How important are hours?

[NKChemEng]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Every volunteering position I've done had me log hours, and it seems that you are required to put down hours on the AMCAS.

How important is quantity in relation to volunteering? I love the type of stuff I get to do, but with a full-time research position, I'm volunteering in the evenings once a week per hospital.

If I have really interesting stories and experiences from my work, will having not 200+ hours like some applicants impact me negatively? Or is it quality over quantity?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated 🙂

 

[hello0]

I have the same issue! I think it's important to have volunteer experiences that you have done for a long time (more than a semester) and have done consistently but you're right, some may be only a few hours a week and if you have several activities, they add up...anyone wanna chime in?

 

[raltima07]

You need to have the experiences - you need to be able to talk about what you did any how you learned (or what you learned).

 

[NKChemEng]

You need to have the experiences - you need to be able to talk about what you did any how you learned (or what you learned).

So, assuming that by the end of this summer I have a lot of stories and experiences (I already do, after only two weeks of this), and I don't continue during the year, and maybe volunteer again next summer (b/w my soph and junior year), is that fair game?

What you're saying makes complete sense. But, if I'm to go by what you're saying, the quantity of time shouldn't matter if I can show that I got something valuable out of it, right?

 

[pfaction]

I'm only going to have 10-20 hrs shadowing an MD on my own, so I'm kind of really sad.

 

[raltima07]

So, assuming that by the end of this summer I have a lot of stories and experiences (I already do, after only two weeks of this), and I don't continue during the year, and maybe volunteer again next summer (b/w my soph and junior year), is that fair game?

What you're saying makes complete sense. But, if I'm to go by what you're saying, the quantity of time shouldn't matter if I can show that I got something valuable out of it, right?

See, I am not sure about that. I always hear on this forum that experience counts for more than hours, because think about it - your cool stories are worth more than the kid with 300 hours in the gift shop if you had real clinical experience.

HOWEVER - I am not an adcom and I don't know how hours are valued - I would wait for others inputs. Sorry but I don't want to mess up your future with wrong info

 

[NKChemEng]

No worries! Thank you for your help. I'll wait for other responses on this, because SOMEONE must have SOME idea

 

[NKChemEng]

bump. Does anyone have any input on this?

 

[chronicidal]

Stories are more important than hours. But you can't adequately convey all your stories in the primary app, so in the absence of an interview, hours is a useful proxy for determining how likely it is that an applicant had a significant experience.

 

[NKChemEng]

Stories are more important than hours. But you can't adequately convey all your stories in the primary app, so in the absence of an interview, hours is a useful proxy for determining how likely it is that an applicant had a significant experience.

Do you mean that if you have few hours, they are less likely to ask about it in an interview?

 

[raltima07]

Do you mean that if you have few hours, they are less likely to ask about it in an interview?

It might mean that you do not even get an interview

 

[NKChemEng]

It might mean that you do not even get an interview

😱

I don't mean few as in 10 total. But few as in, 40 hours in one clinic, 30 in another (over one summer). And then again the next summer.

 

[theseeker4]

😱

I don't mean few as in 10 total. But few as in, 40 hours in one clinic, 30 in another (over one summer). And then again the next summer.

From reading previous threads, the opinion on SDN seems to be it is a bad idea to volunteer for a little bit, stop, then start again. Medical schools seem to prefer a long-term commitment when volunteering, meaning start now and don't quit until you begin medical school to give the best impression on your application.

 

[NKChemEng]

From reading previous threads, the opinion on SDN seems to be it is a bad idea to volunteer for a little bit, stop, then start again. Medical schools seem to prefer a long-term commitment when volunteering, meaning start now and don't quit until you begin medical school to give the best impression on your application.

I'm volunteering in my hometown right now, which is about 40mins away from college. Although I could commute somehow to volunteer during the year, it would be difficult. I would try to find a different clinic to do it at.

It's a bad idea to volunteer for a bit, stop, start up again I guess. But is it neutral (as in, understandable) to volunteer continuously, just on different schedules and at different places?

 

[NickNaylor]

As long as you can talk meaningfully about your experiences, I think the number of hours is irrelevant. That's only true to a certain extent - five hours of clinical experience isn't going to get you anywhere - but once you get to a certain point the exact number of hours you've accrued doesn't matter.

 

[NKChemEng]

As long as you can talk meaningfully about your experiences, I think the number of hours is irrelevant. That's only true to a certain extent - five hours of clinical experience isn't going to get you anywhere - but once you get to a certain point the exact number of hours you've accrued doesn't matter.

What would be your estimate for that threshold? I hope I don't come off sounding numbers based. The reason I'm asking is because I don't want to be jipped for something like hours.

 

[stormchao]

I got accepted with about 50 hours of hospital volunteering(3 hrs per week for 5 months) and like 10 hours of shadowing. I had other meaningful experiences outside of volunteering/shadowing though.

 

[gettheleadout]

Consistency and commitment are more important than cramming in as many hours as possible. Which one honestly reflects a greater work ethic, making time every week to do something, or giving a couple weeks where you just try to cram it in and then stop as if it's checked off?

 

[music2doc]

What would be your estimate for that threshold? I hope I don't come off sounding numbers based. The reason I'm asking is because I don't want to be jipped for something like hours.

Any amount less than you need. Honestly, there is no "magic number." I've seen numbers from 250 to 500 quoted frequently by different schools as well as SDN posters as strong values. You need to have enough to be convincing. I'd say anything less than 100 is probably insignificant in most cases.

 

[NoNotYouLionel]

How do you record hours per week if the activity was not a weekly thing? For example, I volunteered several times in different semesters with Habitat. The builds were infrequent, so an average would be a small number of hours because they are spread over a long period of time; however, the total number of hours is not insignificant.

 

[gettheleadout]

How do you record hours per week if the activity was not a weekly thing? For example, I volunteered several times in different semesters with Habitat. The builds were infrequent, so an average would be a small number of hours because they are spread over a long period of time; however, the total number of hours is not insignificant.

In the past, advice was to divide the total hours by total time span as long as it came out to at least 1 hr/week, and explain the real time frame and total hours in the description box. However, I think average number of hours per week is no longer a required box on AMCAS, and this was the advice given when it was. Check the AMCAS Question Thread to be sure.

 

[NKChemEng]

Bump. Any other thoughts on this? What about duration of activity. If I volunteer at the same hospital every summer but not every school year because it's in my hometown, is that good?