Alternative to traditional volunteering

[TheNeuroGuy]

I'm a nontraditional student that has gone through community college and transferred to a 4 year institution and mainly because of the discontinuity I was unable to get long-term volunteering in at a hospital (I only have ~30hrs).

I'm a senior now and taking a year off after i graduate. Instead of getting in more traditional volunteering hrs I wanted to spend my gap year doing medical volunteering in south america for around 3 months. It's a 9-5 deal so i'll have ~700 hrs after the program.

I'm taking the MCAT this march so that's really my concern. I didn't want to volunteer, take a regular course load, and study for the MCAT's. Do you think it'll look good or bad for med school?

Thanks

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[WeAreNotRobots]

I have no doubt that would be a great experience, but it may look like you're doing it just because you have to put something on your "resume". Why not just start doing a few hours each weekend from now until the summer? Then bump it up when you have more time. I don't think it would be good for that one summer to be your only significant volunteering experience.

 

[TheNeuroGuy]

How many hours of regular volunteering should I get, then?

 

[gettheleadout]

This is complicated, because typically medical volunteer work abroad (i.e. medical mission trips) are seen as too short or too shallow to learn anything substantial or help the people in any substantial way. However, 3 months is fairly lengthy, but if that's all the volunteer work you'll do during your gap year, it might not show enough consistency or dedication, though it would be recent (which is sometimes a big factor, depending on the school.) Best advice on this would come from an SDN Advisor.

 

[Catalystik]

It isn't so much a matter of the total hours you'll accumulate that is important, it's the length of time over which you've actively been testing the career of medicine that adcomms will look for. It's fine to have some international health volunteering, but it shouldn't be the majority of your medicial experience, unless you want to attend med school in that country. US med schools want to see that you have experience in US medical facilities with US patients and also US-physician shadowing. You can consider not just hospitals, but nursing homes, free-, private-, & family-planning clinics, rehab facility, or hospice, among others.

I think that three months abroad will be a good experience for you, but that and your current 30 hours in a US hospital are not likely to be viewed as adequate, no matter the number of hours involved. When you return from South America, find a health-related job, or another volunteer spot in a medical mileu for 4 hours a week for the following 9 months before you apply in June 2012, and then you'll be in good shape for this type of Experience. The average applicant lists about 1.5 years of clinical experience from my observation.

 

[StudyShy]

700 hours is substantial. I agree, however, that a more even spread of volunteering is recommended. I think that going to South America would make for a great experience so I wouldn't not do it.