Is volunteering worth it?

[Quicky]

Hi there,

I'm trying to get my ECs in order before I send in my application in early June. I'm employed as an EMT on an emergency truck and I work in the anatomy lab of a medical school here. I've only shadowed a pathologist for 2 weeks. As far as volunteering goes, I only have approx. 27 hours logged in the ER at a local hospital. I'm trying to get input as to whether it's necessary to continue volunteering or if working as an EMT will be enough clinical experience. Pretty much all I do in the ER I volunteer at is clean rooms and restock supplies and there are never interesting emergencies that come in during my hours. My advisor said that a lot of medical schools want to see paid clinical experience and don't consider volunteering to be very important because they know that in most cases volunteers do nothing but the kind've tasks I do. Should I continue volunteering and if so is there a certain # of hours I should shoot for, or am I better off spending my time studying for the MCAT?

Thanks!

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[flip26]

Hi there,

I'm trying to get my ECs in order before I send in my application in early June. I'm employed as an EMT on an emergency truck and I work in the anatomy lab of a medical school here. I've only shadowed a pathologist for 2 weeks. As far as volunteering goes, I only have approx. 27 hours logged in the ER at a local hospital. I'm trying to get input as to whether it's necessary to continue volunteering or if working as an EMT will be enough clinical experience. Pretty much all I do in the ER I volunteer at is clean rooms and restock supplies. My advisor said that a lot of medical schools don't consider volunteering to be very important because they know that in most cases volunteers do nothing but the kind've tasks I do. What's your opinion on this matter?

Thanks!

I would not listen to your advisor on this. Med schools highly value volunteering.

Med schools expect applicants to have volunteer activities. Yours would not necessarily have to be in a clinical setting since you have EMT experiences. But your shadowing is also on the low side...the combination of "low to no" volunteer and shadow experiences will likely hurt your app.

 

[drangocar]

I would definitely continue to volunteer. It has been my experience that schools are looking for philanthropic activities (working for no pay in a hospital apparently falls into this category). Even if it is doing scut work for free in the ER, it is pretty much a necessary evil. Even if all you are doing is cleaning rooms, I'm sure you will be able to come up with a few good stories to tell interviewers about your time there.

 

[Tots]

With your EMT I think you will be fine with clinical experience but you should have some type of volunteering or service oriented project. Have you done any type of non-medical volunteering?
But don't put your MCAT score at jeopardy just to get volunteer hours.

 

[UVAbme2009]

Stocking supplies and cleaning rooms is not a clinical experience.

 

[ruraldr]

I've volunteered in several locations and have definitely learned to be more thorough in examining a volunteer opportunity before signing on.

Some things I consider when searching for a volunteer experience:

1) What are my interests? If I am interested in the area that I'm volunteering in then even mundane tasks will have more meaning. (Eg: if interested in geriatrics then maybe hospice is a good volunteer opportunity, if interested in homeless populations, then finding a clinic that serves these populations would be a good fit).

2) Consider what your strengths are--what do you have to give back and find a place that lets you do that. I have an arts background and so I assisted with an in-patient addiction recovery unit that let me interact with patients and use this skill.

3) Talk with past volunteers and your volunteer supervisor at length about the expectations of the program/your role in the program--know what you are getting into.

4) Look for additional responsibilities in your volunteering--sometimes all you have to do is ask and folks will let you help with some more challenging tasks.

I've enjoyed volunteering much more once I took a more active role in finding the right "fit".

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

Stocking supplies and cleaning rooms is not a clinical experience.

disagree --

1) LizzyM (as a school admin) has a quote "if you're close enough to smell the patient, it's clinical experience"

2) what do volunteers normally do in the ER that is a clinical experience? My clinical volunteer experience began a few rungs below the custodian -- I stocked rooms and cleaned beds. After a while, got to assist in some more interesting things; that is, after the staff got to know me a few months in.

When an applicant writes about a clinical experience in the ER, I'd probably suggest writing about observing the physician/patient relationship, the emotions involved with observing a person declared (dead), etc. But I don't believe, without medical experience, that any clinical volunteer will initially be doing much beyond scut work.

OP - suggestion would be to continue clinical experience if you have time, get 100+ hrs there, only because you've started this path. If this does not work for you, I'd suggest volunteering in a non-med path for over 100 hours. Some "volunteer" work is necessary in the eyes of most med schools, would suggest that you do this to become more broadly competitive.

 

[nogolfinsnow]

You should volunteer. As well, you should shadow physicians before you send out your app. Being an EMT does get you points for clinical experience and having had a job, etc, but they'll want to see that you've put in the effort to see what the clinical and daily activities of a physician are like.

 

[Lola2010]

I've volunteered in several locations and have definitely learned to be more thorough in examining a volunteer opportunity before signing on.

Some things I consider when searching for a volunteer experience:

1) What are my interests? If I am interested in the area that I'm volunteering in then even mundane tasks will have more meaning. (Eg: if interested in geriatrics then maybe hospice is a good volunteer opportunity, if interested in homeless populations, then finding a clinic that serves these populations would be a good fit).

2) Consider what your strengths are--what do you have to give back and find a place that lets you do that. I have an arts background and so I assisted with an in-patient addiction recovery unit that let me interact with patients and use this skill.

3) Talk with past volunteers and your volunteer supervisor at length about the expectations of the program/your role in the program--know what you are getting into.

4) Look for additional responsibilities in your volunteering--sometimes all you have to do is ask and folks will let you help with some more challenging tasks.

I've enjoyed volunteering much more once I took a more active role in finding the right "fit".

I agree with this completely. #1 and #2 should have been done before you signed on in the ER. If the position is not meeting your expectations, see #4 or try and see if you can switch to a different area within the same hospital. I think the most important thing that volunteering shows is committment and with only 20 something hours, it might as well be none. The hospitals where I have volunteered have given me an invaluable experience working with patients. I can't believe your advisor told you volunteering doesn't matter.

 

[cbrons]

My advisor said that a lot of medical schools want to see paid clinical experience and don't consider volunteering to be very important because they know that in most cases volunteers do nothing but the kind've tasks I do.

I would get a new advisor

 

[LizzyM]

Your employment provides you with clinical exposure (what it is like to work with patients) and the shadowing let's know now what doctors actually do (more paperwork and less patient contact than many might imagine). Volunteer experience is another thing all together. Are you willing to be of service to others? Are you willing to do the lowly tasks that help keep the work rolling along? (As a M3 you are going to be slightly above a volunteer in what you will do to contribute to patient care, do you have the humility to take on those tasks?) Volunteer hours need not be in a clinical setting if you have an employment situation that gives you clinical exposure. Therefore, if as a volunteer experience you want to tutor kids or adults in a literacy program, help with a food pantry or soup kitchen, or do other service in the community, that is fine.

 

[Quicky]

Thanks for all of your input I appreciate it. I will go ahead and try to get at least 100 hours volunteering. On a related note, will I be alright without any research experience? With a 3.9+ GPA and an mcat in the mid-upper 30s and my ECs (clinical/volunteer but zero research) will I have a lot of trouble getting into top ~20 medical schools? I have a chance to basically watch and help out in a neuroscience lab for 3-6 hours a week but I'm not sure how much it'd actually help.

 

[starfishprime]

 

[DrBeks]

Personally, I believe that volunteering is an invaluable way to gain persepective and build character.

Let me tell you about my experience on Tuesday. I volunteer at a hospital in my city on the Med/Surg floor. So, on Tuesday, I'm going around to each room and take out their trash; then I fill up their water and ask if they need anything, etc. Generally they'll ask for food or a different drink or whatever. So, I'm going around and I knock on this door and go in. There is a little old lady who is approximately 85 (can't tell you b/c of HIPPA lol) and she looks at her food and looks at me and says "This is NOT what I ordered to eat. Where is my purse? And that little thing that goes right here (pointing to the side of her bed)? And I would like ice cream." I thought "what is she talking about???" but I went to the nurse and found out about her food situation (the menu filled out in the morning is for the next day) and when I went and talked to the nurse, she was sitting there eating her dinner and saying "Yeah, she has vertigo and she talks so much" The nurse was going on and on speaking very insensitively. So, I went back into the lady's room with her ice cream and she just started talking to me and I thought "THIS is why I'm here" and I sat down and she told me her life story, her parents moved west on the Oregon Trail and her dad worked on the railroads. Her husband was in WWII and was at Pearl Harbor (survived) and passed away a few months ago. Her son just passed away a few weeks ago from cancer that spread from his prostate to colon to spine to shoulder. They told him he had six months to live and he lived two weeks. Her daughter lives 10 hours away. She is alone. And she needed to talk to someone. And I sat with her for a long time, talking, while she was eating ice cream telling me about her life.

This is why we volunteer. We learn about others. We learn about ourselves. It matures us. That nurse said to me "she talks so much." Well, maybe she needs to talk to someone. Ever think about that??? It was all I could do to get myself to go on Tuesday, I was so tired after sleeping about 5 hours the night before and I had a ton of homework. It was worth it. I was able to get all of my homework done because I believe that I set my priorities well.

Obviously don't let your MCAT suffer, but I think that volunteering is so important.

 

[virusgirl]

Thanks for all of your input I appreciate it. I will go ahead and try to get at least 100 hours volunteering. On a related note, will I be alright without any research experience? With a 3.9+ GPA and an mcat in the mid-upper 30s and my ECs (clinical/volunteer but zero research) will I have a lot of trouble getting into top ~20 medical schools? I have a chance to basically watch and help out in a neuroscience lab for 3-6 hours a week but I'm not sure how much it'd actually help.

Honestly, a lack of research experience probably will hurt you at those schools. Most of those schools are very research-intensive, and since they are "top 20" they attract very qualified applicants -- for both of those reasons, you will likely be at a disadvantage if you have never done research. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it will be tough.

Also, with regards to trying to "get at least 100 hours of volunteering..." The point of volunteering is not to rack up a certain number of hours, but rather to highlight a real commitment to service to others -- medicine is a service-oriented field, after all. I just signed in and can't see your original post, but I think I recall you saying you're preparing for applying in June. If that is the case, you would be starting both research and significant volunteering relatively late in the game. Most applicants have already been volunteering for several years when they submit their applications. To start these activities so close to applying might suggest to adcoms that you're not particularly interested in community service or research -- you're just crossing them off your list of things to do that look good to medical schools. I have no idea what your actual goals and motivations are, I'm just saying that that's how it could be interpreted. Go ahead and apply, but understand that some interviewers may ask you about this and it may be an issue. If you don't get in this round (and I doubt that will happen, especially if you include schools that aren't "top 20" on your list), you will know what to improve for next round.

 

[LizzyM]

Personally, I believe that volunteering is an invaluable way to gain persepective and build character.

and I sat down and she told me her life story, her parents moved west on the Oregon Trail and her dad worked on the railroads. Her husband was in WWII and was at Pearl Harbor (survived) and passed away a few months ago. Her son just passed away a few weeks ago from cancer that spread from his prostate to colon to spine to shoulder. They told him he had six months to live and he lived two weeks. Her daughter lives 10 hours away. She is alone. And she needed to talk to someone. And I sat with her for a long time, talking, while she was eating ice cream telling me about her life.

This is why we volunteer. We learn about others. We learn about ourselves. It matures us. That nurse said to me "she talks so much." Well, maybe she needs to talk to someone. Ever think about that???

And when you learn in med school that prostate cancer has a propensity to metasticize to bone, you'll remember that lady & her son and that bit of pathophysiology/epidemiology of cancer will have a context that helps you to remember it. Volunteering is about being of service and obtaining life experiences that you might not get elsewhere.

 

[justdoit31]

I volunteer in a children's hospital tutoring patients and some of my patients invited me to come to a special needs camp with them (I had to apply but got in) I will say I learned so much at camp and then now that I am back I keep up with a few of my kids on a weekly basis. When they are in the hospital I visit, they have taught me tons about their condition and are always open about bloodwork results, watching wound care, etc.

I think it is moments like this that help me and I can remember details from their cases much better than from ones learned about in class.

As Lizzy just said those things DrBerks saw he will remember in med school. I shadowed in Pediatric Hematology (the field I want to go into) over a year ago and did quite a bit with Hereditary Spherocytosis... one of the doctors explained the genetics and I got to palpate spleens and stuff on patients. Anyways...

Last week I was studying for a cell bio test and it was talking at Spectrin deficiency in erythrocytes and it being hereditary... I started jumping up and down cuz I realized that it was what was causing the Hereditary Spherocytosis! Putting the pieces together is sooo fun!

 

[littlealex]

It is very important to volunteer. It also helps to show that you care about the world and want to do more than get into medical school. I dislike it when the applicants I interview gives me the feeling that they've custom-fitted their resume for medical school.

If you don't feel that your time is well spent volunteering in the ER, do some non-medically related volunteer work. Go work in a soup kitchen, park cleanup, help an old person read his emails once a week.

Do something that will both show that you care and help you learn to care about the world.

 

[Conky]

Ugh, I would quit yesterday.

Your experience as an EMT is ten million times more valuable than what you get as a hospital volunteer.

They might want to see that you would be willing to donate your time though... to make sure you have some compassion. As long as you have had some past volunteer work in any area whatsoever I think that would be sufficient.

Volunteer in another area (non medical) where you can actually make a difference. That might be more valuable.