Adcoms- Listing volunteering on amcas

[medlife52525]

So I started a non-clinical volunteer position summer before the 9th grade and was a full time summer volunteer for 5 years and did part time work since (currently a college junior). Is it fine to put the date range as 2012-2019 865 hours and then explain in the description part when my full time volunteering was (ie, during my summers with some projects during the school year)- i'll also fit all the projects in the 700 characters part too. I got a city award and a 1-year representative term on our local board of directors half way through these years which I wanted to mention in my discussion since this is a most meaningful activity. The chapters of this group I volunteered with include 5 different regional locations (which I grouped together), which I was clear about and one of my supervisors for AMCAS contact is able to serve as a representative for all locations. I'm not submitting an LOR cuz I have other, recent stronger ones, but my contact will verify my hours.

Is it fine to leave my hours like that and explain in the description? Also how do adcoms view this- I talked to recent first year med students and was told that it might be disregarded completely or given minimal consideration and not even equal to someone who did say 500 hours in the college years only. I want to include the range and discussion because i've done a lot with the different regional chapters, gotten community acknowledgement and learnt a lot as well but hearing their feedback was discouraging. I apologize if this was addressed before!!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[965978]

Try to emphasize the college portion as much as possible. The date range and hours should encompass the college part only.

 

[Catalystik]

1) So I started a non-clinical volunteer position summer before the 9th grade and was a full time summer volunteer for 5 years and did part time work since (currently a college junior). Is it fine to put the date range as 2012-2019 865 hours and then explain in the description part when my full time volunteering was (ie, during my summers with some projects during the school year)- i'll also fit all the projects in the 700 characters part too.

2) I got a city award and a 1-year representative term on our local board of directors half way through these years which I wanted to mention in my discussion since this is a most meaningful activity.

The chapters of this group I volunteered with include 5 different regional locations (which I grouped together), which I was clear about and one of my supervisors for AMCAS contact is able to serve as a representative for all locations. I'm not submitting an LOR cuz I have other, recent stronger ones, but my contact will verify my hours.

3) Is it fine to leave my hours like that and explain in the description? Also how do adcoms view this- I talked to recent first year med students and was told that it might be disregarded completely or given minimal consideration and not even equal to someone who did say 500 hours in the college years only. I want to include the range and discussion because i've done a lot with the different regional chapters, gotten community acknowledgement and learnt a lot as well but hearing their feedback was discouraging. I apologize if this was addressed before!!

1) The full-time volunteering started before HS and ended the summer before college (after HS graduation), so how many hours were before HS graduation? Then you use the word "work" for the college years. Was it paid or still volunteer during the part-time involvement? How many hours is the total for the college years (starting after HS graduation, which includes the last summer of full-time volunteering)? If you were employed by the organization during the college years, how many hours were paid?

2) It sounds like the award and board of directors position occurred during the HS years. When did the board position terminate, relative to when you started college? Or is it ongoing?

3) I can better answer this after you provide the above information.

 

[medlife52525]

1) The full-time volunteering started before HS and ended the summer before college (after HS graduation), so how many hours were before HS graduation? Then you use the word "work" for the college years. Was it paid or still volunteer during the part-time involvement? How many hours is the total for the college years (starting after HS graduation, which includes the last summer of full-time volunteering)? If you were employed by the organization during the college years, how many hours were paid?

2) It sounds like the award and board of directors position occurred during the HS years. When did the board position terminate, relative to when you started college? Or is it ongoing?

3) I can better answer this after you provide the above information.

1) It was all strictly unpaid volunteering (I didn't mean to use 'work' in that sense, apologies). I had about 730 hours before HS graduation and 130 after graduation. How would this be viewed?

2) This position and award happened my last year of HS. It was a one-year term but I got some programs started in the community that continued..Is it okay that I want to use this as one of my MM activities even though there's no rec letter and the majority was technically done in high school? It was a very community immersive group and had a lot to do with my personal growth, etc.

3) Is having high school hours on there going to hurt me if I separate pre and post graduation? I was told by my advisor that I was more than set for nonclinical volunteering my freshman year of college and I didn't realize that most people don't always include their HS hours, especially if they didn't continue them. I have about 100 completed hours with another mentoring volunteer position that I joined this past year and will continue next year but in the admission committee's eyes that is still only 1 year of completed work. There is not clinical volunteering but 1.000 paid scribing hours.

 

[Catalystik]

1) It was all strictly unpaid volunteering (I didn't mean to use 'work' in that sense, apologies). I had about 730 hours before HS graduation and 130 after graduation. How would this be viewed?

2a) This position and award happened my last year of HS. It was a one-year term but I got some programs started in the community that continued..
2b)Is it okay that I want to use this as one of my MM activities even though there's no rec letter and the majority was technically done in high school? It was a very community immersive group and had a lot to do with my personal growth, etc.

3) Is having high school hours on there going to hurt me if I separate pre and post graduation? I was told by my advisor that I was more than set for nonclinical volunteering my freshman year of college and I didn't realize that most people don't always include their HS hours, especially if they didn't continue them. I have about 100 completed hours with another mentoring volunteer position that I joined this past year and will continue next year but in the admission committee's eyes that is still only 1 year of completed work. There is not clinical volunteering but 1.000 paid scribing hours.

1) 130 hours is still a substantial number. I feel that you can list all the years of your involvement with the organization (since it continued into the college years), but that you use the Repeated feature to divide them into pre-HS graduation dates and hours and post-HS graduation dates and hours to maintain transparency (as well as a third entry for projected hours if you plan to continue). All of them will appear in the header of the space, one above the other.

2a) I suggest you touch on the award and position lightly in your narrative, since they didn't happen in college. Adcomms are much more interested in what you've accomplished lately.
2b) It's fine to make it MM, despite having no related LOR.

3) No, mainly because the college hours are substantial enough to stand on their own. But I can understand why you'd want to include the backstory of the HS-year's accomplishments.