How recent does my clinical experience have to be (and how many hours)?

[idemandeuphoria]

I've dedicated most of my undergrad to research and teaching experiences as well as hobbies. How much clinical experience will I actually need to get before I can apply to MD-PhD programs?

- I volunteered at a hospital in high school (200+ hours), but only ~35 hours after I graduated high school, so I think only those hours will count.
- I did an amazing shadowing program after I graduated high school for many specialties including general practice (60 hours)

Also for reference, these experiences are 3 years old! I know I shouldn't aim for an arbitrary number of clinical hours, but I want to balance my time as smartly as possible and not neglect my research projects. It's also hard to get a new clinical volunteering position right now with covid-19 restrictions.

Another note: I may apply in either 1 or 2 years. Leaning towards 2 years, so I can extend my graduation and study abroad for fun 🙂

Any guidance is appreciated!

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[Fencer]

More than enough.... just explain that COVID-19 disrupted your Fall 2020 experience. You truly need 100 hrs or so, but it would be nice if it is within the last 2-3 years. If you do 20 hours of physician shadowing (best experience is to shadow MD PhD) in Spring 2021 or Summer 2021, it would be enough for MD/PhD. What matters to us, once you have your academic benchmarks, it is the quality/quantity of research experiences.