Can you explain why I should stop?
I've been doing research because I'm interested in our area of research and now I'm getting paid through it. The money is pretty important to me especially since I'll be graduating in a couple months and I'm getting a lot of pressure to move out.
A lot of my community involvement was with my sports club. As an officer, I helped make the club and sport more accessible to more people by lowering costs and providing more services. It's not really an underserved community (college kids) and isn't that critical (sports aren't life or death) but I still feel like it shows community involvement and dedication.
You have tons of research hours and very little volunteering. This telegraphs your priorities are on research and not on a lifetime of service to tohers, which is what a Career in medicine is all about. med schools don't want grad students.
What are you going to say when asked how you know you are suited for a life of caring for the sick and suffering?
“That you just know”? Imagine how that will go over!
Frankly, this is not the application of a person who dearly wants to be a physician. It is the application of someone who wants to be a doctor as long as it doesn't interfere with research.
This may sound a little harsh, I would call it evidence that you chose to prioritize the short-term over the long-term, which is not a particularly appealing characteristic in a potential physician. You will simply get crowded out by applicants with stronger apps.
Here's the deal: You need to show AdComs that you know what you're getting into, and show off your altruistic, humanistic side. We need to know that you're going to like being around sick or injured people for the next 40 years.
Here's another way of looking at it: would you buy a new car without test driving it? Buy a new suit or dress without trying it on??
We're also not looking for merely for good medical students, we're looking for people who will make good doctors, and 4.0 GPA robots are a dime-a-dozen.
I've seen plenty of posts here from high GPA/high MCAT candidates who were rejected because they had little patient contact experience.
Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital.
Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.
Some types of volunteer activities are more appealing than others. Volunteering in a nice suburban hospital is all very well and good and all, but doesn't show that you're willing to dig in and get your hands dirty in the same way that working with the developmentally disabled (or homeless, the dying, or Alzheimers or mentally ill or elderly or ESL or domestic, rural impoverished) does. The uncomfortable situations are the ones that really demonstrate your altruism and get you 'brownie points'. Plus, they frankly teach you more -- they develop your compassion and humanity in ways comfortable situations can't.
Service need not be "unique". If you can alleviate suffering in your community through service to the poor, homeless, illiterate, fatherless, etc, you are meeting an otherwise unmet need and learning more about the lives of the people (or types of people) who will someday be your patients. Check out your local houses of worship for volunteer opportunities.
The key thing is service to others less fortunate than you. And get off campus and out of your comfort zone!
Examples include: Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, Humane Society, crisis hotlines, soup kitchen, food pantry, homeless or women’s shelter, after-school tutoring for students or coaching a sport in a poor school district, teaching ESL to adults at a community center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, or Meals on Wheels.
