How do 100 hours compare?

[LetsGo352]

---

Members don't see this ad.

How do 100 hours of clinical experience (volunteering + shadowing) compare to other applicants? Just want to get an idea of where I am at.

 

[CaliGirl14]

On average, people have 150 hours, or one and a half year of volunteering exp.

 

[JoshuaGuit]

I have over 200 volunteering hours so far on my university's ambulance and I'm only a freshman.

This would still count, right?

 

[Ischemic]

How do 100 hours of clinical experience (volunteering + shadowing) compare to other applicants? Just want to get an idea of where I am at.

Good. Plus it's not about quantity, it's about quality. 100 hours doing nothing is less valuable than 10 hours of actually doing something where you feel like you learned something.

 

[apumic]

How do 100 hours of clinical experience (volunteering + shadowing) compare to other applicants? Just want to get an idea of where I am at.

Pretty weak. The average applicant has 40-100 hrs of shadowing alone + 100-200 hrs clinical experience (i.e., positions involving direct responsibility for pt care in some way involving direct contact w/ the pts).


People do vary quite a bit, though. You could certainly get in on that IF your experiences were of a very high quality. Quality >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Quantity.

As for me, last I counted, I was ~2000 hours clinical work experience + ~400 volunteer clinical + ~30 shadowing. (Except for the shadowing shadowing, all of my clinical hours involved direct responsibility for pt treatment and outcomes).

 

[rHinO1]

How do 100 hours of clinical experience (volunteering + shadowing) compare to other applicants? Just want to get an idea of where I am at.

shadowing is separate and in my opinion less important. You will probably want at least a year volunteering weekly (3-4 hours a week).

 

[apumic]

shadowing is separate and in my opinion less important. You will probably want at least a year volunteering weekly (3-4 hours a week).

Agreed. The LORs from clinical supervisors (i.e., the medical director of the unit on which you worked and/or volunteered for a substantial period of time) can be invaluable. Shadowing LORs...not so much.

 

[randombetch]

How do 100 hours of clinical experience (volunteering + shadowing) compare to other applicants? Just want to get an idea of where I am at.

I do that in 2 months...

 

[apumic]

I do that in 2 months...

haha. here, have a...

 

[LetsGo352]

Thanks for the input guys. Also, my experiences (w/ both shadowing and volunteering) are all about 20-25 hours each. In other words, I have many activities that I did for a short period of time rather than a few activities for a long period of time. Most of the 20 hour activities involved about 2 months of total time. I have heard some people say that schools want to see continuity in these experiences. Is this true?

 

[Catalystik]

They want to see longevity in some of your activities. Dedication and commitment are good.

 

[apumic]

Thanks for the input guys. Also, my experiences (w/ both shadowing and volunteering) are all about 20-25 hours each. In other words, I have many activities that I did for a short period of time rather than a few activities for a long period of time. Most of the 20 hour activities involved about 2 months of total time. I have heard some people say that schools want to see continuity in these experiences. Is this true?

Yes, it's very true. 1 100-hr activity >> 5 40-hr activities, for instance.

 

[rHinO1]

Thanks for the input guys. Also, my experiences (w/ both shadowing and volunteering) are all about 20-25 hours each. In other words, I have many activities that I did for a short period of time rather than a few activities for a long period of time. Most of the 20 hour activities involved about 2 months of total time. I have heard some people say that schools want to see continuity in these experiences. Is this true?

Who seems more committed? The guy who volunteered 1 hour a week for 1 year (= 52 hours) or the guy who volunteered 4 weekends in a row for 13 hours each (=52 hours)?

 

[Cleavername]

I do that in 2 months...

yeesh, thats like 12 hours a week lol.

 

[apumic]

yeesh, thats like 12 hours a week lol.

lol...too true. I was really tempted to respond "I do that in 2 weeks" but then... nah. 100 hrs is fine over a period of time, though. If you volunteer 4 hrs/wk for 6 mos, you'll end up w/ ~100 hrs and that's a decent enough commitment if your work involves high-quality pt care. Of course, I'd still argue that you don't really know what you're doing in a job for at least the first 200-300 hours (hence why most jobs give a 3-mos full-time "probationary training period"). According to Malcolm Gladwell (I believe...) it takes 10,000 hours of practice before a person typically reaches mastery of a subject area.

 

[mvenus929]

I had about 15 hours of shadowing, 500+ hours working in a physician's office, and 2000+ hours working in a hospital. Volunteering in a clinical setting... I had about 150 hours, but I volunteered lots outside of a clinical setting.

As others have said, though, it's about quality, not quantity. I could easily throw out half of my working hours as meaningless, because I didn't do much to give me a good idea of the medical field. It was grunge work. I certainly could have had more 'shadowing' hours, but I got a lot of experience working with doctors in the hospital, so that helped out a ton. My volunteering in the clinical setting was almost completely meaningless... the only thing that I got out of it was a desire to work with kids, but I honestly spent most of my time reading.

 

[chrisski]

I had about 15 hours of shadowing, 500+ hours working in a physician's office, and 2000+ hours working in a hospital. Volunteering in a clinical setting... I had about 150 hours, but I volunteered lots outside of a clinical setting.

As others have said, though, it's about quality, not quantity. I could easily throw out half of my working hours as meaningless, because I didn't do much to give me a good idea of the medical field. It was grunge work. I certainly could have had more 'shadowing' hours, but I got a lot of experience working with doctors in the hospital, so that helped out a ton. My volunteering in the clinical setting was almost completely meaningless... the only thing that I got out of it was a desire to work with kids, but I honestly spent most of my time reading.

Why in gods name would you do spend that much time doing that... On another note, it is interesting how times change. I know some very successful doctors in my family, as well as some family friends, who essentially did no volunteering or clinical and easily got into med school back in the day(20 years ago)

 

[rHinO1]

haha wow, looks like the competitive SDN nature is coming out. Interesting to hear how many hours everyone has.

 

[Oncoloman]

Why in gods name would you do spend that much time doing that... On another note, it is interesting how times change. I know some very successful doctors in my family, as well as some family friends, who essentially did no volunteering or clinical and easily got into med school back in the day(20 years ago)

Yea. I think many are beginning to become too obsessed with numbers. After a while I'm sure most ADCOMS just grin at these excessive numbers. The need to express hours instead of years proves so. A learning experience is for learning...not for accumulating stats and boasting. I have no problem with the "enthusiasm" of most posters here but I think most are forgetting that med schools want originals, not duplicates. If you go through 5000 apps and all say 100000+ hours clinical, 6604342+ volunteering/non clinical hours don't you think you would just pick the joe smoe who has been involved in something unique/interesting and has remained diligent over several years as a good student ( with lets say 3.7 & 35R)? Just my take....

 

[David1991]

Holy crap how can you guys have 2000 hours!? Does that include high school volunteering? Even if that's 3 years of college that's ~13 hours every single week. Do you have jobs? I can't imagine another 13 hours on top of my normal school load.

 

[FlowRate]

Holy crap how can you guys have 2000 hours!? Does that include high school volunteering? Even if that's 3 years of college that's ~13 hours every single week. Do you have jobs? I can't imagine another 13 hours on top of my normal school load.

He probably had his EMT-B or something for that clinical XP.

 

[christina30]

Holy crap how can you guys have 2000 hours!? Does that include high school volunteering? Even if that's 3 years of college that's ~13 hours every single week. Do you have jobs? I can't imagine another 13 hours on top of my normal school load.

Seriously? I sometimes worked 30 hours a week during undergrad, and also dedicated 10 additional hours a week to research, and I was a chemistry major.

 

[LetsGo352]

Yea. I think many are beginning to become too obsessed with numbers. After a while I'm sure most ADCOMS just grin at these excessive numbers. The need to express hours instead of years proves so. A learning experience is for learning...not for accumulating stats and boasting. I have no problem with the "enthusiasm" of most posters here but I think most are forgetting that med schools want originals, not duplicates. If you go through 5000 apps and all say 100000+ hours clinical, 6604342+ volunteering/non clinical hours don't you think you would just pick the joe smoe who has been involved in something unique/interesting and has remained diligent over several years as a good student ( with lets say 3.7 & 35R)? Just my take....

hahahha, yeah. My problem is I have been doing medical-based research since the month before I started undergrad (I'm now a junior) @ about 15-20 hrs a week. I know it's not an excuse, but that really took up a lot of my time and took away time from other activities. I'm just hoping it won't look negatively on my application.

 

[rHinO1]

Holy crap how can you guys have 2000 hours!? Does that include high school volunteering? Even if that's 3 years of college that's ~13 hours every single week. Do you have jobs? I can't imagine another 13 hours on top of my normal school load.

haha if I told you what my week was like apparently it would blow your mind 😛. Don't stress on what some of us do, just make your app as good as possible. No matter how much we do someone will always do a little more.

 

[FlowRate]

Seriously? I sometimes worked 30 hours a week during undergrad, and also dedicated 10 additional hours a week to research, and I was a chemistry major.

Apparently your chemistry major was not nearly as time consuming as some people's majors. I literally could not physically fit that much time into my schedule if I tried, I'm sure there are other people like me.

 

[christina30]

Apparently your chemistry major was not nearly as time consuming as some people's majors. I literally could not physically fit that much time into my schedule if I tried, I'm sure there are other people like me.

I went to a seriously tough school for undergrads - Jesuit universities don't mess around.

That being said, it's all about how you manage your time, etc. Just because you refuse to make time for a job and/or research doesn't mean it isn't possible.

 

[apumic]

Yea. I think many are beginning to become too obsessed with numbers. After a while I'm sure most ADCOMS just grin at these excessive numbers. The need to express hours instead of years proves so. A learning experience is for learning...not for accumulating stats and boasting. I have no problem with the "enthusiasm" of most posters here but I think most are forgetting that med schools want originals, not duplicates. If you go through 5000 apps and all say 100000+ hours clinical, 6604342+ volunteering/non clinical hours don't you think you would just pick the joe smoe who has been involved in something unique/interesting and has remained diligent over several years as a good student ( with lets say 3.7 & 35R)? Just my take....

Haha, I don't think most of us w/ those amounts of hours actually count. At least I don't, but if people are asking about hours, I'll give an approximate number (i.e., ~2000 hrs/yr*# yrs full-time). It happens to be large because I work as a healthcare professional while going to school. If you're doing 1000s of hours for an adcom, you're a fool, but as a job, it's great.

Holy crap how can you guys have 2000 hours!? Does that include high school volunteering? Even if that's 3 years of college that's ~13 hours every single week. Do you have jobs? I can't imagine another 13 hours on top of my normal school load.

We're not talking about volunteering here. This is actual work in a clinical environment (hospital, ambo, clinic, etc.). Working will always get you the highest quality clinical experience (almost without exception), so I highly recommend it if you can get a clinical job. Volunteering, I have a few hundred that have been steadily gained over a few years.

 

[christina30]

Haha, I don't think most of us w/ those kids of hours actually count. At least I don't, but if people are asking about hours, I'll give an approximate number. It happens to be large because I work as a healthcare professional while going to school. If you're doing 1000s of hours for an adcom, you're a fool, but as a job, it's great.



We're not talking about volunteering here. This is actually work in a clinical environment (hospital, ambo, clinic, etc.). Working will always get you the highest quality clinical experience (almost without exception), so I highly recommend it if you can get a clinical job. Volunteering, I have a few hundred that have been steadily gained over a few years.

Agreed on the job part. As a volunteer, especially in a hospital, there's a pretty severe limit on the things you'll be "permitted" to do, since you're not a paid employee. I worked in an Emergency Room throughout undergrad, and when we had a volunteer, I was pretty much in charge of giving them tasks to do, and it was always pretty menial, crappy tasks - like cutting labels or re-arranging my file cabinet. You're way better off getting a part-time job to get serious clinical experience.

 

[FlowRate]

I went to a seriously tough school for undergrads - Jesuit universities don't mess around.

That being said, it's all about how you manage your time, etc. Just because you refuse to make time for a job and/or research doesn't mean it isn't possible.

No. It literally isn't possible. Try taking ChemE Thermodynamics, Physical Chem, PChem Lab, Transport Phenomena, and Bioprocess Engineering at the same time. Each class averages 15 hours of homework, outside of class, per week. I mean, sure, you could always not do homework -- that's what my classmates who don't want good grades do so that they can work -- but I don't think this is a forum for that group of people.

This is one of those situations where you really don't know how easy you had it until you've had it hard. I would compare my semester to medical school--it is definitely more time consuming (and conceptually difficult), according to all of the med students I know who came from my program.

 

[rHinO1]

Haha, I don't think most of us w/ those amounts of hours actually count. At least I don't, but if people are asking about hours, I'll give an approximate number (i.e., ~2000 hrs/yr*# yrs full-time). It happens to be large because I work as a healthcare professional while going to school. If you're doing 1000s of hours for an adcom, you're a fool, but as a job, it's great.



We're not talking about volunteering here. This is actual work in a clinical environment (hospital, ambo, clinic, etc.). Working will always get you the highest quality clinical experience (almost without exception), so I highly recommend it if you can get a clinical job. Volunteering, I have a few hundred that have been steadily gained over a few years.

I agree with this. Like he/she said when you're getting paid by the hour the more the better.

 

[apumic]

I went to a seriously tough school for undergrads - Jesuit universities don't mess around.

That being said, it's all about how you manage your time, etc. Just because you refuse to make time for a job and/or research doesn't mean it isn't possible.

Well-said. If you manage your time well (and have the aptitude), you can manage full-time work + full-time school + volunteering + a social life. Remember, too, that many college students make it tougher on themselves by the kinds of social lives they choose to lead. If you're getting drunk and high on weekends and so losing as much as 36 hrs of waking time every week to an altered mental state, then, yeah, it's gonna be tougher to keep the rest of your life in optimal shape but that's your choice.

 

[christina30]

No. It literally isn't possible. Try taking ChemE Thermodynamics, Physical Chem, PChem Lab, Transport Phenomena, and Bioprocess Engineering at the same time. Each class averages 15 hours of homework, outside of class, per week. I mean, sure, you could always not do homework -- that's what my classmates who don't want good grades do so that they can work -- but I don't think this is a forum for that group of people.

This is one of those situations where you really don't know how easy you had it until you've had it hard. I would compare my semester to medical school--it is definitely more time consuming (and conceptually difficult), according to all of the med students I know who came from my program.

I understand where you're coming from, but trust me - it's always possible. I took PChem (Quantum mechanics, mind you) and lab, Biochemistry, with lab, and Neuroscience all in one semester. I still found a way to get my homework done, do my research, and pull at least 2 shifts a week at the hospital.

PS: P Chem I is thermodynamics, so explain that to me, please.

 

[rHinO1]

No. It literally isn't possible. Try taking ChemE Thermodynamics, Physical Chem, PChem Lab, Transport Phenomena, and Bioprocess Engineering at the same time. Each class averages 15 hours of homework, outside of class, per week. I mean, sure, you could always not do homework -- that's what my classmates who don't want good grades do so that they can work -- but I don't think this is a forum for that group of people.

This is one of those situations where you really don't know how easy you had it until you've had it hard. I would compare my semester to medical school--it is definitely more time consuming (and conceptually difficult), according to all of the med students I know who came from my program.

I think I get where you are coming from, but you will be surprised by what you can do if you have to. Also, when you need to you get good at scheduling your classes to avoid being overloaded. For example, from the classes you listed it would also be possible to take the hardest one over the summer to ease the load a bit.

I'm sure there is at least 1 nut at your school, in your major that is also working and rocking his classes (there always is). However, I would agree that some majors (chemistry, engineering, physics, math) are harder than others.

 

[apumic]

Agreed on the job part. As a volunteer, especially in a hospital, there's a pretty severe limit on the things you'll be "permitted" to do, since you're not a paid employee. I worked in an Emergency Room throughout undergrad, and when we had a volunteer, I was pretty much in charge of giving them tasks to do, and it was always pretty menial, crappy tasks - like cutting labels or re-arranging my file cabinet. You're way better off getting a part-time job to get serious clinical experience.

I'd say it is noteworthy, though, that outside a hospital (i.e., at a free clinic), volunteers often get great jobs -- sometimes even similar to what an ER Tech or RN/LPN would do in the ED (minus the things requiring a license, such as IVs).

 

[JJMrK]

How do 100 hours of clinical experience (volunteering + shadowing) compare to other applicants? Just want to get an idea of where I am at.

That's about average. I'd try to get ~200 to be safe.

 

[FlowRate]

I understand where you're coming from, but trust me - it's always possible. I took PChem (Quantum mechanics, mind you) and lab, Biochemistry, with lab, and Neuroscience all in one semester. I still found a way to get my homework done, do my research, and pull at least 2 shifts a week at the hospital.

PS: P Chem I is thermodynamics, so explain that to me, please.

To the PS: PChem I is basic, easy thermodynamics. I'm talking makes-half-the-remaining-class-drop-out CHEMICAL ENGINEERING thermodynamics. Like PChem I on crack x 2.

The PChem I'm talking about in the previous post this semester is Quantum. The Lab is both semesters combined and quantum heavy.

"PChem (Quantum mechanics, mind you) and lab, Biochemistry, with lab, and Neuroscience all in one semester"
While this does sound like your average "difficult" semester, I must be honest that there is no comparison between that semester and what I'm discussing.

I'm not trying to put you down. Chemistry majors are smart people. But when you tell someone that they should be able to fit 40 hours of stuff into their schedule, you really have no clue how time consuming some undergrad majors can be -- you've simply not experienced it. I'm not saying we're better. My life sucks this semester and I envy my Chem friends. Just don't assume that everyone has as much free time as you do/did.

I think I get where you are coming from, but you will be surprised by what you can do if you have to. Also, when you need to you get good at scheduling your classes to avoid being overloaded. For example, from the classes you listed it would also be possible to take the hardest one over the summer to ease the load a bit.

I'm sure there is at least 1 nut at your school, in your major that is also working and rocking his classes (there always is). However, I would agree that some majors (chemistry, engineering, physics, math) are harder than others.

I AM that nut. None of my classes are available over the summer or in other semesters (all are prereq's for next semester).

 

[christina30]

I'd say it is noteworthy, though, that outside a hospital (i.e., at a free clinic), volunteers often get great jobs -- sometimes even similar to what an ER Tech or RN/LPN would do in the ED (minus the things requiring a license, such as IVs).

Definitely! Not to say that all volunteer positions aren't great experiences, of course there are plenty of amazing ones. But for someone looking in the hospital setting, paid work is probably better, and hey, you're getting money out of it as well. Win/win!!

 

[christina30]

To the PS: PChem I is basic, easy thermodynamics. I'm talking makes-half-the-remaining-class-drop-out CHEMICAL ENGINEERING thermodynamics. Like PChem I on crack x 2.

The PChem I'm talking about in the previous post this semester is Quantum. The Lab is both semesters combined and quantum heavy.

"PChem (Quantum mechanics, mind you) and lab, Biochemistry, with lab, and Neuroscience all in one semester"
While this does sound like your average "difficult" semester, I must be honest that there is no comparison between that semester and what I'm discussing.

I'm not trying to put you down. Chemistry majors are smart people. But when you tell someone that they should be able to fit 40 hours of stuff into their schedule, you really have no clue how time consuming some undergrad majors can be -- you've simply not experienced it. I'm not saying we're better. My life sucks this semester and I envy my Chem friends. Just don't assume that everyone has as much free time as you do/did.



I AM that nut. None of my classes are available over the summer or in other semesters (all are prereq's for next semester).

My oldest brother is a chem engineer - he had plenty of time to do things he "wanted" with his friends, etc. He easily could've used that free time to work or volunteer if he so chose to, but he didn't.

There is always time. End of story.

 

[David1991]

Why in gods name would you do spend that much time doing that... On another note, it is interesting how times change. I know some very successful doctors in my family, as well as some family friends, who essentially did no volunteering or clinical and easily got into med school back in the day(20 years ago)

Yea my dentist said he didn't do any volunteering/shadowing

We're not talking about volunteering here. This is actual work in a clinical environment (hospital, ambo, clinic, etc.). Working will always get you the highest quality clinical experience (almost without exception), so I highly recommend it if you can get a clinical job. Volunteering, I have a few hundred that have been steadily gained over a few years.

I tried to get a job at 2 different doctor's offices but didn't get called back. How did you go about getting your jobs?

 

[FlowRate]

My oldest brother is a chem engineer - he had plenty of time to do things he "wanted" with his friends, etc. He easily could've used that free time to work or volunteer if he so chose to, but he didn't.

There is always time. End of story.

Your oldest brother must have had a more reasonable schedule and cared less about grades (unless he's pre-med/phd, he's probably cool with C's like most engineers). I don't know how else to get through to you. There is not always time. It literally is not possible, period. You may not understand this, and that's okay, it doesn't really matter that much; my point was that it's arrogant to tell someone that they should have 40 hours of wankin' time that they can better use every week in convenient shift-sized blocks.

 

[David1991]

Apparently your chemistry major was not nearly as time consuming as some people's majors. I literally could not physically fit that much time into my schedule if I tried, I'm sure there are other people like me.

This is what I'm wondering. Right now the only people with A's in my chem class are the seven year med program students, me and maybe one other kid. My bio course had a 60% drop out rate! I just don't see how I could possibly have added 15-30 hours of working a job this semester.

And how can people say there's always time? Time is finite obviously and you need to sleep, eat, shower, etc...

Above someone mentioned full time school + full time job + volunteering + social life....that's just insane. No way in hell is that even close to possible, at least not for pre-meds here. The pre-meds here who actually get A's could not have 40 hours going towards a full time job at the same time.

 

[rHinO1]

Your oldest brother must have had a more reasonable schedule and cared less about grades (unless he's pre-med/phd, he's probably cool with C's like most engineers). I don't know how else to get through to you. There is not always time. It literally is not possible, period.

I believe you Flow, I think that there are some majors at certain schools where it would be almost/completely impossible. However I think that assessment applies to a minority of the pre-med population (including you- you're a savage 😀). However, the majority of pre-meds do have the time to do the the types of hours and commitments previously discussed.

 

[apumic]

Yea my dentist said he didn't do any volunteering/shadowing




I tried to get a job at 2 different doctor's offices but didn't get called back. How did you go about getting your jobs?

Honestly? Persistence. I just kept at it. I got certified as EMT-B later and that helped me get a job in the hospital (although the position doesn't require an EMT; they do all their medical training in-house but it made for a nice conversation piece during my interview and probably made the manager feel a bit more comfortable putting me on her unit).
I think the keys to my success in getting positions were 1) having an internship first, 2) getting a degree (yeah...that helps, although it alone won't do it and it's not necessary for some clinical positions, although my current one requires a related BA/BS because I actually write and administer treatment plans), and 3) persistence and a willingness to go outside the box (i.e., my first paid clinical job wasn't at a hospital; it was working w/ long-term care in a residential environment).

 

[FlowRate]

However, the majority of pre-meds do have the time to do the the types of hours and commitments previously discussed.

Yeah I agree on that point. Maybe not the majority, but there is a good number. I dunno, just kinda ticked off with how much crap I have to do this week lol (finishing my heat exchanger design in between posts plus more pchem to do). I'll be much happier in 2.5 weeks 😀

 

[christina30]

This is what I'm wondering. Right now the only people with A's in my chem class are the seven year med program students, me and maybe one other kid. My bio course had a 60% drop out rate! I just don't see how I could possibly have added 15-30 hours of working a job this semester.

Yours and everyone else's. Pre-med courses, especially, are designed to weed out those who can't handle it.

But just because you can't imagine handling that kind of load doesn't mean it's not possible. I find it hard to believe that you don't have any free time on your hands - there's no way that you spend every waking hour on weekends studying, especially since you're probably just a freshman or sophomore (based on the "1991" in your forum name).

Either way, I started working during my second semester as an undergrad, and I kept it up. Every once in a blue moon I would take a vacation or sick day to study, if there was a particularly rough exam coming up, but I pretty much always managed.

I went to a Tier 1 university, not a community college, so the material certainly wasn't "easy," as you seem to imply.

 

[rHinO1]

Yeah I agree on that point. Maybe not the majority, but there is a good number. I dunno, just kinda ticked off with how much crap I have to do this week lol (finishing my heat exchanger design in between posts plus more pchem to do). I'll be much happier in 2.5 weeks 😀

Enjoy that feeling while it lasts. We will have plenty of secondaries to fill out in july 😛

 

[David1991]

Honestly? Persistence. I just kept at it. I got certified as EMT-B later and that helped me get a job in the hospital (although the position doesn't require an EMT; they do all their medical training in-house but it made for a nice conversation piece during my interview and probably made the manager feel a bit more comfortable putting me on her unit).
I think the keys to my success in getting positions were 1) having an internship first, 2) getting a degree (yeah...that helps, although it alone won't do it and it's not necessary for some clinical positions, although my current one requires a related BA/BS because I actually write and administer treatment plans), and 3) persistence and a willingness to go outside the box (i.e., my first paid clinical job wasn't at a hospital; it was working w/ long-term care in a residential environment).

So did you graduate college and then apply to med school later after doing all this work at the hospital?

I called both places bath a couple of times but never really got any calls back, the only things available were like file-storing and whatnot, which I'd be fine with because I could still say I worked in a doctor's office, but they didn't call back. Now I think I might be a waiter over the summer lol

 

[Cleavername]

lol...too true. I was really tempted to respond "I do that in 2 weeks" but then... nah. 100 hrs is fine over a period of time, though. If you volunteer 4 hrs/wk for 6 mos, you'll end up w/ ~100 hrs and that's a decent enough commitment if your work involves high-quality pt care. Of course, I'd still argue that you don't really know what you're doing in a job for at least the first 200-300 hours (hence why most jobs give a 3-mos full-time "probationary training period"). According to Malcolm Gladwell (I believe...) it takes 10,000 hours of practice before a person typically reaches mastery of a subject area.

8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, thats a good 250 weeks, a year is like 50ish weeks, so thats around 5 years lol.

 

[David1991]

Yours and everyone else's. Pre-med courses, especially, are designed to weed out those who can't handle it.

But just because you can't imagine handling that kind of load doesn't mean it's not possible. I find it hard to believe that you don't have any free time on your hands - there's no way that you spend every waking hour on weekends studying, especially since you're probably just a freshman or sophomore (based on the "1991" in your forum name).

Either way, I started working during my second semester as an undergrad, and I kept it up. Every once in a blue moon I would take a vacation or sick day to study, if there was a particularly rough exam coming up, but I pretty much always managed.

I went to a Tier 1 university, not a community college, so the material certainly wasn't "easy," as you seem to imply.

Did you have a social life during that time? I wanted to be a tutor next semester but it doesn't look like it's going to work out. I'm also planning on pledging a frat which is apparently ridiculously time consuming.

As for this semester, I actually had this weekend right before finals somewhat light which was nice, but for about 11 weeks of the 14 week semester I had almost no free time other than what I had to workout. I'll be honest, I feel like I'm somewhat inefficient (probably shouldn't go on a forum considering the time consumption, and some other little things here and there) but for the most part I just don't have the time to go out. I'm sure if I stopped going on the internet and stopped working out (which I would absolutely hate to do) I could work 7-8 hours per week but definitely not a full time job plus volunteering, and any social life I had (which already kind of sucks) would be gone

 

[rHinO1]

So did you graduate college and then apply to med school later after doing all this work at the hospital?

I called both places bath a couple of times but never really got any calls back, the only things available were like file-storing and whatnot, which I'd be fine with because I could still say I worked in a doctor's office, but they didn't call back. Now I think I might be a waiter over the summer lol

Trying to find a job is a numbers game. Especially in this economy you need to put out as many apps as possible. Applying to 2 restaurants right now probably wouldn't be enough to get you a job there much less a doctors office. I've worked as an EMT and then as a tech in a hospital over the last 4 years (not both at the same time). For paid hospital work the best thing you can do it get an EMT cert, CNA, or phlebotomy cert. All of these are quick and can be done over a summer. Jobs without certs in the hospital worth looking into are lift-team tech, transporter, or some type of RN assistant work. Put in as many apps aqs possible until something comes through.