-
The 2026-2027 MD School Specific Threads are now live in the School Specific Discussions forum. The 2025-2026 cycle threads can be found here. -
Scholarship Access: Becoming a Student Doctor course
Free access to comprehensive medical school prep. Eligible students include AAMC FAP recipients and HS graduates from underserved areas. Apply today.
Clinical Experience
Started by icicle1
It would be better to have one clinical job and spend off time on a community service activity because schools also want to see those.
icicle1
Full Member
I see, thank you! Would it be bad that my experience will not be varied considering med schools like to see commitment (1+ years)? I am not sure if I would get another medical experience before I apply.
If you know that medical schools want to see at least 1 year commitment of clinical exposure, why are you not thinking about taking a bit more than a year? It's hard to advise in a vacuum, so what do your prehealth advisors suggest?
icicle1
Full Member
I do mean to take more than a year! I meant that I will be taking more than a year in only one position, rather than 2 different clinical experiences, which I was not sure about.
My premed advisors suggested that I have two clinical experiences.
icicle1
Full Member
I have no clinical experience and volunteering, but I have research. I am taking a gap year, and will be starting a clinical experience.
Would it be good to do both clinical and nonclinical volunteering alongside of this? I am not sure if I can get more than one medical experience before applying, and if that would not be ideal for my application. Thank you.
Would it be good to do both clinical and nonclinical volunteering alongside of this? I am not sure if I can get more than one medical experience before applying, and if that would not be ideal for my application. Thank you.
When you plan to apply?
Could you fill out a WAMC grid please? It would be so helpful if we could see what you have now and if you have any gaping holes. I get the impression that you are new to the building a competitive application game. Is that right or do you have lots of activities?
Here is the grid for you:
Could you fill out a WAMC grid please? It would be so helpful if we could see what you have now and if you have any gaping holes. I get the impression that you are new to the building a competitive application game. Is that right or do you have lots of activities?
Here is the grid for you:
icicle1
Full Member
I plan to apply in the spring of 2027. I am completely new!When you plan to apply?
Could you fill out a WAMC grid please? It would be so helpful if we could see what you have now and if you have any gaping holes. I get the impression that you are new to the building a competitive application game. Is that right or do you have lots of activities?
Here is the grid for you:
cGPA: 2.93 and sGPA: 3.5 (major in CS)
MCAT: None
Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer): None
Research experience and productivity: Yes
Shadowing experience and specialties represented: None
Non-clinical volunteering: None
I have some other relevant leadership I have done at my university. I am planning on taking gap years to do a post-bacc and get my clinical and volunteer hours. I am also planning to take the MCAT next year.
With your GPA, your time is better spent on 1 clinical job and non-clinical volunteering, heavily in an area such as local homeless shelter, soup kitchen etc. And by heavy, I mean 400+ hours. You will need to do well in your post-bacc classes as well, so be mindful of that.
icicle1
Full Member
Thank you! I believe I will only be able to keep up with volunteering during my post-bacc classes, and have 1 year in clinical experience close to 1000 hours. Does having varied volunteering experiences matter? (More than one volunteering experience?)
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
No but make it count. Tutoring kids or doing fundraising is not going to be very fruitful. 1000 hours of clinical experience is plenty.
icicle1
Full Member
Would I also need clinical volunteering? I was thinking about doing hospice, but I am not sure if that falls under nonclinical/clinical volunteering, or a clinical experience.
Last edited:
No. Do either scribing or MA, and then something non-clinical for the underserved outside your (or most people's) comfort zone.
icicle1
Full Member
Would LGBTQ+ community volunteering be recommended? Thank you for the help.
You can supplement with this but my answer is likely no.
icicle1
Full Member
Is there a particular reason why non clinical volunteering for underserved populations would be more critical to my application than any other volunteering?
SDN has a good search feature to find past threads for topics like this. This is an example of a good discussion on how medicine is an altruistic profession:
Your GPA is already lower. Schools that tend to reward improvement over time emphasize volunteering even more than the norm.
icicle1
Full Member
This makes a lot of sense, thanks! I was seeing some different opinions on volunteering, so I got confused.
Why are you taking the MCAT next year? Will all of your prereqs be completed? Will you have time to study well and thoroughly? MCAT scores to expire so be careful and you should plan to take it one time. (Schools and see ALL of your MCAT scores.)
Nonclinical volunteering is very important for med schools. Medicine is a service profession and you need to show the schools you can successfully get off campus and out of your comfort zone and work with people very unlike yourself. Many of these people have hit rock bottom and have seemingly no way out. As a doctor you might be seeing these people on their very worst day. You have to be comfortable dealing with all patients.
Nonclinical volunteering is very important for med schools. Medicine is a service profession and you need to show the schools you can successfully get off campus and out of your comfort zone and work with people very unlike yourself. Many of these people have hit rock bottom and have seemingly no way out. As a doctor you might be seeing these people on their very worst day. You have to be comfortable dealing with all patients.
icicle1
Full Member
All of my pre-reqs are already completed, so I was not sure if taking it next year (during my gap-year), or taking it the year after (during my post-bacc) would be the better decision. I would be planning to apply the spring semester of my post-bacc, which might be quite difficult to start MCAT preparation during (on top of apps).
I am not sure if applying next to next year would be the best move given my current plan (getting my clinical and volunteering hours in).
I will definitely be engaging in nonclinical volunteering, thank you! I was struggling to figure out how to balance this gap year, and this is all really insightful!
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
