Does it matter how your hours are spaced out?

[kts]

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Does it matter how your volunteer and shadowing hours are spaced out? For shadowing I was able to put in ~40 hours over a two week span (will work on more), for hospital volunteering I go during summer and winter breaks, and for nonclinical I have volunteered as a camp counselor at a sleep away camp for a week which was also many hours. Do I necessarily need more long-term hours for the shadowing and nonclinical?

 

[NightGod]

No, but it can look better on your app. Long-term commitment is what the adcoms are looking for when they are examining volunteering ECs. If you've done sleep-away camp every summer for the last 5 years then it can show that type of commitment. There's nothing wrong really with scheduling the opportunities when it doesn't interfere with school, just do your best to make it something you do on a consistent scheudle.

 

[n3xa]

Focus more on what you're getting out of these experiences and a little less on clocking in a certain amount of hours.

 

[Catalystik]

Do I necessarily need more long-term hours for the shadowing and nonclinical?

Shadowing does not need to be a regular activity and can be gained with intense bursts of involvement periodically or as a regular weekly experience. Volunteering is better done over a long period of time. While intense bursts done year after year over the summer could well work for you, it's hard for the adcomm mind to imagine that you can't give 1-2 horus per week over the school year to a cause you care about, in addition.

 

[Ride Big Sky]

I have been told by an adcom that they look for at least one 1-year long commitment. I was also told that it doesn't matter how many hours you have if you cant speak intelligently about what you did and what you experienced.

Basically it all comes back to creating your own story and selling it to the schools come application time.

 

[Haislip]

How do you find a physician to shadow and how early is too early to start shadowing? Also, what are some place where you can volunteer at?

 

[Ride Big Sky]

How do you find a physician to shadow and how early is too early to start shadowing? Also, what are some place where you can volunteer at?

Poke around the forum a bit and/or utilize the search function and you'll find more than enough info on these inquirees.

 

[Narmerguy]

How do you find a physician to shadow and how early is too early to start shadowing? Also, what are some place where you can volunteer at?

Definitely search for this because there's a wealth of threads about finding shadowing. I think as long as you are actually in college you're good to go for shadowing. High school activities aren't really supposed to be included and though you could list it as a continuation through college, I think you might simply get more out of it shadowing as a college student vs. a high school student.

...not that you are a high school student but I just felt like being thorough in my response 😛

 

[n3xa]

http://sdnfamilyaerospace.blogspot.com/2011/03/family-aerospaces-shadowing-tips-table.html