Average # of volunteer hours?

[orangeblossom]

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I know this is a vague and general q. But ballpark guidelines would be greatly appreciated.

I read in another thread that the average # for clinical volunteer work is ~150 hrs, and shadowing ~50 hrs.

Am I totally off base here?

Also, what about non clinical volunteer work?

 

[Stumpyman]

I haven't read any official data on average number of hours, but what you listed is about right. Keep in mind, it's not 150 hours in 3 months, it's generally over the course of at least 1 to 1 and a half years.

Non-clinical is probably going to be less, however it might be in more places. -- It doesn't have to be less though, I have at least 4x more non-clinical than I do clinical.

 

[ppfizenm]

I know this is a vague and general q. But ballpark guidelines would be greatly appreciated.

I read in another thread that the average # for clinical volunteer work is ~150 hrs, and shadowing ~50 hrs.

Am I totally off base here?

Also, what about non clinical volunteer work?

There is no set limit for hours. Generally you are trying to demonstrate that you can make commitments to serving the population with volunteer hours as well as trying to get some meaning out of it. If you do 300 hours at a hospital but hate the experience and that comes across in you application it isn't going to matter how many hours you have done. Also the hours shouldn't be blocked together. I feel like 150 over two months doesn't look as good as 150 over a few semesters.

Shadowing is all about what you get out of it. People sometimes have amassed massive amounts of hours doing something they have no interest in or that is just incredibly repetitive. I was shadowing a neurologist who only saw PD patients and after 6 or 7 visits I had pretty much seen all that I was going to be able to. On the other hand, I kept coming back to the GP that I was shadowing because he let me do stuff to the patients like preform physicals and run EKG's.

 

[sliceofbread136]

I read 150 somewhere? Not sure if thats right.

 

[BA11]

Since my senior year of HS I have about 500 clinical hours, 500 non-clincal hours and 60 shadowing hours. I got the impressive my volunteer work was above average and my shadowing slightly below average, I've heard 200-300 clincal hours and 75-100 shadowing hours is the average for being who are accepted

 

[sliceofbread136]

Since my senior year of HS I have about 500 clinical hours, 500 non-clincal hours and 60 shadowing hours. I got the impressive my volunteer work was above average and my shadowing slightly below average, I've heard 200-300 clincal hours and 75-100 shadowing hours is the average for being who are accepted

Well you've heard wrong lol. Its not that high.

 

[Kadava Reviva]

>200hrs total. I got mine over 4yrs teaching self-defense to women.

 

[Bartemius]

Well you've heard wrong lol. Its not that high.

Probably right. I only had 52 hours of shadowing listed and was told by one of my interviewers that that was "above average." Average clinical and shadowing hours may vary significantly from one institution to another, however.

 

[NeuralNetwork]

I definitely think there are minimums which will convey a commitment. My guess is anything over 100 hours of clinical volunteering start to look substantial. However, as with any major activity (research, clinical volunteering, any major extracurricular) it is always best to strive for at least a 2 year commitment.

Shadowing hours are still debated, some saying you need a lot, some saying none at all. Personally, outside of my clinical internship, I had listed on my AMCAS roughly 20 hours of shadowing, and I described how I had shadowing experiences within my clinical internship as well - I did just fine this cycle.

 

[BA11]

Well you've heard wrong lol. Its not that high.

Probably for the middle of the pack schools, but I have no trouble believing those accepted to top schools generally have a ton of research and clinical volunteer work.

 

[AllDaWEI]

I heard somewhere that it will not look good if you are not currently volunteering when filing out your AMCAS. If you strive for a minimum amount of hours, try to makesure you can list volunteering as "present" on your application. Also, timing is important to consider. If you do all of it in one big lump close to filling AMCAS, it won't look good versus spreading the experience out.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Probably for the middle of the pack schools, but I have no trouble believing those accepted to top schools generally have a ton of research and clinical volunteer work.

Doesn't matter. The average is not that high. And 100 extra hours volunteering in the hospital won't make much of a difference at top schools.

 

[phnerd1105]

over 9000

 

[alexrgross]

I was informed by Oakland SOM in Michigan that they are looking for about 6-12 months of shadowing with about 160 hours total...that was'nt said anywhere else, but then, these numbers came from the only School that was decent enough to discuss my rejected application. And it seems pretty high, and at 120 now it is only another 40 that should be fine to do...

 

[Classof2013PreM]

I would say that as long as you have experience that you can talk about, it should be fine (especially if you have other extracurricular activities that you were committed to such as a D1 sport, full-time job, etc.)

Personally, I only have about 50 hours of clinical volunteering but I do not think that is going to hurt my application much since I was very active in non-clinical volunteering projects as well as athletics. (in the end of the day, the numbers are the most important part of the application. If you have a 3.9/36 with 50 hours of clinical experience, i think that a school will still take you over a 3.7/30 with 500 hours of clinical experience)

 

[PantherPride]

Dedication and consistency is more important than the total number of hours

 

[mauberley]

over 9000

I lol'd.

 

[music2doc]

Dedication and consistency is more important than the total number of hours

This.

1-2 years minimum.

I've been accepted at a few schools and when I applied, I had about 1,000 volunteer hours over 4+ years. I also had around 5,000 clinical employment hours over several years. Basically, the more hours you have and the longer the duration of your involvement, the better your stories are likely to be and, as a result, the better your interview answers (as well as PS and secondary essays) will be -- this is, of course, assuming you are volunteering at a good site; if your volunteer sucks, then no number of hours is going to provide good experiences for your PS and such.

Don't do the minimum. It'll hurt you.

 

[ppfizenm]

>200hrs total. I got mine over 4yrs teaching self-defense to women.

I hope you kept some secretes from them ...just in case.

 

[orangeblossom]

Thanks everybody. I'm a non-trad post bacc student, so ive only been back in school for about a year, and my clinical volunteer hours do fall within that period, although it will definitely be backloaded.
I was in a field completely unrelated to medicine a year ago, so I don't have a few years' worth of consistent clinical volunteering, but my non-clinical is consistent and substantial.

Edit: my shadowing hours will definitely be backloaded; I'll probably need to beef them up during the month I wait for my MCAT score... Not procrastination, I really had trouble finding a physician to shadow. 🙁

 

[mauberley]

Don't do the minimum. It'll hurt you.

http://movieclips.com/rZXFU-office-space-movie-flair-minimum/

 

[djm09020]

I find this a big joke...minimum hours? Just volunteer with whatever you are passionate about. Hours shouldn't matter...it's the experience that counts. I mean c'mon...how altruistic is doing something just for the hours?

Find your passion, go with it, and change the world.

 

[AllDaWEI]

I find this a big joke...minimum hours? Just volunteer with whatever you are passionate about. Hours shouldn't matter...it's the experience that counts. I mean c'mon...how altruistic is doing something just for the hours?

Find your passion, go with it, and change the world.

An inconvenient truth?

 

[music2doc]

I find this a big joke...minimum hours? Just volunteer with whatever you are passionate about. Hours shouldn't matter...it's the experience that counts. I mean c'mon...how altruistic is doing something just for the hours?

Find your passion, go with it, and change the world.

Hours shouldn't matter, but the truth is that they do because people believe they show passion. The truth is that how you express yourself in the interview and essays is what will show passion. That said, more hours generally mean more experiences, which may result in more opportunities for the right events to occur and develop into stories you can use later. When I say "don't do the minimum," I mean this throughout the entire process. When you're competing at the level of a med school applicant, practically everyone has gone beyond the bare minimum in most areas (esp. academics and one or more other ECs). You want to stand out, so you need to do what they do and more in at least some respect.