How do 100 hours compare?

[christina30]

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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

Yeah, I had a social life. Not a great one, but I managed to fit in some outings here and there.

If you have time to pledge a frat - which involves a whole lot of partying and all that bullsh**, then you have time for a part-time job.

 

[FlowRate]

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

Lol it'll last for like 3 days of partying and then I'm gonna double up on volunteering, try and get a bunch of shadowing, and visit a MD school I'm interested in, plus writing/editing my PS. But at least there will be absolutely NO MathCAD involved! hahaha. I really look forward to working on admissions stuff =)

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

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

Seems to me like it's harder to get healthcare positions in some places than it is in others. I know when I tried back freshman year when I still had time, it was pretty much impossible. I talked to a bunch of EMT's in the ER and they said most of 'em either had to know someone or volunteer in the ER for a really long time before they even managed to get a job there as an EMT-B!

 

[rHinO1]

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

This is called sacrifice 😛 I'm not saying you must do this to get into medical school, but now you know how some of us are accomplishing these high numbers of hours.

 

[David1991]

Yeah, I had a social life. Not a great one, but I managed to fit in some outings here and there.

If you have time to pledge a frat - which involves a whole lot of partying and all that bullsh**, then you have time for a part-time job.

If I tried to pledge this semester it absolutely wouldn't have worked. I'm trying for a slightly easier semester in the fall so hopefully that will be OK but I'm really not sure (I'll be taking Calc, Orgo, and 2 Health and Exercise science course)

 

[saveourpens]

Are some of you guys serious? imo, volunteering weekly in a hospital for at least a year is a bit overkill.

 

[apumic]

Are some of you guys serious? imo, volunteering weekly in a hospital for at least a year is a bit overkill.

I wouldn't suggest volunteering. I'd suggest working at one (or a clinic) for >1 yr. I never suggest volunteering at a hospital as they're quite variable in quality of volunteer positions. Volunteering for at least a year in a good clinical position at, say, a free clinic, though, could certainly help w/ LORs....

 

[rHinO1]

Are some of you guys serious? imo, volunteering weekly in a hospital for at least a year is a bit overkill.

obviously nobody really knows what the magic number is. However, your clinical experience (volunteer, paid) should be meaningful which is hard to accomplish in a short amount of time. Someone who has done a more lengthy period of time shows interest, commitment, and that they probably have seen what working as a physician entails. They also probably know what sick people look like and the population they will be serving (shout out to geriatric patients 😛).

This process is so competitive you want to accomplish as much as possible before you submit your application.

 

[randombetch]

haha. here, have a...

Yay cooookie!

 

[brado]

There is no way in heaven or hell/Ohio that the people in this thread are a normal sample or telling the truth. I go to a huge med school feeder/top 10 public uni and all my pre-med friends do SIGNIFICANTLY LESS than I do, especially if they have a good GPA (3.7+). I have ~40 hours volunteering in the ER for over a year @ 2 hours a week (I skip a lot because of school and because it's boring), ~40 hours of clinical research, ~40 hours of volunteering in Nicaragua clinics over the course of 10 days, and ~20 hours of shadowing. I'm hopefully applying this summer as a Junior, and I've been pre-med for 2 years. I bet you the average general applicant has no more than ~75 hours of real clinical experience.

 

[Vassili Zaitsev]

I don't care what people say. I refuse to believe that there's any kind of quota you have to meet hours-wise. Medical schools look at the entire applicant. I see ridiculously pompous posts all the time that go something like "3.98 GPA 37 MCAT SHOULD I RETAKE??" or "IS 3000 VOLUNTEERING HOURS ENOUGH? I ONLY HAVE 5 YEARS OF RESEARCH". Speculate all you want about people's chances based off the tidbits they selectively post on an online forum. If you're genuinely a bad person, it will most likely show up at one point or another when you have a 30 minute conversation with someone such as an adcom no matter how fancy your LORs and personal statement may be.

Here's the advice I was given from a family friend that's currently a neurologist:

1) The most important thing to worry about is your GPA. Your major is irrelevant. Take the easiest classes you can and maximize your GPA. "Oh, but the medical school will clearly see that my ____ course taken at _____ is much harder and entirely different _____ taken at ______." No. Feel free to believe that if you absolutely must.

2) Next in line is the MCAT. This along with your GPA is used to pre-screen applicants before anything else on the application is considered. I'm going with TPR's formula of (GPA x10 + MCAT > 68 for a good shot at interviews), but that's what I feel comfortable with using for predictions.

3) Everything else is whipped cream that's considered during the interview. The exception to this would be medical schools that have historically been notorious for expecting applicants to conduct research.

Not everyone has time to amass an insane amount of volunteer hours. Everyone's situation is different. That person with 50 hours of clinical experience that you might be mocking could be the same person that spent 50 hours of every week working to help his family pay bills. Before you quickly dismiss my argument by saying that everyone can find the time to volunteer if they really want to, let me revert back to my main point that everyone's situation is different. Judge me all you want, but I really don't see a direct link between altruism and having a lot of volunteer hours. None of my hospital volunteering has been all that informative or life-changing. No major epiphanies for me. The only meaningful volunteering experience I had involved working at a center for the mentally handicapped where I got a little over 100 hours, and even that had its mundane days where I just didn't feel that I was being that helpful. From my experience, volunteering has been anything but voluntary and has seldom left me feeling like I had made a significantly positive impact on someone's life. I feel like my nonclinical work experience will benefit me much more greatly in the long run.

 

[LetsGo352]

Good post Vassili.

I generally agree with what you just said. To be quiet honest, volunteering has done nothing for me. Most of the time, the tasks they assign me are so boring "uninsightful" that I just end up going there against my will which is surprising because I actually looked forward to volunteering before. If ADCOMs are really interested in seeing someone accumulate stats for the application, then I'd lose a lot of respect for them. Like many people have already said, Quality > Quantity. The only question is, how do ADCOMs know how much quality is in certain parts of your application?

 

[christina30]

There is no way in heaven or hell/Ohio that the people in this thread are a normal sample or telling the truth. I go to a huge med school feeder/top 10 public uni and all my pre-med friends do SIGNIFICANTLY LESS than I do, especially if they have a good GPA (3.7+). I have ~40 hours volunteering in the ER for over a year @ 2 hours a week (I skip a lot because of school and because it's boring), ~40 hours of clinical research, ~40 hours of volunteering in Nicaragua clinics over the course of 10 days, and ~20 hours of shadowing. I'm hopefully applying this summer as a Junior, and I've been pre-med for 2 years. I bet you the average general applicant has no more than ~75 hours of real clinical experience.

Well you'd lose that bet. Sorry.

 

[FlowRate]

There is no way in heaven or hell/Ohio that the people in this thread are a normal sample or telling the truth. I go to a huge med school feeder/top 10 public uni and all my pre-med friends do SIGNIFICANTLY LESS than I do, especially if they have a good GPA (3.7+). I have ~40 hours volunteering in the ER for over a year @ 2 hours a week (I skip a lot because of school and because it's boring), ~40 hours of clinical research, ~40 hours of volunteering in Nicaragua clinics over the course of 10 days, and ~20 hours of shadowing. I'm hopefully applying this summer as a Junior, and I've been pre-med for 2 years. I bet you the average general applicant has no more than ~75 hours of real clinical experience.

They inflate it by standing around doing nothing for the other half of the time = 150. =P

 

[apumic]

There is no way in heaven or hell/Ohio that the people in this thread are a normal sample or telling the truth. I go to a huge med school feeder/top 10 public uni and all my pre-med friends do SIGNIFICANTLY LESS than I do, especially if they have a good GPA (3.7+). I have ~40 hours volunteering in the ER for over a year @ 2 hours a week (I skip a lot because of school and because it's boring), ~40 hours of clinical research, ~40 hours of volunteering in Nicaragua clinics over the course of 10 days, and ~20 hours of shadowing. I'm hopefully applying this summer as a Junior, and I've been pre-med for 2 years. I bet you the average general applicant has no more than ~75 hours of real clinical experience.

Seriously, though, while I cannot speak for others on this thread, I know I'm telling the truth and I've met plenty of other premeds with similar amounts of clinical experience. People manage to pull off some pretty amazing stuff. Personally, I don't find these numbers all that surprising, but there are other things that people do that totally amaze me...

E.g., I've been skiing and boarding my whole life and can do some tricks and all but pulling this off is pretty incredible:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH_2jJb6SzY&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]

I don't care what people say. I refuse to believe that there's any kind of quota you have to meet hours-wise. Medical schools look at the entire applicant. I see ridiculously pompous posts all the time that go something like "3.98 GPA 37 MCAT SHOULD I RETAKE??" or "IS 3000 VOLUNTEERING HOURS ENOUGH? I ONLY HAVE 5 YEARS OF RESEARCH". Speculate all you want about people's chances based off the tidbits they selectively post on an online forum. If you're genuinely a bad person, it will most likely show up at one point or another when you have a 30 minute conversation with someone such as an adcom no matter how fancy your LORs and personal statement may be.

Here's the advice I was given from a family friend that's currently a neurologist:

1) The most important thing to worry about is your GPA. Your major is irrelevant. Take the easiest classes you can and maximize your GPA. "Oh, but the medical school will clearly see that my ____ course taken at _____ is much harder and entirely different _____ taken at ______." No. Feel free to believe that if you absolutely must.

2) Next in line is the MCAT. This along with your GPA is used to pre-screen applicants before anything else on the application is considered. I'm going with TPR's formula of (GPA x10 + MCAT > 68 for a good shot at interviews), but that's what I feel comfortable with using for predictions.

3) Everything else is whipped cream that's considered during the interview. The exception to this would be medical schools that have historically been notorious for expecting applicants to conduct research.

Not everyone has time to amass an insane amount of volunteer hours. Everyone's situation is different. That person with 50 hours of clinical experience that you might be mocking could be the same person that spent 50 hours of every week working to help his family pay bills. Before you quickly dismiss my argument by saying that everyone can find the time to volunteer if they really want to, let me revert back to my main point that everyone's situation is different. Judge me all you want, but I really don't see a direct link between altruism and having a lot of volunteer hours. None of my hospital volunteering has been all that informative or life-changing. No major epiphanies for me. The only meaningful volunteering experience I had involved working at a center for the mentally handicapped where I got a little over 100 hours, and even that had its mundane days where I just didn't feel that I was being that helpful. From my experience, volunteering has been anything but voluntary and has seldom left me feeling like I had made a significantly positive impact on someone's life. I feel like my nonclinical work experience will benefit me much more greatly in the long run.

Here's the thing... you're right that MCAT & GPA are absolutely crucial and will often get someone screened out. Without them, it's like frosting w/o a cake. Nevertheless, no one's going to eat that cake w/o frosting (or w/ too little frosting) on it! If you lack clinical, research and/or volunteer experiences as well as some unique qualities, interests, and ECs, you're not going to come off well in an interview. When we give advice on SDN, it's general advice. You can't be that specific w/o knowing the person. OP posted a broad question -- "how would 100 hrs of clinical exposure compare to other applicants?" As a general rule, 100 hrs isn't much so OP was told that, plain and simple. You're overcomplicating things w/ all these "but what if..." scenarios. We're not dealing in what-ifs; we're dealing in generalities.

 

[mvenus929]

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)

You got it in pure hours, which makes it seem huge. Let me break it down so it seems more manageable.

15 hours shadowing = about 2 days total. I shadowed one doc for a full 8 hour day, and a couple other docs for an hour or two here and there.

500+ hours in a physician's office = 10 hours a week for about 15 months. This was the job that I had senior year, through the summer afterwards, and up until I couldn't work there anymore because I had to do a full time clinical rotation.

2000+ hours working a hospital = a year or so of full time work. I'll have worked there, full time, for 19 months prior to starting med school.

I needed a job after I graduated, and getting into the hospital seemed to be my best option if I wanted to pursue med school, because I was stupid and didn't get the clinical experience while I was in school. I was too shy to cold call. I felt insanely nervous about showing up places. I came out of my shell after I started working. I didn't do it for my med school application; I did it so I could get some money... the fact that it helped my application was just a really good bonus.

I also run a non-profit organization, so I probably put 5-20 hours a week in on that, and I've been doing that for two years now, so that's where most of my volunteer hours come from. Again, not doing it for an application; I do it because I enjoy it, and I'll continue to do it (though perhaps not be as involved) once I start med school.

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?

I got my doctor's office job purely by coincidence. My mom took me to one of her Mary Kay brunches, and one of the leaders there worked as an accountant in a doctor's office. When she heard that I was premed, she asked if I wanted a job, and I started two weeks later.

The job I got in the hospital I had to work for. I went and got training, and then it took me a full two months after I got my training to get the opportunity. I interviewed for a small handful of places, but the job that I ended up getting I applied for a few times before I got the call to interview, and once I interviewed they hired me by the end of the week.

 

[Vassili Zaitsev]

Haha, frosting's always been my least favorite part of the cake, so I always ended up taking most of it off anyway. I'm not trying to attack your analogy or anything because I agree with it to an extent. I'm just trying to show that while I feel that the majority of people are willing to take generalities with a grain of salt, there are those who would try to apply them to every situation imaginable. 😀

 

[apumic]

Haha, frosting's always been my least favorite part of the cake, so I always ended up taking most of it off anyway. I'm not trying to attack your analogy or anything because I agree with it to an extent. I'm just trying to show that while I feel that the majority of people are willing to take generalities with a grain of salt, there are those who would try to apply them to every situation imaginable. 😀

Good point. I guess I expect the typical premed to have some common sense, although I probably should stop assuming this considering some of the posts we see on SDN daily! At the end of the day, common sense says the whole package matters once someone looks at that package in detail. What is important is to know what gets your package looked at or ignored, and that is largely the MCAT & GPA (along w/ your PS & LORs if your MCAT & GPA are strong enough first). (Probably most schools have some sort of a general screening process -- even if not official -- that might look something like MCAT <24/GPA <2.5-->don't consider; MCAT 24-26/GPA 2.5-3.2-->briefly check if anything outstanding in PS/LORs, if nothing found, discard; MCAT 27+/GPA 3.2+-->give full consideration for PS & LORs. Then many likely continue to consider the MCAT/GPA to determine if you will be interviewed and then later alongside the interview to determine acceptances.)

 

[imer]

...

 

[apumic]

Not to throw in a wrench, but I had: ZERO shadowing hours; a couple summers of sketchy research with ZERO publications; my applications weren't complete until Sept/Oct; not a URM so don't go there; went to a small, generally unknown school; and did fine at acceptances (including a full ride merit to a top ten) - seriously, I don't know many of my classmates who had the time or inclination or insecurity to believe that more-more-more is the formula for getting acceptance to med school. I don't think there is a standard formula once you get past GPA, MCAT and something else that is worth discussing in your interview.

There was obviously something that made you stand out. The fact is that 60% of applicants are rejected annually. The things you didn't have are the most common "frosting" but obviously you had something else. Good job.

 

[imer]

...

 

[apumic]

Yeah - I'm just giving another reference point for my experience since that's all I've got. And I'm not saying I didn't bring it - just that it wasn't by nibbling around the edges.

Honestly, I think stories like yours demonstrate one of the key points in admissions to med school (or anything else competitive for that matter) -- nobody likes to see clones or people who just checked off a to-do list. My guess would be that the highest percentage of acceptees can be found with those who naturally did the stuff an adcom wanted to say w/o following some "formula." It sounds like you did just that. You were probably a unique applicant with just the right attitudes, experiences, and aptitudes. Some people don't need tons of clinical hrs to develop those things. Some people do. And some people may get those hours simply b/c they enjoyed doing the work (even though they didn't "need" those hours). The same goes for research, volunteering, etc.

 

[rkmoto121]

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.

That is absolutely ridiculous. I am taking my second semester of gen chem, 1st semester of cell bio and speech. Those classes along with 40 hours of separate work would equal 61 hours a week of JUST work/ class time. That isn't including the hours of studying per hour of class time... If you were a chemistry major that didn't take 7 years to graduate with that work load then I want to go to the school you went to.

 

[rHinO1]

That is absolutely ridiculous. I am taking my second semester of gen chem, 1st semester of cell bio and speech. Those classes along with 40 hours of separate work would equal 61 hours a week of JUST work/ class time. That isn't including the hours of studying per hour of class time... If you were a chemistry major that didn't take 7 years to graduate with that work load then I want to go to the school you went to.

so you're a freshman. . . no offense but you're like a rookie trying to teach a vet how to hit a curve ball. As you go along you get better at studying, time management, and just being an overall academic savage. I'm a senior with perfect grades, I work ~18 hours a week in a hospital, do ~10-15 hours of academic research a week, take 12-16 quarter units every quarter, and I teach cpr regularly, coach soccer in the winter, and do various other things. I don't recommend everyone fill their schedule this full, but trust me it is entirely possible (I have done it for 4 years).

I don't think the total number of hours is as important as length of commitment. If you get a lot of hours in a month that just shows you were interested for a month. If you volunteer for a few hours regularly over the course of a year that shows you were interested for at least a year = dedication.

I had a prof that used to ask, what is a good breakfast?

Eventually someone would say eggs and bacon.

Prof: yes that is a good breakfast. The difference between the eggs and bacon is that the chicken was involved but the pig was committed.

When you apply to med school do you want to be the chicken or the pig? 😛

 

[christina30]

That is absolutely ridiculous. I am taking my second semester of gen chem, 1st semester of cell bio and speech. Those classes along with 40 hours of separate work would equal 61 hours a week of JUST work/ class time. That isn't including the hours of studying per hour of class time... If you were a chemistry major that didn't take 7 years to graduate with that work load then I want to go to the school you went to.

How do you plan on working 80-100 hours a week as a resident, then? If you can hardly handle gen chem and cell bio, how are you going to handle med school courses? I mean really, people. Just because you can't fathom it doesn't mean it's not possible. Like I said earlier - I went to a tier 1 Jesuit university - the classes are certainly no cakewalk. I just knew how to manage my time and get everything done.

I didn't work 30 hours EVERY week, just up to that many, depending. It was usually anywhere between 16 and 30. Even if it meant working double shifts on weekends, or nights shifts and going to school afterward with less than an hour of sleep inbetween, I still did fine.

 

[rkmoto121]

How do you plan on working 80-100 hours a week as a resident, then? If you can hardly handle gen chem and cell bio, how are you going to handle med school courses? I mean really, people. Just because you can't fathom it doesn't mean it's not possible. Like I said earlier - I went to a tier 1 Jesuit university - the classes are certainly no cakewalk. I just knew how to manage my time and get everything done.

I didn't work 30 hours EVERY week, just up to that many, depending. It was usually anywhere between 16 and 30. Even if it meant working double shifts on weekends, or nights shifts and going to school afterward with less than an hour of sleep inbetween, I still did fine.

OOOK I know I am just starting and I don't have tons of experience with time management or whatever you want to say. But first of all I never said that I was struggling... I have time to volunteer. But the way you wrote your original post was like "well I am a chem major and do 60 hours a week of volunteering/research, so why can't you do that?" And yeah maybe we will all have to work 80-100 hours a week someday in residency but what I was saying was that if somebody is spending 60 hours of time occupied with classes and work, then 20 hours a week of studying added (which is nowhere near what it would be around the time all the midterms come) then that is your 80 hours right there. So doing that for four years and then continuing it for another 8 or so? I was just saying there was an easier way and from what I have read on here the average pre med doesn't spend THAT much time on this. That would be crazy.

 

[christina30]

OOOK I know I am just starting and I don't have tons of experience with time management or whatever you want to say. But first of all I never said that I was struggling... I have time to volunteer. But the way you wrote your original post was like "well I am a chem major and do 60 hours a week of volunteering/research, so why can't you do that?" And yeah maybe we will all have to work 80-100 hours a week someday in residency but what I was saying was that if somebody is spending 60 hours of time occupied with classes and work, then 20 hours a week of studying added (which is nowhere near what it would be around the time all the midterms come) then that is your 80 hours right there. So doing that for four years and then continuing it for another 8 or so? I was just saying there was an easier way and from what I have read on here the average pre med doesn't spend THAT much time on this. That would be crazy.

I never volunteered or shadowed. I worked and did research, and the number of hours per week ranged anywhere from 25 to 40, combined. I didn't say everybody should do it, but that it's perfectly plausible and saying that the average pre-med can't possibly find the time to fit in these kind of ECs is ridiculous.

 

[apumic]

OOOK I know I am just starting and I don't have tons of experience with time management or whatever you want to say. But first of all I never said that I was struggling... I have time to volunteer. But the way you wrote your original post was like "well I am a chem major and do 60 hours a week of volunteering/research, so why can't you do that?" And yeah maybe we will all have to work 80-100 hours a week someday in residency but what I was saying was that if somebody is spending 60 hours of time occupied with classes and work, then 20 hours a week of studying added (which is nowhere near what it would be around the time all the midterms come) then that is your 80 hours right there. So doing that for four years and then continuing it for another 8 or so? I was just saying there was an easier way and from what I have read on here the average pre med doesn't spend THAT much time on this. That would be crazy.

Where do you get the crazy idea that you should be studying far more than 20 hrs before midterms (or finals)? I don't study anywhere close to that and I have nearly perfect grades at a top tier school as well. I would estimate that I probably average about 5 hrs total of studying per exam (including finals). It can be done and without much of a toll on one's social life (although it forces one to plan ahead, so I do plan fun things into my schedule). For example, this semester I am working about 30-40 hrs/wk + 16 units (2 bio, o-chem, physics + labs) + volunteering 4 hrs/wk at a free clinic + several social groups throughout the week and volunteering at church. Of my 126 waking hours/wk, I am in class for 21.25, study for an average of 4 hrs/wk (all classes combined), 4 hrs clinical volunteering/wk, 32 hrs work/wk, 6 hrs pre-arranged weekly times w/ friends, 2 hr mentor weekly mtg, 21 hrs for meals, 6 hrs volunteering at and attending church... so all in all, that means I have (126-100.25)/7 days=~3 hrs, 40 min left over on any given day to use however I see fit.

 

[BlueElmo]

Yay cooookie!

I want one too!

 

[christina30]

Where do you get the crazy idea that you should be studying far more than 20 hrs before midterms (or finals)? I don't study anywhere close to that and I have nearly perfect grades at a top tier school as well. I would estimate that I probably average about 5 hrs total of studying per exam (including finals). It can be done and without much of a toll on one's social life (although it forces one to plan ahead, so I do plan fun things into my schedule). For example, this semester I am working about 30-40 hrs/wk + 16 units (2 bio, o-chem, physics + labs) + volunteering 4 hrs/wk at a free clinic + several social groups throughout the week and volunteering at church. Of my 126 waking hours/wk, I am in class for 21.25, study for an average of 4 hrs/wk (all classes combined), 4 hrs clinical volunteering/wk, 32 hrs work/wk, 6 hrs pre-arranged weekly times w/ friends, 2 hr mentor weekly mtg, 21 hrs for meals, 6 hrs volunteering at and attending church... so all in all, that means I have (126-100.25)/7 days=~3 hrs, 40 min left over on any given day to use however I see fit.

Exactly. If you're spending 20+ hours studying, even for midterms, then you're not managing your time well or studying efficiently.

 

[rkmoto121]

Christina30, after reading all of the posts and stuff form this thread, I kind of envy you. You are actually doing what I tell myself nonstop I need to do. And you have inspired me. I am going to grow a damn sack and stop wasting so much time doing stupid stuff (such as goin on this stupid website that has now wasted a ton of this night). You said you got a job working in the ER. How? Everything I find says they need experience or like fulltime work and I would need flexible hours because of classes being during the days.

 

[christina30]

Christina30, after reading all of the posts and stuff form this thread, I kind of envy you. You are actually doing what I tell myself nonstop I need to do. And you have inspired me. I am going to grow a damn sack and stop wasting so much time doing stupid stuff (such as goin on this stupid website that has now wasted a ton of this night). You said you got a job working in the ER. How? Everything I find says they need experience or like fulltime work and I would need flexible hours because of classes being during the days.

They had an opening for someone to do part-time weekends (it's a clerical job, but in the ER, you're in the middle of the craziness and you get quite an education). So I sent a resume in, filled out an application, and I was hired.

 

[rkmoto121]

They had an opening for someone to do part-time weekends (it's a clerical job, but in the ER, you're in the middle of the craziness and you get quite an education). So I sent a resume in, filled out an application, and I was hired.

Hmm I guess I never really thought about still being able to get experience with clerical work. I just might start looking for things like that. Thanks

 

[jm192]

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.

Psh

I do that in 2 hours!




Edit to add something of value:


OP I think I had just over 200 hours when I applied. You can really pick up alot of hours over winter/summer breaks if you need.

 

[apumic]

I want one too!

You can have the rest of mine:

(Sorry, I got a little hungry and had to try it before giving it to you. Hope you don't mind!)

Exactly. If you're spending 20+ hours studying, even for midterms, then you're not managing your time well or studying efficiently.

Exactly. The key is to figure out what the prof actually wants you to know. When people say "you have to know it all" in reference to what they had to know for a given prof's tests or a given course, I sort of mentally roll my eyes. You never have to "know it all." The prof him/herself does not "know it all" and cannot possibly test you on everything on one test in a period of 60-90 min. Instead, the prof will tell you to "know it all" and then test you on specific, key pieces of information. The key is to figure out what those key points are. My suggestion would be to go to class and learn to be empathetic with the prof. Learn how the prof of XXX subject thinks and figure out what s/he is most likely to want you to know. There was a case study done a number of years ago in which a top UCLA student was found to be able to anticipate with incredible accuracy the actual questions a prof would ask on a test. His notes were brief and to the point. He basically only wrote was going to be on the test. It was as though someone had given him the test at the beginning of the semester and he was simply taking notes on the things he got tested on but didn't know -- only tests hadn't been written yet, so he was simply listening to the prof closely and catching subtle verbal and nonverbal cues that the prof cared more about topics B and Y then A, C, X, and Z. If you learn to do that, there is no need to learn "everything" in a course. You simply learn what matters.

Christina30, after reading all of the posts and stuff form this thread, I kind of envy you. You are actually doing what I tell myself nonstop I need to do. And you have inspired me. I am going to grow a damn sack and stop wasting so much time doing stupid stuff (such as goin on this stupid website that has now wasted a ton of this night). You said you got a job working in the ER. How? Everything I find says they need experience or like fulltime work and I would need flexible hours because of classes being during the days.

Look for PRN (i.e., per diem) positions. These are often much more flexible and may pay a differential for being available PRN and/or in lieu of benefits.

 

[Practitioner]

I bet you the average general applicant has no more than ~75 hours of real clinical experience.

I agree with your whole post but would have guessed a slightly higher average. Actually, closer to 200 hours or so of total clinical exposure. During winter breaks in my first two years at college I got, oh I don't know, 30-40 hours hours/month (1 day/week at 8-12 hrs each day) for 4 months total.

There will be those like myself, who work in a hospital setting and get 15-20 hrs/week or more (not considering administrative healthcare as clinical) over several years accumulating thousands of hours, and those like imer who manage to get in with very little clinical exposure.

I don't care what people say. I refuse to believe that there's any kind of quota you have to meet hours-wise.

3) Everything else is whipped cream that's considered during the interview. The exception to this would be medical schools that have historically been notorious for expecting applicants to conduct research.

Also agree mostly. But would add that some schools expect clinical experience like others expect research. At a couple of open house events, schools would explicitly encourage that people get some amount of clinical experience and show some volunteering as well (doctors often have to do more than they're paid etc etc.)

 

[JFK90787]

I do 8 hours a week (4 hours 2 days) in the ED I volunteer at. I can get homework done there and I get a free meal, plus access to the library in the med school next door.