Help With Extracurriculars?

[PA_dud3]

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Hello,

Current Freshman in Second Semester (technically sophomore, 24 credit hours). I would like some help with mapping out my extra curricular stuff. I will list below my current info, (I know its not as much as it should be) any help would be greatly appreciated!

Sophomore, History Major (24 Credit Hours)
3.92 GPA
-10 Hours Shadowing a Nephrologist
-10 Hours Shadowing in a Dialysis Clinic
-1.5+ years working in a retail pharmacy setting as a Pharmacy Technician (Independent, then CVS)
-10+ Hours of Chemistry Research

I feel like this is no where near where I should be at in preparing for med school, even for a freshman, and to be honest Im kinda worried. I reached out to a Primary Care Physician as well as a hospitsl near my school to attempt to get more shadowing while I am at school. I will also start volunteering at another hospital soon. Will about 4-6 hours per week be enough during the semester? Id also like to volunteer at a local health department. I will also be getting much more chem research time. Over the summer I plan to work as a scribe or maybe an EMT (will be quitting my Pharmacy Tech job). I will also be shadowing my nephrologist friend a good bit more and interning at a local hospital closer to home, hopefully. Does this sound like a good start? I am worried about non clinical volunteering as well.

Thank you for any help you can provide!

Dd3

 

[strong oak]

Sounds like a good start.

I had close to 200 hours of clinical volunteering + 50 hours of shadowing and got a good number of interviews. Working as a scribe/EMT will cover the clinical hours, you just need the shadowing. I think you'll do great on that if while you're there you make a point of getting to know the doctors you work with during your summer job and asking them for future shadowing and mentoring experience. Getting to shadow is about networking. I would also target 100 hours of non-medical volunteering if I were you (I had less, but did more service work the summer after I submitted my amcas). Shouldn't be hard to join a volunteer org on campus.

Seems like you are doing great, just keep going and don't overload yourself!

 

[PA_dud3]

Sounds like a good start.

I had close to 200 hours of clinical volunteering + 50 hours of shadowing and got a good number of interviews. Working as a scribe/EMT will cover the clinical hours, you just need the shadowing. I think you'll do great on that if while you're there you make a point of getting to know the doctors you work with during your summer job and asking them for future shadowing and mentoring experience. Getting to shadow is about networking. I would also target 100 hours of non-medical volunteering if I were you (I had less, but did more service work the summer after I submitted my amcas). Shouldn't be hard to join a volunteer org on campus.

Oh, so 100 hours by the time I apply to med school should be enough? I think I could swing that quite easily. I will look for a non medical volunteer gig this year or the next if I can. Thank you for your help!

 

[doc05]

Hello,

Current Freshman in Second Semester (technically sophomore, 24 credit hours). I would like some help with mapping out my extra curricular stuff. I will list below my current info, (I know its not as much as it should be) any help would be greatly appreciated!

Sophomore, History Major (24 Credit Hours)
3.92 GPA
-10 Hours Shadowing a Nephrologist
-10 Hours Shadowing in a Dialysis Clinic
-1.5+ years working in a retail pharmacy setting as a Pharmacy Technician (Independent, then CVS)
-10+ Hours of Chemistry Research

I feel like this is no where near where I should be at in preparing for med school, even for a freshman, and to be honest Im kinda worried. I reached out to a Primary Care Physician as well as a hospitsl near my school to attempt to get more shadowing while I am at school. I will also start volunteering at another hospital soon. Will about 4-6 hours per week be enough during the semester? Id also like to volunteer at a local health department. I will also be getting much more chem research time. Over the summer I plan to work as a scribe or maybe an EMT (will be quitting my Pharmacy Tech job). I will also be shadowing my nephrologist friend a good bit more and interning at a local hospital closer to home, hopefully. Does this sound like a good start? I am worried about non clinical volunteering as well.

Thank you for any help you can provide!

Dd3

Do something else. Stay away from dialysis clinic, it's depressing and not reflective of medicine in general.
Stop doing pharmacy tech. Find a hospital.

Not sure what volunteering at the local health department means.

 

[PA_dud3]

Do something else. Stay away from dialysis clinic, it's depressing and not reflective of medicine in general.
Stop doing pharmacy tech. Find a hospital.

Not sure what volunteering at the local health department means.

I enjoy nephrology and dialysis clinics, though...?

Already said I was quitting the tech job.

A health department, atleast where I live, is like a clinic where people get flu shots, basic preventative medicine, etc. Mostly it would be extra clinical volunteering experience on top of the hospital.

 

[candbgirl]

Are you working at the Dislysis Center? Or shadowing. You list it as shadowing and you have enough. Same with the nephrologist. You do need time shadowing a primary care doc. Total shadowing should be around 50 hours.

What would you be doing at the Health Department? If you have direct patient contact it sounds good. Might even be better than the hospital depending on what you do at the hospital.

And you need at least 150 hours of nonclinical volunteering. Activities like soup kitchens, homeless shelters, Ronald McDonald House, camps for disabled kids, tutoring or coaching underprivileged kids etc. Anything that shows your altruistic side. Service to the unserved/underserved in your community is very important.

For all of these EC areas you should show or be able to share some passion for the activities. You will be asked about them in your interviews. ADCOMS can see right through you and if you just did something to box check they’ll feel that. Always remember medicine is a service profession.

 

[PA_dud3]

Are you working at the Dislysis Center? Or shadowing. You list it as shadowing and you have enough. Same with the nephrologist. You do need time shadowing a primary care doc. Total shadowing should be around 50 hours.

What would you be doing at the Health Department? If you have direct patient contact it sounds good. Might even be better than the hospital depending on what you do at the hospital.

And you need at least 150 hours of nonclinical volunteering. Activities like soup kitchens, homeless shelters, Ronald McDonald House, camps for disabled kids, tutoring or coaching underprivileged kids etc. Anything that shows your altruistic side. Service to the unserved/underserved in your community is very important.

For all of these EC areas you should show or be able to share some passion for the activities. You will be asked about them in your interviews. ADCOMS can see right through you and if you just did something to box check they’ll feel that. Always remember medicine is a service profession.

Thank you for your advice! Yes the Dialysis Center and Nephrologist were both shadowing. I submitted two requests for shadowing at a local family practice center, as well as a larger hospital, where I would like to shadow an internist.

I think at the health department I would be doing stuff like patient intake and paperwork, I could be wrong though.

There is a literacy council nearby where they accept volunteers. I may be able to tutor people on their reading, which woud be something I would enjoy doing. Would that be a good idea?

 

[candbgirl]

Thank you for your advice! Yes the Dialysis Center and Nephrologist were both shadowing. I submitted two requests for shadowing at a local family practice center, as well as a larger hospital, where I would like to shadow an internist.

I think at the health department I would be doing stuff like patient intake and paperwork, I could be wrong though.

There is a literacy council nearby where they accept volunteers. I may be able to tutor people on their reading, which woud be something I would enjoy doing. Would that be a good idea?

Yes. Everything you mentioned is okay. But as @Goro always says “get off campus. Get outside your comfort zone! “ Many of the people you’ll be working with aren’t like you so you should get comfortable working with all kinds of people. Good luck.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

You can continue to do the dialysis if you like it, but you need to shadow some primary care docs, get some clinical experience, and get some non-clinical volunteering. Those things are a much better use of your time, so don’t sacrifice those just to keep shadowing in a dialysis clinic.

And keep those grades where they are.

Edit: oh, and get an interesting hobby or two. Having a hundred volunteering hours, a hundred clinical hours, shadowing, and a good gpa/MCAT is great, but it doesn’t make you stand out at all.

 

[PA_dud3]

Yes. Everything you mentioned is okay. But as @Goro always says “get off campus. Get outside your comfort zone! “ Many of the people you’ll be working with aren’t like you so need you should get comfortable working with all kinds of people. Good luck.

You can continue to do the dialysis if you like it, but you need to shadow some primary care docs, get some clinical experience, and get some non-clinical volunteering. Those things are a much better use of your time, so don’t sacrifice those just to keep shadowing in a dialysis clinic.

And keep those grades where they are.

Edit: oh, and get an interesting hobby or two. Having a hundred volunteering hours, a hundred clinical hours, shadowing, and a good gpa/MCAT is great, but it doesn’t make you stand out at all.

Would like 4 hours of non clinical and 6 hours of clinical a week be good during school time? I plan to work over the summer as a scribe and intern and shadow as well.

 

[PA_dud3]

Hey all,

So another question. There is a homeless shelter/soup kitchen nearby that allows volunteers. However, I would only be able to sign up for like 30 minute shifts, so maybe a max of 30 minutes to an hour a week would be all I could do. If I did this over the next 6 semesters, would it be "enough" for med school? I could only volunteer here during school semesters, and I am worried that I wont be able to get enough hours.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Would like 4 hours of non clinical and 6 hours of clinical a week be good during school time? I plan to work over the summer as a scribe and intern and shadow as well.

How long are you planning on keeping that up? I did 2-4 hours of non-clinical volunteering a week, but I kept it up for a couple years and racked up 400+ hours. That's probably more than you need, but it's not like shadowing where it starts to look selfish at some point.

A lot of schools consider scribing clinical experience, btw. You don't need paid clinical experience and volunteer clinical experience. You just need clinical experience. All of my clinical experience was paid.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Hey all,

So another question. There is a homeless shelter/soup kitchen nearby that allows volunteers. However, I would only be able to sign up for like 30 minute shifts, so maybe a max of 30 minutes to an hour a week would be all I could do. If I did this over the next 6 semesters, would it be "enough" for med school? I could only volunteer here during school semesters, and I am worried that I wont be able to get enough hours.

Honestly, you're looking at this kind of stuff the wrong way. You shouldn't be looking at volunteering in terms of can you get enough hours. You don't need to have hundreds of hours at once place. I had about 150 hours at one place, then about 100 doing something else, etc. But more importantly, they were all things I really enjoyed doing, and I volunteered there because I like it and felt like I was doing something good for the community.

Volunteer at places you will be doing something you enjoy, because when you're asked about it, that passion will show through. Applicants who box check are obvious. There are so many options for volunteering, you are guaranteed to find at least one or two activities that you really like. So if you really like the idea of working at the homeless shelter, do it! Don't worry about if it'll give you enough hours to matter for med school. You'll help people out, and when they ask you about it, it'll be obvious that it meant something to you, which means they'll get the picture that you enjoy serving others--that's what they want.