Extracurricular and letters of rec guidance

[NuetralMilkHostel]

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Hey everyone! I was hoping I could get a nudge and/or a confirmation that I'm on the right path when it comes to extracurriculars and letters of rec.

A bit about me:

I received a BS in chemical engineering from a midwest engineering school with a 3.84 GPA and I haven't taken the MCAT yet.

My state of residency is: MN

Not URM

I will have three great research letter of recs.

Clinical:

Worked at a home for physically and mentally handicapped residents full time over a summer ~ 500 hours

Research:

Worked in an orgo lab for 3 years resulting in three second or third author publications
Worked in a quantum chemistry lab for 1 year resulting in 1 fourth author publication, with a third author publication currently in review
Just began a two year IRTA postbac at the NIH

Extracurricular/Miscellaneous:

-Was the secretary of our schools sustainable foods and wellness initiative club where I lead a group of students in installing an aquaponics setup on campus to serve as a proof of concept.
-Volunteered at the local highschool during a year in college tutoring at risk 4th through 6th graders in math ~ 60 hours
-Was a teacher assistant for the Physical chemistry lecture and an organic chemistry lab section
-I play the piano (not great, but am working to get better!) and am apart of an improv group
-Received two undergrad SURF awards and a goldwater nomination

I plan on applying sometime around may and june.

I am planning on shadowing physicians a couple days a week totaling to four hours a week and starting to volunteer at a hospice center four hours a week. Both of those I would begin in the next couple weeks. My biggest concerns are centered around my application being so research heavy while lacking all of the clinical necessities. Would those two activities over the next year be enough? Also, any idea how I could round out my letters of rec to better show my compassionate side? I was thinking the volunteer coordinator at the hospice center would be good, but that would just leave me with three research letters of rec and a volunteering letter of rec.

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[NuetralMilkHostel]

Hey Gonnif,

Thanks for the reply! Do you know of any extracurriculars that would put me in a good position to have frequent patient and physician contact but still be making an impact of sorts? The reason I am skeptical of doing a standard hospital volunteering position is that I've done it for a month stretch before and it mostly consisted of checking people into the hospital, and from what I gather this is about standard for impact made with the hospital volunteering opportunity; maybe I am wrong on that though. The hospice center on the other hand has frequent patient contact for the first six months followed by optional training in grief counseling for family members who have lost a loved one recently in the hospice center. I was hoping the shadowing would serve as enough physician contact. I would default to your wisdom though as you know quite a bit more than me.

Also, the majority of research was before I had even considered going to medical school and was done out of the enjoyment of doing it. I am under no illusions about it boosting my application an extreme amount.

I appreciate the reply!

 

[NuetralMilkHostel]

When I said the word impact, I was meaning the type of impact that I would be having. My hope was that the context of the post where I describe the type of impact that hospice had in a positive light combined with my expressed desire to recreate that would convey that. While highlighting on the second half of that one sentence may give the impression that I don't appreciate every type of positive impact outside of the one really specific scenario I described, I assure you that is not the case. The majority of positives that I have in my life are from those types of indirect impacts that you listed.

My rephrasing of the question would be: Do you know of any volunteer opportunities that involve a more direct opportunity to interact with patients and physicians in a clinical setting?

Thanks for the replies and apologies if I gave off the impression that I didn't appreciate the positive value that indirect actions from all corners of society bring.