Do medical schools look into this?

[virtualmaster999]

Hi all,

I have a question about volunteering hours. So I've been doing clinical volunteering at a hospital since last june, for 3/4 hrs a week. That being said, I should have near 200 hours but I only have about 150. A lot of the time I was dealing with family issues in the beginning and had to miss some times here and there, but none the less, I continued to volunteer. Even though I have been volunteering for over a year, will med schools look and see that the hours don't perfectly add up, or will they only care about that I've kept going?

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[Pacna]

Nobody's going to call and check, but just be honest. 150 is plenty.

 

[lmn]

They won't check unless for some reason you give them a reason to doubt what you've done. Personally, regardless of how "common" lying on your app may be, I wouldn't be comfortable lying to the adcoms and myself about what I have and have not done. In any case, 150 hours is completely fine, don't reduce yourself to falsifying information when you are already ok.

 

[Lamel]

They don't even ask for weekly hours on the AMCAS this year. So just report the total.

 

[virtualmaster999]

They don't even ask for weekly hours on the AMCAS this year. So just report the total.

Oh ok I see. So they won't say "well if you've been volunteering for 50 weeks at 4 hrs per week you should have 200"? That's what I'm concerned about, that they might expect me to have more I guess?

 

[Lamel]

Oh ok I see. So they won't say "well if you've been volunteering for 50 weeks at 4 hrs per week you should have 200"? That's what I'm concerned about, that they might expect me to have more I guess?

150 hours in 1 year is already a huge amount, no one will care. You don't need to do it every single week, things come up, people go places, finals, vacations, sickness etc.


To comfort you, what makes you think they assume 4 hours per week commitment if you don't have to specify? If they assume 3 hours per week, then your numbers add up. Don't overthink it!

 

[virtualmaster999]

150 hours in 1 year is already a huge amount, no one will care. You don't need to do it every single week, things come up, people go places, finals, vacations, sickness etc.


To comfort you, what makes you think they assume 4 hours per week commitment if you don't have to specify? If they assume 3 hours per week, then your numbers add up. Don't overthink it!

Perfect thank you for the info, and thanks to everyone else for the info as well! I just didn't want med schools to think I'm not committed with my volunteering.

 

[el_duderino]

Oh ok I see. So they won't say "well if you've been volunteering for 50 weeks at 4 hrs per week you should have 200"? That's what I'm concerned about, that they might expect me to have more I guess?

Absolutely not.