how many clinical/non-clinical hours do we REALLY need?

[rickhammal20]

some of my friends got accepted to good/great medical schools this cycle, and none of them had over 80 or so hours of hospital volunteering, aka clinical experience. Most of them didn't have any non-clinical community service hours either.

I really wondering if it is necessary to have hundreds of hours in these categories in order to be a competitive applicant? When I apply next year, I'll have around 300 hours of clinical volunteering (across four different hospital environments) and probably over 400 hours of community service. From these two experiences alone, will I be considered average, above average, or well above average in the overall applicant (NOT SDN applicant) pool? It seems that on SDN, almost everyone have 4-digit hours of clinical and/or non-clinical volunteering.

thanks!

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[rickhammal20]

You'll be above average, but many focus on extra-curricular achievement to compensate for other shortcomings. That's why you see greater hours advised here often. The average for a competitive applicant is 100-150 hours (1+ years) total for each clinical and non-clinical volunteering. You can get by with less as long as your GPA and MCAT can support it.

thanks for the answer. can you elaborate a bit on what you meant by "extra-curricular achievement"? Do you mean research, awards, or artistic/atheletic commitments? Or do you mean things like leadership roles and international volunteering? thanks again!

 

[Xenops]

Something I've looked at recently is Utah med school's guidelines:

http://medicine.utah.edu/admissions/criteria/index.html

Essentially you must reach the minimum on ALL categories, and be average or above on FIVE items. I think this list is interesting because it puts GPA on the same value as shadowing, etc.

But yes, as Docbert says, it depends if you're solid on GPA and MCAT to see how much you need to work on other areas.

 

[rickhammal20]

Something I've looked at recently is Utah med school's guidelines:

http://medicine.utah.edu/admissions/criteria/index.html

Essentially you must reach the minimum on ALL categories, and be average or above on FIVE items. I think this list is interesting because it puts GPA on the same value as shadowing, etc.

But yes, as Docbert says, it depends if you're solid on GPA and MCAT to see how much you need to work on other areas.

cool thanks for the info. would a 3.6 overall/3.4 science and a 36 MCAT be sufficient enough (along with above average hours and decent other things) for mid-tier schools? i am a CA resdient btw. and i apologize for going into numbers here, since this isnt WAMC thread

 

[Xenops]

cool thanks for the info. would a 3.6 overall/3.4 science and a 36 MCAT be sufficient enough (along with above average hours and decent other things) for mid-tier schools? i am a CA resdient btw. and i apologize for going into numbers here, since this isnt WAMC thread

I would THINK your number of hours for volunteering and clinical would suffice, but I'm just a pre-med that hasn't applied yet. Maybe branch out also, like with research and shadowing?

 

[rickhammal20]

I would THINK your number of hours for volunteering and clinical would suffice, but I'm just a pre-med that hasn't applied yet. Maybe branch out also, like with research and shadowing?

i have around two years of research (first two years of college - i am a rising senior), but i don't have any pubs or anything. My PI left the university for a position at NIH, and tbh, i really didn't get much out of my two years. but i'll still list the experience because 2 yrs in one lab should be plenty enough at mid tier schools that dont emphasize research.

I also have around ~60 hrs shadowing a specialist.

i think overall, my app is quite solid. but being in CA definitely sucks.

 

[Stumpyman]

You have a lot of clinical volunteering hours, but other things to show would be community service, research, shadowing, etc. Those are likely among the things many people who have few clinical volunteering hours have.

 

[Verum]

Something I've looked at recently is Utah med school's guidelines:

http://medicine.utah.edu/admissions/criteria/index.html

Essentially you must reach the minimum on ALL categories, and be average or above on FIVE items. I think this list is interesting because it puts GPA on the same value as shadowing, etc.

But yes, as Docbert says, it depends if you're solid on GPA and MCAT to see how much you need to work on other areas.

Holy crap that's some tough guidelines.

Also, why does

http://medicine.utah.edu/admissions/criteria/Self Assessment 2009-2010.pdf

Have a checkbox for church? Is that even legal?

 

[blub1212]

I had the chance to sit down with 2 different deans of admissions from 2 med schools. Both of them told me that quality was way more important that quantity. They both said that they wanted to see that I learned something from my experiences. That being said, I had tons of clinical (patient interactions) time due to a job at a hospital for 3 years, very little shadowing (<50 hours), no research, and tons of volunteer/community service type stuff (did something akin to americorps for 4 years after high school). Some advice that was given to me: when writing about your experiences, nobody really cares what you did, they want to see how it changed you. Everyone says that they are hardworking, empathetic..., prove it through your narratives of your ECs.

 

[NickNaylor]

Holy crap that's some tough guidelines.

Also, why does

http://medicine.utah.edu/admissions/criteria/Self Assessment 2009-2010.pdf

Have a checkbox for church? Is that even legal?

Because mentioning churches on forms is illegal?

 

[TheMightySmiter]

63 units of clinical, 41 units of non-clinical.

 

[Praefectus]

I had the chance to sit down with 2 different deans of admissions from 2 med schools. Both of them told me that quality was way more important that quantity. They both said that they wanted to see that I learned something from my experiences. That being said, I had tons of clinical (patient interactions) time due to a job at a hospital for 3 years, very little shadowing (<50 hours), no research, and tons of volunteer/community service type stuff (did something akin to americorps for 4 years after high school). Some advice that was given to me: when writing about your experiences, nobody really cares what you did, they want to see how it changed you. Everyone says that they are hardworking, empathetic..., prove it through your narratives of your ECs.

So you could feasibly learn from a one hour experience..

 

[Verum]

Because mentioning churches on forms is illegal?

No but using religious preference as a basis on whether to admit you is.

 

[Jaqen Hghar]

No but using religious preference as a basis on whether to admit you is.

That doesn't stop it from happening.

 

[neuro nephrons]

do you think location of school could play an impact? I don't really go to a school where I can get clinical experience during the year....out in the middle of nowhere and not really near a hospital.....

 

[mvenus929]

Holy crap that's some tough guidelines.

Also, why does

http://medicine.utah.edu/admissions/criteria/Self Assessment 2009-2010.pdf

Have a checkbox for church? Is that even legal?

No but using religious preference as a basis on whether to admit you is.

It's a SELF assessment form... it doesn't get turned in to anyone.

Also, I would've gotten rejected from Utah. I didn't do any research. Did everything else, but no research.

 

[chillaxbro]

I know that feel OP. I only have ~150 hours of volunteering, 1 semester of TAing, and 1 month of research. It worries me and is the reason why I am procrastinating the AMCAS (I really don't want to fill out the EC portion). I need to snap out of it and finish it by this week

This thread actually makes me feel better.

 

[jm192]

There is no set magic number of hours.

If you've got a 4.0 and 35, you could have a 0 and walk in some places.

Do enough to show that you really want to help people. For volunteering, no one really cares if it's clinical. That's not the point of volunteering. Go shadow if you're worried about clinical exposure.