No volunteering - entering senior year

[timer]

Title says it all. I'm entering senior year with subpar stats and no volunteer work. I volunteered in a hospital for a year during my senior year of high school but that is it.

Is one year starting now enough to get in volunteering for my applications for next year? Would it look superficial since I didn't do any volunteering freshmen to junior year but started with a bunch of activities senior year? I just didn't find any volunteering activities that meaningful while I was in college.

I didn't want to pay thousands of dollars to go to China or Africa for my application where i "helped" the citizens of the country. I didn't want to volunteer in a cause I didn't care about for the sake of my application. But apparently I dug myself a huge hole. Advice and experiences?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Aerus]

Title says it all. I'm entering senior year with subpar stats and no volunteer work. I volunteered in a hospital for a year during my senior year of high school but that is it.

Is one year starting now enough to get in volunteering for my applications for next year? Would it look superficial since I didn't do any volunteering freshmen to junior year but started with a bunch of activities senior year? I just didn't find any volunteering activities that meaningful while I was in college.

I didn't want to pay thousands of dollars to go to China or Africa for my application where i "helped" the citizens of the country. I didn't want to volunteer in a cause I didn't care about for the sake of my application. But apparently I dug myself a huge hole. Advice and experiences?

You definitely don't need to volunteer in another country. Find a cause you're passionate about. How are you going to answer the "Why Medicine?" question if you haven't demonstrated a desire to serve others?

 

[Bovary]

Get clinical experience ASAP. Find a hospital or free clinic or SOMETHING and put in time as soon as possible.

Will it look superficial compared to someone who was doing this for 4 years? Yes. But there's nothing you can do about it now.

For what it's worth, I had 0 volunteer experience until my senior year of college. I now have 8 interviews, in part because I volunteered (and worked for money) during my senior year, and I also volunteered and worked more during my first gap year before applying.

A gap year before applying during which you work and engage in community service will likely be a great way to strengthen your application, and waiting another year to apply is better than having to apply twice because you don't get in the first time around.

 

[SkipJunior]

The past is the past, none of us can change it. Start volunteering in a clinical setting, a place where you can smell patients, as the SDN Goddess @LizzyM likes to say. Try to volunteer as many hours per week as possible. Start contacting physicians in your area and ask if you can shadow them The physician shadowing is in addition to the clinical volunteering.

In addition to the physician shadowing and clinical volunteering, start doing some non-clinical volunteering/community service. Even if it's just going down to the local homeless shelter/soup kitchen for a few hours a week.

If you need help getting started, join your pre-health/pre-med club. Talk to your college's pre-health advisor. Start all this NOW.

 

[timer]

thanks for all the comments so far. I'm gonna volunteer at a hospice starting in a few weeks. Any other people with past experiences with volunteering late in senior year or other opinions on my situation? thanks so far SDN!

 

[candbgirl]

High school won't count. What do you mean by subpar stats? If they really are subpar you might want to consider a gap year or two to get your application where it needs to be to be a successful applicant!

 

[chillinillinkillin007]

High school won't count. What do you mean by subpar stats? If they really are subpar you might want to consider a gap year or two to get your application where it needs to be to be a successful applicant!

high school counts if you describe it in your personal statement.