How many hours should I have of ___ to be a competitive medical school candidate?

[deleted1135735]

Paid clinical?
Shadowing?
Clinical volunteering?
Non-clinical volunteering?
Research?

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[Mr.Smile12]

150 minimum.
Except shadowing... 100 maximum IMO. In person.

 

[cj_cregg]

In my mind, I kind of lump all clinical (paid/unpaid/shadowing) and volunteering (clinical and nonclinical) together.

For both categories, I think 500+ hours is very good. 50 hrs of shadowing is plenty in the clinical bucket. In the volunteering bucket, I'd like to see the bulk of it directly with underserved populations and at least 100 hrs nonclinical. Bonus points for leadership and/or advocacy related to the population you serve. I think 100-200 hrs of clinical and of volunteering is the minimum I would find adequate in the context of an otherwise strong application.

Research is not necessary at some schools and is a tacit requirement at others. Mine is one of the ones where it's not necessary so I can't really say how much is "enough".

Not uncommon to see applicants with 1000+ (rarely, 3000+) hours of service or clinical experience. Those applicants are exceptional and very likely to be interviewed if LORs and essays suggest they are a nice, normal person and GPA/MCAT are adequate. But I think 500+ hrs puts you in a position where it's not low enough to get you rejected based on that alone.

 

[chssoccer7]

So I'll preface this by saying that this is based on my gestalt of applicants I've reviewed at my school, which is very mission-oriented and highly values service, so there may be some candidate self-selection here skewing averages upward.

So in my mind, I kind of lump all clinical (paid/unpaid/shadowing) and volunteering (clinical and nonclinical) together.

For both categories, I think 500+ hours is very good. 50 hrs of shadowing is plenty in the clinical bucket. In the volunteering bucket, I'd like to see the bulk of it directly with underserved populations and at least 100 hrs nonclinical. Bonus points for leadership and/or advocacy related to the population you serve. I think 100-200 hrs of clinical and of volunteering is the minimum I would find adequate in the context of an otherwise strong application.

Research is not necessary at some schools and is a tacit requirement at others. Mine is one of the ones where it's not necessary so I can't really say how much is "enough".

Not uncommon to see applicants with 1000+ (rarely, 3000+) hours of service or clinical experience. Those applicants are exceptional and very likely to be interviewed if LORs and essays suggest they are a nice, normal person and GPA/MCAT are adequate. But I think 500+ hrs puts you in a position where it's not low enough to get you rejected based on that alone.

I have really nothing to add here other than that a month ago, I would have had to google with gestalt meant. Thank you MCAT studying!

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

Paid clinical?
Shadowing?
Clinical volunteering?
Non-clinical volunteering?
Research?

Minimums are 100 each for clinical, non- clinical and probably 400 for research (one summer equivalent) and paid clinical is not necessary.

Instead of raking up hours one should have strong experiences in one or two categories and be articulate in essays.

 

[LindaAccepted]

The number of hours in different categories will vary depending on the school you are applying to. Some programs practically require research, and some don't require it at all.

All med schools want to see clinical exposure on a volunteer and/or paid basis. They also want to see community service and prefer that it be with disadvantaged populations. In terms of hours for clinical I would say >300 hours and the same for community service. Clinical shadowing is also something that schools vary on. Some really don't value it and for others it's practically a requirement, which really means that most med school applicants need to have it. For most > 50 hours is fine.

However while it's easy to check off hours and numbers are nice and concrete, what's going to make your clinical exposure and community service really add to your application, is the insight and lessons you derive from those experiences. Otherwise you risk coming across as box-checking.