How important are non clinical volunteer hours? How is my application looking so far?

[browneyes124]

I have alot of clinical hours but very few non- clinical hours. How important is non- clinical? I have volunteer experience in the children's ER and on a trauma recovery floor. I am in this college volunteer program at this hospital and next summer I will be a second surgical assist. I use to have alot of non clinical volunteer hours in high school, all 4 years, but I know they don't count in college and for application purposes. I have over 100 clinical hours/ volunteering. Is that ok or should I do some non clinical stuff? My friend works with disabled kids and has this thing every few months where families of disabled kids can drop off their kids at her church ( dad's the pastor) and we play with them and stuff and the parents get the night off. As I said though, it isnt a continuous thing and It's only for like 3-4 hours.

I have around 60 hours of shadowing. I know it's not a lot but i've been with the doctors for more than just a few days. I shadowed a cardiologist for almost a month, Neurology for 2 weeks, and a Neurosurgeon two times. I got to see all of them round, clinic, and OR time. I am trying to see the Neurosurgeon 1 more time because I love Neuro and as of now it is what I want to go into which is why alot of my shadowing is centered around neurology and neurosurgery. I also heard that shadowing Primary Care Physicians is essential. I heard this from a number of people( even admission committees). How important is shadowing PCP? And should it be like 50% PCP and the other 50% speciality docs?

So far I have a year of research experience but I am staying in my lab till I graduate so by the time I graduate ( May 2017) I should have round 2.5-3 years research experience.
I'm not that involved on campus just because I'm pretty busy. My semesters are pretty full 16-19 hours a semester. I work, research and volunteer during the year. I am involved in my residence hall association and a on campus bible study but so far that's it. I've been trying to join some medical/ pre-med organizations but my schedule always conflicts with their meetings and stuff. Do you think me not being that involved on my campus will be a problem?

Thank you guys. I know graduation is a while away but I just like to periodically upload my stats to get feedback and stuff. Also any other suggestions on how to improve my stats and stuff ? thanks again!

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[777137]

I have alot of clinical hours but very few non- clinical hours. How important is non- clinical? I have volunteer experience in the children's ER and on a trauma recovery floor. I am in this college volunteer program at this hospital and next summer I will be a second surgical assist. I use to have alot of non clinical volunteer hours in high school, all 4 years, but I know they don't count in college and for application purposes. I have over 100 clinical hours/ volunteering. Is that ok or should I do some non clinical stuff? My friend works with disabled kids and has this thing every few months where families of disabled kids can drop off their kids at her church ( dad's the pastor) and we play with them and stuff and the parents get the night off. As I said though, it isnt a continuous thing and It's only for like 3-4 hours.

I have around 60 hours of shadowing. I know it's not a lot but i've been with the doctors for more than just a few days. I shadowed a cardiologist for almost a month, Neurology for 2 weeks, and a Neurosurgeon two times. I got to see all of them round, clinic, and OR time. I am trying to see the Neurosurgeon 1 more time because I love Neuro and as of now it is what I want to go into which is why alot of my shadowing is centered around neurology and neurosurgery. I also heard that shadowing Primary Care Physicians is essential. I heard this from a number of people( even admission committees). How important is shadowing PCP? And should it be like 50% PCP and the other 50% speciality docs?

So far I have a year of research experience but I am staying in my lab till I graduate so by the time I graduate ( May 2017) I should have round 2.5-3 years research experience.
I'm not that involved on campus just because I'm pretty busy. My semesters are pretty full 16-19 hours a semester. I work, research and volunteer during the year. I am involved in my residence hall association and a on campus bible study but so far that's it. I've been trying to join some medical/ pre-med organizations but my schedule always conflicts with their meetings and stuff. Do you think me not being that involved on my campus will be a problem?

Thank you guys. I know graduation is a while away but I just like to periodically upload my stats to get feedback and stuff. Also any other suggestions on how to improve my stats and stuff ? thanks again!

Its pretty important, but if you have significant volunteering otherwise it might not be a big deal. If you want an easy and fun idea, try volunteer coaching.

For shadowing, 40 hours is enough so don't worry about your 60.

 

[browneyes124]

Its pretty important, but if you have significant volunteering otherwise it might not be a big deal. If you want an easy and fun idea, try volunteer coaching.

For shadowing, 40 hours is enough so don't worry about your 60.

Thank you! I had heard from a few people that you needed 100 or more shadowing so I was a bit worried. So since i only have 8 of those hours shadowing a PCP you think that'll be ok?

 

[777137]

Thank you! I had heard from a few people that you needed 100 or more shadowing so I was a bit worried. So since i only have 8 of those hours shadowing a PCP you think that'll be ok?

It should be, very few schools ask for a minimum amount of time shadowing and the only one that I know of has a 40 hour requirement. It sounds like you've been in a hospital enough to see what a doctor does, and that is what's important.