time but I was just unaware of the hospital volunteering requirement.
Should I cram in a semester of volunteering and look like an appeaser, or just say **** it and keep up the human rights work?
Last edited: