Clinical Volunteering - Worried I do not have enough hours

[ManlyMan246]

Hey everyone, I know that there is no magic number of clinical hours that a medical school applicant should have if they want to be seriously considered for admission, but I am worried that I will not have spent enough time doing clinical volunteering during college to show the admissions committee that I am committed to and sincerely interested in medicine.

I have performed research for 2 years and am the president of several active and large campus organizations. Moreover, I've accumulated around 175 "miscellaneous" volunteer hours - running health/disease awareness booths, participating in or organizing volunteer days, etc. However, I will only be able to accumulate about 150 hours of clinical volunteering before I apply to medical school.

Is this enough volunteering (specifically clinical) to show medical schools that I am committed to helping others and that I understand what it means to be in the service of others? I feel like I am a good candidate for admission, but I don't want them to blow me off because I don't have enough hours to even make it through an initial cut or be taken seriously.

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[JJMrK]

Hey everyone, I know that there is no magic number of clinical hours that a medical school applicant should have if they want to be seriously considered for admission, but I am worried that I will not have spent enough time doing clinical volunteering during college to show the admissions committee that I am committed to and sincerely interested in medicine.

I have performed research for 2 years and am the president of several active and large campus organizations. Moreover, I've accumulated around 175 "miscellaneous" volunteer hours - running health/disease awareness booths, participating in or organizing volunteer days, etc. However, I will only be able to accumulate about 150 hours of clinical volunteering before I apply to medical school.

Is this enough volunteering (specifically clinical) to show medical schools that I am committed to helping others and that I understand what it means to be in the service of others? I feel like I am a good candidate for admission, but I don't want them to blow me off because I don't have enough hours to even make it through an initial cut or be taken seriously.

Yes. If you can talk about it intelligently and give a good answer to "Why medicine?".

 

[Catalystik]

Having 150 hours is fine, but accumulating them in 3 months probably wouldn't go over so well. On the other hand, if your application reflects that you've had an interest in medicine for at ideally 1.5 years, reflected among other activities, like shadowing, volunteering for health fairs, etc, you might be taken seriously. Your nonmedical community service can also demonstrate your interest in helping others. The clinical experience shows your familiarity with interacting with sick people and that you've gained an understanding of a clinical milieu.

 

[TexasPhysician]

You are fine.

 

[J ROD]

hrs are enough....time period makes it look like you did it for med school, which we all do but you cant give the appearance....

 

[mexicochangedme]

don't worry too much about it.

i applied with 0 clinical volunteering hours (yep, that's right, zero) and was offered 7 interviews (attended 4), and have three acceptances and one waitlist. i had a TON (read a 5-digit number of hours) of non-medical related volunteering, but nothing tied to medicine. however, i was able to answer the question, "why medicine?" quite convincingly. granted, my situation is unique and definitely was a factor in why it worked out. but, all to say, lack of clinical hours isn't an automatic setup for failure. good luck!

 

[J ROD]

yeah, you dont have to have clinical volunteering if you have other clinical experiences.....

you just need to have enough effort to show you have a clue what you are about to get yourself into...

For most folks, it is easier for them to just kill two birds with one stone and get the clinical experience with the volunteering....

 

[mordounhas]

I volunteered at a VA hospice during a 2-month period and racked up less than 100 hours of volunteering. This was the extent of my pre-medical school clinical experience, barring about 12 hours of shadowing. I never received a single question about it at the interviews I went to. I can't say for certain that programs wouldn't like to see more (don't they always), but I can say that it didn't kill my application.

 

[mexicochangedme]

yeah, you dont have to have clinical volunteering if you have other clinical experiences.....

you just need to have enough effort to show you have a clue what you are about to get yourself into...

For most folks, it is easier for them to just kill two birds with one stone and get the clinical experience with the volunteering....

sorry, to clarify my last post, i had zero hours of clinical experience (volunteer or paid). i literally had not set foot in a medical facility in ten years when i submitted my amcas.

 

[J ROD]

sorry, to clarify my last post, i had zero hours of clinical experience (volunteer or paid). i literally had not set foot in a medical facility in ten years when i submitted my amcas.

Consider yourself....lucky!!