Can I count this?

[martian93]

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I began dual-enrolling full time when I was a Junior in high school and graduated from high school with my AA. As a Junior/Freshman in college, I'm trying to fit in all of my extracurricular requirements (shadowing/ volunteering) into a shortened time period. I have hundreds of volunteer hours from high school and I was wondering if I could count volunteer hours from my Junior and Senior year of HS when applying for med school since I was going to college full time at that point. Can I do this or am I going to have to start from scratch? 😱

 

[gmcguitar4]

Normally, when people apply to med school their high school years are anywhere from 3-10 years in the past. Your volunteer experiences are fairly recent, which I think counts.

 

[EBTrailRunner]

Generally, you don't include volunteering experience from high school on your AMCAS. When do you anticipate receiving your Bachelor's degree and applying for medical school?

 

[plumhill]

Normally you don't include high school activities unless they were significant and/or continued into college. However in your case, it seems like you'll only be a college student (not dual-enrolled) for two years, in which case the answer is slightly more fuzzy. Your best answer will come from the schools themselves. I'd say its worth a shot calling up some of the schools you want to apply to, explaining your situation, and seeing what they have to say.

One thing you may want to consider is that from the way you've described your situation, you'll be applying to medical school at a very early age, against applicants who have 5+ years more experience than you do. You might want to consider taking one or two years off to focus on volunteering. Since you started college early, if you take two years off to do some substantial volunteering work (and maybe study for the MCAT, if you haven't taken it by then), you'll be the same age as many applicants, and adcoms won't have to question your maturity or readiness for medical school.

 

[Catalystik]

Normally you don't include high school activities unless they were significant and/or continued into college.

Agreed. If you volunteer in the same place now (or over breaks when you're back home), you will have "continued the same activity into the college years," and can legitimately include the full date range, explaining the hiatus in the narrative. Alternatively, you can mention the activity in your Primary Statement, rather than in the Experiences section.

It would look odd if you have not engaged in something medically-related for a long period of time before you apply, so consider getting something going, as you surely have more mature perspectives to bring to any additional clinical activity than you did as a junior in HS.

 

[martian93]

It would look odd if you have not engaged in something medically-related for a long period of time before you apply, so consider getting something going, as you surely have more mature perspectives to bring to any additional clinical activity than you did as a junior in HS.

I definitely intend to continue volunteering throughout college. I was just hoping to add my hs volunteering into the mix in order to boost my hours.

I should be receiving my bs in fall of 2013 so I'll probably focus on volunteering during that next semester and summer before med school.

 

[Catalystik]

I should be receiving my bs in fall of 2013 so I'll probably focus on volunteering during that next semester and summer before med school.

Recall that future activities cannot be listed on the application if you haven't already begun them at the time you submit, but schools can be informed of new and ongoing activities via update letters (if permitted), Secondary essays, and interview conversations, with the hope that they'll be taken into account.

 

[thesauce]

Don't include anything older than 2-3 years if you're not doing it anymore

 

[Omppu27]

Normally you don't include high school activities unless they were significant and/or continued into college. However in your case, it seems like you'll only be a college student (not dual-enrolled) for two years, in which case the answer is slightly more fuzzy. Your best answer will come from the schools themselves. I'd say its worth a shot calling up some of the schools you want to apply to, explaining your situation, and seeing what they have to say.

One thing you may want to consider is that from the way you've described your situation, you'll be applying to medical school at a very early age, against applicants who have 5+ years more experience than you do. You might want to consider taking one or two years off to focus on volunteering. Since you started college early, if you take two years off to do some substantial volunteering work (and maybe study for the MCAT, if you haven't taken it by then), you'll be the same age as many applicants, and adcoms won't have to question your maturity or readiness for medical school.

👍

You might be strongly against this idea at first, but once you go through school for about a year or two you'll realize you're in no hurry to get going. Also, you'll have a much better app with a year or two of extra EC's.