Does the specialty in which you vlnteer matter if you change your mind?

[TrueDoc1]

I'm a 2nd year premed student and i was wondering if volunteering in say Optholmology department would interfere with getting into medical school if i change my mind and want to become say Primary Care Physician. Wouldn't the question "Why did you volunteer in Optholmology if you want to be Physician" appear on the Interview?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Carbon Klein]

I volunteered in Art Therapy at a Rehab center, Pathology and Surgery at a local med center and ER at a different med center. Then I volunteered as a researcher and a shadow for a neurosurgeon. These varieties allow me to exam each specialty on my own time and allow me to exam myself in a clinical setting. Nobody ever mentioned my extracurrics to me during interviews (for some strange reason). I think medical volunteer experience shows adcoms that you are serious about medicine and know a little something about medicine. Nobody really expects you to have a decision on your career goals until your 3rd year of med school.

These activities were done over a 8 year period.

------------------

 

[---123]

No, it doesn't matter. Nobody expects you to know what you want to subspecialize in(if at all) before you are admitted. Exposure and experience in a clinical setting are what count when you volunteer. Likewise with research. Just because you have undergrad research in neuroscience, e.g., doesn't mean you have to pick a specialty that deals with that once you get in.