Do you need several years of community service?

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

I read this on a website once and it said that all medical schools want to see community service that is done throughout undergrad. Can anyone comment on the truth of this statement (or lack thereof)?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[El-Rami]

Basically you do some volunteer work in undergrad and not wait until you're about to graduate to do it.

 

[Lucca]

It's not like you need literal years of community service but volunteer work, especially done in a clinical setting, is relevant to a good medical school application. It's best to have a long-term commitment for a variety of reasons: demonstrates commitment, people at the service get to know you very well (LOR potential?), you are very familiar with the work and can speak reflectively and authoritatively on it, etc. For those reasons, it's pretty standard for people to recommend to find something that is available, interesting, and meaningful to you and do it once or twice a week (or more, or less) throughout undergrad.