College Athlete and Volunteer Hours

[LTUbluedevil]

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Hi everyone,

I am a junior in undergrad and currently a college basketball player for my small school. I am finding it hard to make time for volunteering while studying for the MCAT and playing a sport. I am planning to take the MCAT in the spring (probably April, maybe May) and am beginning to study now because my season will get hectic. My main concern is that I am too research heavy. I am keen on making the MCAT my main priority in upcoming months but I am nervous that when I apply I will not have enough clinical volunteering and that my application will look pretty bland.

My stats so far are:
cGPA: 3.94
sGPA: 3.99
Research: 1.5 year Orgo chem research: (1 publication on the way)
1 Summer research at UCDavis Medical (2 publications in surgical oncology on the way) -->looking to return next summer
Clinical Volunteering: None --> could maybe volunteer at a hospital once a week, will definitely get more my senior year before medical school.
Non-Clinical Volunteering: 50+ hours
Shadowing: 100+ hours overall
Extra Curriculars/Awards: Student Athlete, American Chemistry Society, ASBMB, Tutor for my school, Honors society, Dean's List, In commercial for my school, love singing, working out, hiking and running, being with family



Do you guys think I am in a solid place or will medical schools dislike that I lack the extensive clinical hours that others have? I've heard that they give some leeway to athletes but I don't want to rely on that. Thanks for any advice/input in advance.

 

[mickymick]

MD or MD/PhD?

 

[LTUbluedevil]

MD or MD/PhD?

I am now leaning towards MD

 

[candbgirl]

Yes they will care and you need more nonclinical volunteering too. Why did you wait so long to worry about this issue? You need at least 150 hours of clinical experiences( you have enough shadowing as long as you have some primary care) and the same for nonclinical volunteering. I’m assuming you are planning to apply in June 2019. While it’s fine to include projected hours on your application , those hours are looked at as just that. And we all know life happens and those hours might not get done. Maybe you should plan to take a gap year and apply after you graduate. That will give you two years to get your app together.

 

[LTUbluedevil]

I didn't not worry about it, I pushed it off because many research opportunities came up. My adviser said to focus on that at the time because it would be big on the application and to not worry about "checking the boxes". However, I do recognize that I should've done some anyways and am obviously regretting it now. I applied for a volunteering position at a hospital in my area and will accumulate some hours on the weekend, about 120 by the time I take the MCAT in May hopefully. Will they actively sort me out for not having above a certain threshold of clinical volunteering hours?

Yes they will care and you need more nonclinical volunteering too. Why did you wait so long to worry about this issue? You need at least 150 hours of clinical experiences( you have enough shadowing as long as you have some primary care) and the same for nonclinical volunteering. I’m assuming you are planning to apply in June 2019. While it’s fine to include projected hours on your application , those hours are looked at as just that. And we all know life happens and those hours might not get done. Maybe you should plan to take a gap year and apply after you graduate. That will give you two years to get your app together.

 

[Catalystik]

I am a junior in undergrad and currently a college basketball player for my small school. I am finding it hard to make time for volunteering while studying for the MCAT and playing a sport. I am planning to take the MCAT in the spring (probably April, maybe May) and am beginning to study now because my season will get hectic. My main concern is that I am too research heavy. I am keen on making the MCAT my main priority in upcoming months but I am nervous that when I apply I will not have enough clinical volunteering and that my application will look pretty bland.

My stats so far are:
cGPA: 3.94
sGPA: 3.99
Research: 1.5 year Orgo chem research: (1 publication on the way)
1 Summer research at UCDavis Medical (2 publications in surgical oncology on the way) -->looking to return next summer
Clinical Volunteering: None --> could maybe volunteer at a hospital once a week, will definitely get more my senior year before medical school.
Non-Clinical Volunteering: 50+ hours
Shadowing: 100+ hours overall
Extra Curriculars/Awards: Student Athlete, American Chemistry Society, ASBMB, Tutor for my school, Honors society, Dean's List, In commercial for my school, love singing, working out, hiking and running, being with family



Do you guys think I am in a solid place or will medical schools dislike that I lack the extensive clinical hours that others have? I've heard that they give some leeway to athletes but I don't want to rely on that. Thanks for any advice/input in advance.

You have more research experience than you need for general application purposes. OTOH, if you are aiming for top research schools, you'll need a high MCAT score as well as other substantive experiences you haven't mentioned. I agree that taking an extra year to build suitable experiences before applying would be a good idea. Future hours will not carry the weight you seem to think it might.

 

[LTUbluedevil]

You have more research experience than you need for general application purposes. OTOH, if you are aiming for top research schools, you'll need a high MCAT score as well as other substantive experiences you haven't mentioned. I agree that taking an extra year to build suitable experiences before applying would be a good idea. Future hours will not carry the weight you seem to think it might.

Ok thank you for the feedback. Any suggestions on experiences aside from volunteering? Maybe become a scribe?

 

[Catalystik]

Ok thank you for the feedback. Any suggestions on experiences aside from volunteering? Maybe become a scribe?

Peer leadership.

 

[candbgirl]

Well 120 hours is a very good start. I don’t know how ADCOMS will look at it but I think it’s better than what you have now but not optimal. Now what about nonclinical hours? I think most everyone on SDN knows that most college premed advisors aren’t as knowledgeable as they should be. There are several threads that talk about what activities ADCOMS find important and research is pretty far down the list for general applicants. That’s probably why someone asked if you were MD or MD/PhD. Some schools really want it but most don’t care much. But they all want and expect clinical and nonclinical e periences.

 

[LTUbluedevil]

Well 120 hours is a very good start. I don’t know how ADCOMS will look at it but I think it’s better than what you have now but not optimal. Now what about nonclinical hours? I think most everyone on SDN knows that most college premed advisors aren’t as knowledgeable as they should be. There are several threads that talk about what activities ADCOMS find important and research is pretty far down the list for general applicants. That’s probably why someone asked if you were MD or MD/PhD. Some schools really want it but most don’t care much. But they all want and expect clinical and nonclinical e periences.

Wow, I did not know that research was that low on the totem pole. This is very eye opening, albeit frustrating to learn, thank you. In your opinion, would it be more beneficial for me to apply MD/PhD considering my current experiences?

 

[Catalystik]

Wow, I did not know that research was that low on the totem pole. This is very eye opening, albeit frustrating to learn, thank you. In your opinion, would it be more beneficial for me to apply MD/PhD considering my current experiences?

Stats-wise, MD/PhD is more competitive than MD only, so you'd need an MCAT score to match your GPA, but they do tend to put less emphasis on activities other than research.

 

[BBBH2017]

Wow... your application seems strikingly similar to mine. Im also a college athlete (baseball) at a small school and I have a 3.9whatever GPA, do organic research, ACS award recipient, tutor etc. haha I applied this year and just got accepted on the 15th of Oct. to both of my in-state schools. My opinion youre in a good place.

Suggestions:
-you have plenty of research and probably could take some time off to get some clinical volunteer
-you have plenty of shadowing
-find somewhere to put in 3-5 hrs a week of volunteering. Treat it like its a lab class and tell your coach that it HAS TO BE DONE. likely he/she will understand (mine did at least)
I volunteered with hospice (do recommend) and could pretty much go volunteer when I was able to considering hospice is founded and routed in volunteer workers and they actually benefit from having more volunteers. So the will be very willing to work with your schedule. They need you as much as you need them.
-getting these hours during season will be tough but doable. Has been done before, will be done again...likely by you 🙂
-Also I would suggest taking the MCAT early summer instead of spring. It gives you more time to study and doesn't put you behind. Maybe a date in early June. No later than mid June.

Ultimately, if you want to be a doctor... and simply because you're on this site asking questions, I KNOW that you do, YOU WILL BE. Keep grinding. Make some sacrifices. You got this.

EDIT: I personally don't think you need a gap year. JUST GET IT DONE. Youre an athlete.. a great student... you know how to grind. If you want it this year go and get it! Although a gap year is certainly not, by any means, the end of the world.

 

[LTUbluedevil]

You are teetering on the edge of needing a gap year here if you plan to keep up with the sports and study for the MCAT with the remainder of this school year. You absolutely need more clinical experience and volunteering, even if you end up with a solid MCAT.
- You have more than plenty of shadowing. Don't do any more unless you haven't shadowed a primary care physician yet.
- Get some clinical experience - scribing, hospital volunteering, EMT or CNA (working in those roles, not just taking the certification class), free clinic, hospice, etc. This can be volunteer or paid, but if it's paid make sure you beef up your non-clinical volunteering substantially.
- Get some more non-clinical volunteering - could you coach a kids' basketball team in a low-income school district or something?
- Not sure if you were planning to, but listing Dean's list and "in commercial for my school" as awards on your application will not be helpful to you.
- We don't put much stock in anticipated hours listed on your application, so you need to have a good chunk of your hours done before you submit your application.

Thank you! I appreciate the detailed feedback greatly. I am really hoping to not take a gap year if I can, but I also want to get into a good research school. If I get 150+ clinical hours, another 50+ nonclinical, and a solid MCAT score (I will make all of this happen for sure if it means I can apply next cycle, no matter how hard it is) do you think I would be in a good place for applications?

and about the commercial stuff that was just some extracurriculars that would be on my resume

 

[aymar]

Have you done any volunteer work with your team? (that may be in the 50+ you listed, not sure) The program I played for adopted a highway so we would clean up trash a few times a year, for example. I know that projects like that are pretty common for most college teams, so just make sure you are counting those

 

[LTUbluedevil]

That would put you at about the minimum that my school would consider adequate, and we would expect those experiences to be very intensive/meaningful. But I think it would be very tough to make that happen while maintaining your grades, and playing a sport, and studying for the MCAT. There will be lots of people applying to good research schools that do have the volunteer hours and clinical experience to back it up. I know it's frustrating to take a gap year, but most people are doing it these days and honestly looking back I kinda wish I had taken one. And it would beef up your application enough that with a good showing on the MCAT you'd stand a much better chance of getting into the type of school you want.

I agree, its just not something I ever really wanted to do. I appreciate the honesty and feedback. Thanks for all your help!

 

[LTUbluedevil]

Have you done any volunteer work with your team? (that may be in the 50+ you listed, not sure) The program I played for adopted a highway so we would clean up trash a few times a year, for example. I know that projects like that are pretty common for most college teams, so just make sure you are counting those

I have, but its all been very miscellaneous and a wide variety of things. I didn't really know how to record it because there was little consistency. But adding that in to my hours, I'm about at 75-80 for non-clinical

 

[LTUbluedevil]

This may have been mentioned previously, but I recommend 150 each of clinical volunteering and non-clinical community service for every applicant. One of my advisees this year was a extremely high stat applicant who finally got in on their third try. The applicant had virtually no clinical work and took off 2 years to finally accumulate hours. Got a first day acceptance with some 5 or 6 more Interviews scheduled.

Ok, thank you! I'll shoot for 200+ but make sure I get at least 150. It'll be a struggle, but hopefully worth it in the long run.

 

[LTUbluedevil]

If you get 100+ you will be okay I think. I like successful athletes in the same way I like musicians: shows discipline, committment, motivation, working in a team, etc all while being successful at school and ECs

Thank you @gonnif , that's the most reassuring thing that I've heard and I thank you for it. I'll still be working my butt off but it's nice to know I have some breathing room.