Do medical schools take your circumstances into considerationg?

[mahnster13]

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I am a high school senior, and I am hopefully going to be attending the University of Washington this fall. I have a 3.87 GPA, and I have taken several AP classes (Biology, Chemistry, Calculus, European History, and United States History). I am planning on majoring in Bioengineering at the UW, but I have a few predicaments that may or may not hurt my chances of getting into medical school.
First, I live 30 miles away from school, and I do not have a car. To save on transportation expenses, I will be riding the transit bus to school and back every day. This severely limits the amount of involvement I will be able to have on campus at school. I can't live on campus because of my second obstacle.
My family is DEFINITELY not rich. I will have to work some nights and weekends to be able to pay for food and to save up to help pay for college.
My question is, as long as I can find some medically related volunteer opportunities and physician shadowing opportunities, will medical schools take my circumstances into consideration when reviewing my application materials, provided I perform extremely well in school and score high on the MCAT?

 

[El Nino]

You know you don't have to do just medical related activities. I know a few medical students who told me they didn't start doing research, shadowing or volunteering till their junior year of college. Imo, STOP worrying about getting in to medical school and focus on college.

 

[EyEnStein 07]

The work you do certainly counts, its a job.
Also you can probably find times in between your classes to join a club that interests you. You dont have to rush it for now, you can always do volunteering and shadowing during the summers.

Its more important to do something you enjoy, whether its playing an instrument, tutoring kids or students in your favorite subject, or whether its playing a sport.

It gets pretty boring for med schools to see the same shadowing, volunteering at hospitals etc..., i feel it should be understood that a pre-med student who applys to med school to have already done these things in addition to things they enjoy.

 

[Maygyver]

Yes, you can apply as disadvantaged, but this is still far off in the distance for you. Just focus on doing well in college.