Getting into Med School with minimal volunteer work, etc.

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dank204

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Do you think it is possible to get into medical school without a whole lot of volunteer work , no research, but shadowing experience, hospital employment, your personal statement, and other hobbies unrelated to medicine.

I mean they tell you to do things that you like right?

I just have the standard two summers volunteering at the hospital, I shadowed a doc for three months, and I have seven years of hospital employment. I also have some life experiences etc. that I can put into my statement. I don't like to volunteer in the school lab, I don't like to do research.

I personally don't like to go to third world countries and build huts, and stuff like that. I don't think that makes you a better doctor and I think a lot of students do this just to pad their application.

So honestly, what's really important as far as EC's for med school.

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Do you think it is possible to get into medical school without a whole lot of volunteer work , no research, but shadowing experience, hospital employment, your personal statement, and other hobbies unrelated to medicine.

I mean they tell you to do things that you like right?

I just have the standard two summers volunteering at the hospital, I shadowed a doc for three months, and I have seven years of hospital employment. I also have some life experiences etc. that I can put into my statement. I don't like to volunteer in the school lab, I don't like to do research.

I personally don't like to go to third world countries and build huts, and stuff like that. I don't think that makes you a better doctor and I think a lot of students do this just to pad their application.

So honestly, what's really important as far as EC's for med school.
belongs in pre-medical forums. moving.
 
Do you think it is possible to get into medical school without a whole lot of volunteer work , no research, but shadowing experience, hospital employment, your personal statement, and other hobbies unrelated to medicine.
Yes, it's possible to otherwise demonstrate desirable attributes of altruism, compassion, scientific curiosity, good communication skills, teamwork, and understanding of a healthcare environment without volunteer work or research.
 
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If you saw a lot of patient-physician interaction in your job, then you probably wouldn't need to do much else.
 
If you saw a lot of patient-physician interaction in your job, then you probably wouldn't need to do much else.

Do admission committees really give a lot of weight to hospital employment, assuming a department that has patient interaction?

I worked in radiology as a tech aid. I didn't get to do much with the patients except get them changed, get them on an off the table, etc.
 
Do admission committees really give a lot of weight to hospital employment, assuming a department that has patient interaction?

I worked in radiology as a tech aid. I didn't get to do much with the patients except get them changed, get them on an off the table, etc.

The point is to demonstrate a deep understanding - at least as deep as possible for an undergrad - of the medical profession. If you can clearly portray that you know what a doctor does and doesn't do, the experience itself won't matter. At least that's the impression that I've gotten on my interviews.
 
This is the same guy that makes a thread asking others for their reasons for wanting to be doctors.
 
The point is to demonstrate a deep understanding - at least as deep as possible for an undergrad - of the medical profession. If you can clearly portray that you know what a doctor does and doesn't do, the experience itself won't matter. At least that's the impression that I've gotten on my interviews.

Interesting.

What about someone who has Crohn's or some other incurable disease or other life experience. They have probably been patients for most of their lives, so could you say that their experience qualifies as a "deep understanding" of the medical profession?
 
I only had one medically relevant position the year I applied (outside about 40 hours of shadowing): I volunteered in local ERs for 4.5 hours from March till now, and I've been accepted into one MD program with a few pending thus far. I'm pretty much traditional (4 year undergrad finishing this May) with a high GPA/MCAT.

That being said, I've read a bookshelf of books about being a physician, and I have a few activities on my application that made me look different (ex-professional triathlete/resident at the OTC/Ironman competitor).
 
Interesting.

What about someone who has Crohn's or some other incurable disease or other life experience. They have probably been patients for most of their lives, so could you say that their experience qualifies as a "deep understanding" of the medical profession?

No, I don't think that qualifies. It can be part of the picture, but I don't think being a patient is what adcoms are looking for. You only get to see one side of the picture as a patient.
 
It's definitely possible to get in without much volunteer experience, etc if you have the grades to back you up. But even if you don't have the grades, I wouldn't kill myself trying to go out of my way doing it either. I only did a summer of volunteer and a few months of shadowing but I think I'm the exception of the rule. But know it's possible.
 
I had like 35 hours of volunteering from 7 years ago when I applied, and that was the full extent of my volunteering experience. I also was a member of exactly zero clubs in undergrad. I did, however, have tons of research that may have compensated, and I've gotten into 2 MD programs.
 
I just have the standard two summers volunteering at the hospital [...] I don't like to volunteer in the school lab, I don't like to do research.

I personally don't like to go to third world countries and build huts, and stuff like that.

You do realize that there are more than just clinical volunteering opportunities, right? Big brother, big sister? Habitat for Humanity? Local animal shelter? Local elementary school?

Volunteering is about giving time back to the community, not about learning something that might have to do with medicine.
 
To add to this, what happens if you honestly don't like volunteering. I mean does that predict that you would be a bad doc?

I've met some doctors who were as cold as ice; no compassion or no anything. They didn't look like they volunteered for anything in their lives.

I've also met some prospective applicants who have done a lot of volunteering and stuff like that and couldn't get into med school.

I'm all about keeping it real so I don't want to do stuff that only looks like I did it to make myself look good.

I read a quote one time which said something like...."do a good deed and don't expect anything in return."
 
To add to this, what happens if you honestly don't like volunteering. I mean does that predict that you would be a bad doc?

I've met some doctors who were as cold as ice; no compassion or no anything. They didn't look like they volunteered for anything in their lives.

If you don't like volunteering, you're not in the right project. The only thing that should prevent you from volunteering is an absolute inability to fit the time into your schedule (if you have to work and go to school full time, for instance). Make a list of your interests, things that you could honestly see yourself enjoying doing. Then go find opportunities based on those interests.

In today's world of admissions, people who are cold as ice wouldn't make it into medical school (unless they're just really good at faking it). There's too much emphasis placed on finding people that are human, that will relate to their patients, etc.
 
If you don't like volunteering, you're not in the right project. The only thing that should prevent you from volunteering is an absolute inability to fit the time into your schedule (if you have to work and go to school full time, for instance). Make a list of your interests, things that you could honestly see yourself enjoying doing. Then go find opportunities based on those interests.

In today's world of admissions, people who are cold as ice wouldn't make it into medical school (unless they're just really good at faking it). There's too much emphasis placed on finding people that are human, that will relate to their patients, etc.


So you're saying you're not human if you don't volunteer?
 
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