Adcoms : Is this Enough Clinical Volunteering?

[soccer90876]

Thanks!

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[Catalystik]

Currently a Junior (applying this cycle). I started my clinical volunteering kind of late, and by the time of applications will have a total of 8 consecutive months of clinical volunteering (translating to just over 100 hours). I do have a lot of non-clinical volunteering starting from freshman year, but am worried that my clinical experience, even though the hours may be (just) sufficient, is of too short a duration. Stats are high; from a state school (not sure if including this information is relevant but in case if it is). Would appreciate any thoughts on my situation - thanks!

In addition to the 100 active clinical volunteer hours, how many hours of physician shadowing will you have accumulated? When did you start it?

 

[LizzyM]

Do you have any clinical employment? In my opinion, 150 hours of clinical experience can come from volunteering and/or employment. If this short experience (in months and in hours) is your only clinical exposure, then you will have a harder time convincing anyone that you know what you are getting into. you might be cut some slack if you have one or more physicians in the family and have seen it from the point of view of a family member.

 

[soccer90876]

Do you have any clinical employment? In my opinion, 150 hours of clinical experience can come from volunteering and/or employment. If this short experience (in months and in hours) is your only clinical exposure, then you will have a harder time convincing anyone that you know what you are getting into. you might be cut some slack if you have one or more physicians in the family and have seen it from the point of view of a family member.

 

[LizzyM]

Having 150 hours in the 9 months before submitting a relatively late application might be better than having 100 hours in the 8 months before submitting an early application. My general rule is to submit by 4th of July. This is about a month into the application cycle. It is a risk but if you are an otherwise strong candidate (S, A, or B on WARS) you might get away with it.

 

[diasterdream]

Having 150 hours in the 9 months before submitting a relatively late application might be better than having 100 hours in the 8 months before submitting an early application. My general rule is to submit by 4th of July. This is about a month into the application cycle. It is a risk but if you are an otherwise strong candidate (S, A, or B on WARS) you might get away with it.

Not to hijack the OP' s question, but would this look like sufficient clinical experience?
Volunteer
50 hrs - 3 years at a rural clinic
60 hrs - 5 months at a clinic
Paid
600 hrs - 10 months as PCT

 

[Catalystik]

I have minimal shadowing from this month (~20 hours) during spring break and plan to do more before applying this cycle (to reach ~40) - does the time frame of my shadowing come off as too squished / crammed?

With all your clinical experience having been acquired so recently, you run the risk of a perception of an impulsive decision to enter a medical career without having sufficiently tested it as a lifelong vocation. With active clinical experience, longevity is more important than total hours.

Might you consider waiting another year to apply in order to strengthen your record?

 

[LizzyM]

Not to hijack the OP' s question, but would this look like sufficient clinical experience?
Volunteer
50 hrs - 3 years at a rural clinic
60 hrs - 5 months at a clinic
Paid
600 hrs - 10 months as PCT

do you have any critical reasoning skills? If you did, you wouldn't have to ask this question.

 

[diasterdream]

do you have any critical reasoning skills? If you did, you wouldn't have to ask this question.

Damn, maybe I deserved that
Got it, my hours and longevity look good. Just checking.

 

[Peter Pan.]

Not to hijack the OP' s question, but would this look like sufficient clinical experience?
Volunteer
50 hrs - 3 years at a rural clinic
60 hrs - 5 months at a clinic
Paid
600 hrs - 10 months as PCT

Can we put people on probation for hijacking threads?

 

[soccer90876]

Thank you for all the responses! @LizzyM (and anyone else who has an opinion on the issue!)

 

[Isoval]

Thank you for all the responses! @LizzyM (and anyone else who has an opinion on the issue!) , if an applicant had a number that was very 'well-rounded' (e.g. 50, 100, 150, 200, etc.) in terms of total number of hours on an application for clinical volunteering, would that raise red flags about box checking? E.g. hypothetically, if someone had 197 hours but rounded to 200, or if someone had 156 hours but rounded to 150 - would it be better to put as close of an exact estimate (so 197 and 156 in these cases), or one of these 'rounded' estimates?

Put the number that you recall doing and nothing else.

If you recall working “about 200 hours”, write 200 hours. If it’s logged and you worked exactly 198.5 hours, write 198.5 hours.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

No, a few hours either way wouldn't raise red flags. Outright lying is what raises the flags.

 

[soccer90876]

Put the number that you recall doing and nothing else.

If you recall working “about 200 hours”, write 200 hours. If it’s logged and you worked exactly 198.5 hours, write 198.5 hours.

@Isoval : Thanks!

 

[Isoval]

@Isoval : Thanks! If an applicant hypothetically were to have volunteered 150 hours (or something extremely close to it), would just the fact that the number you put down was so 'perfect' (e.g. 150 vs. 153 or 156 or something, 150 being a perfect multiple of 50) raise any suspicions with adcoms (even if you were being totally honest)?

No. This is common. Every hour I listed on my application was a round number because it's not like I logged my hours.

I generally multiplied to get there using averages of time that I remembered working. "I worked in this lab about six hours a week and I was there for about a year and a half... = number" or "I worked in this lab about 55 hours a week and I worked there for five months... = number".

To my knowledge, that was about as accurate as we were going to get. I usually tried to lowball it so that, even if I was inaccurate, I can say with a straight face that I was not trying to inflate my hours.

 

[LizzyM]

Write what is true to the best of your knowledge. Don't worry about whether certain numbers look like box checking.

The biggest red flag in this regard is saying that you did something for 168 hours in one week.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Write what is true to the best of your knowledge. Don't worry about whether certain numbers look like box checking.

The biggest red flag in this regard is saying that you did something for 168 hours in one week.

It's the falsehoods and outright lies that raise the red flags, not "applicant actually worked for 213 hours and reported 220".

 

[LizzyM]

It's the falsehoods and outright lies that raise the red flags, not "applicant actually worked for 213 hours and reported 220".

Amen, Brother.

 

[soccer90876]

No. This is common. Every hour I listed on my application was a round number because it's not like I logged my hours.

I generally multiplied to get there using averages of time that I remembered working. "I worked in this lab about six hours a week and I was there for about a year and a half... = number" or "I worked in this lab about 55 hours a week and I worked there for five months... = number".

To my knowledge, that was about as accurate as we were going to get. I usually tried to lowball it so that, even if I was inaccurate, I can say with a straight face that I was not trying to inflate my hours.

@Isoval: Thanks! I'll be sure to keep that in mind

 

[soccer90876]

Write what is true to the best of your knowledge. Don't worry about whether certain numbers look like box checking.

The biggest red flag in this regard is saying that you did something for 168 hours in one week.

@LizzyM : If one is planning to continue an activity during the school year, would that be helpful in terms of experience or does only stuff that has happened prior to the application matter?

 

[LizzyM]

@LizzyM : If one is planning to continue an activity during the school year, would that be helpful in terms of experience or does only stuff that has happened prior to the application matter?

I think that the recommendation is to break out past and future hours into two time frames within the application so that adcoms can judge for themselves.

 

[SideDoorAdmissions]

What fortuitous timing! We have a medical mission trip to the Royal Qatar Orphanage coming up on April 6-7! This trip is guaranteed to pad your resume and max out your IG likes and snapchat views. You'll sure be able to smell these patients!

Check it out on our Facebook and Contact Us today!

 

[Catalystik]

What fortuitous timing! We have a medical mission trip to the Royal Qatar Orphanage coming up on April 6-7! This trip is guaranteed to pad your resume and max out your IG likes and snapchat views. You'll sure be able to smell these patients!

Check it out on our Facebook and Contact Us today!

Muggle free! Awesome.