Does doing Paid tutoring look good on an application?

[RedLightPass]

So, I've been tutoring Gen. Chem. for a while now these past few years and have racked up around 100 hours of tutoring. I do it through my school's academic resource center and they pay me at a rate of $8.25 per hour. I've probably accumulated a hefty $800+ through tutoring, which is pretty nice.

While I am helping kids, this certainly isn't a display of altruism as I benefit greatly from doing so. I can't help but wonder if my time would be better spent volunteering in a hospital. What say you?

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[ciestar]

Why not do both?

 

[RedLightPass]

Why not do both?

I can, but time constraints demand that I favor one in lieu of the other. As it is now, my volunteer work isn't stellar. I was just wondering whether or not adcoms look favorably upon tutoring- even if you are paid to do it.

 

[nyc1990]

8.25$ an hour......................omg

start your own tutoring on campus, make 3-4x that amount and also take initiative and, agree with above, volunteer in a hospital as well.

For the record, tutoring is solid for an application. It shows you've mastered the material enough to teach it.

 

[Planes2Doc]

You can also volunteer your tutoring services to poor kids. That should look even better!

Make sure you have some form if clinical experience as well!

 

[NeuroNYC]

Clinical volunteering is the single most important kind of volunteering you can do. I actually was in a similar predicament, where I had the option of either teaching the MCAT for Kaplan, or doing clinical research and volunteering in the emergency room in my free time. My advisors basically told me that while it looks great that you know enough about a topic to teach others, that this is something you want to do, it is far more important to be able to demonstrate that you have had enough clinical experience that you have a reasonable idea of what a medical career will be like.

You got the A in the class, and you've spent 100 hours tutoring further demonstrating your mastery of the material and your desire to help others. I say you should branch out and get more (or different types of) clinical experience.

My 2 cents.

 

[yehhhboiii]

lol you don't need to be altruistic and work for free
but get some clinical experience done (nursing assistant or volunteer at a hospital)
when they ask you why you want to be a doctor, anecdotes about your experiences are good

 

[TheBossDoctor]

$8.25/hour for tutoring?!

Might as well call that altruistic/volunteer work.

Private tutoring is WAY better. You can make at least $30/hour, and you get to set your own schedule (= much easier to do alongside clinical volunteering).

 

[mmmcdowe]

$8.25/hour for tutoring?!

Might as well call that altruistic/volunteer work.

Private tutoring is WAY better. You can make at least $30/hour, and you get to set your own schedule (= much easier to do alongside clinical volunteering).

 

[Narmerguy]

So, I've been tutoring Gen. Chem. for a while now these past few years and have racked up around 100 hours of tutoring. I do it through my school's academic resource center and they pay me at a rate of $8.25 per hour. I've probably accumulated a hefty $800+ through tutoring, which is pretty nice.

While I am helping kids, this certainly isn't a display of altruism as I benefit greatly from doing so. I can't help but wonder if my time would be better spent volunteering in a hospital. What say you?

If you've already got a lot of clinical volunteering, I wouldn't worry about it. If you are worried, why not do volunteer tutoring?

Personally, I think you're fine. I have more paid tutoring experience than clinical volunteering. However, I also think you could probably do something more meaningful than either with that time.

 

[DrOneDay7]

Regardless of getting paid or not, it doesn't change the fact that you're offering your time to help others who are struggling in a class that you did well in.

Personally, I started off solely tutoring university students (paid) and really enjoyed doing it, so I looked for volunteer tutoring opportunities. However, time constraints were an issue for me as well due to classes, research, and time scheduled to tutor on-campus (10-20 hours per week). So, I did the best I could and just volunteered a couple hours per week to tutor kids in elementary school. If you enjoy tutoring, that might be an idea to consider.