Including high school hospital volunteering in amcas...

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Qwerty2013

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I briefly volunteeed for about a year while in high school (70hrs) in my sophomore year. Didnt volunteer/do clinical related activites between junior year high school-junior yr undergrad. While in undergrad, i have been involed at a different hospital (one closer to school) for a year and a half. Can I include that high school volunteering exp with the undergrad experience? (i would like to talk about it in my personal statement)....

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You can talk about it in the personal statement if its significant, but do not include it in the activities section of AMCAS. The only time you should include a high school activity is if it continued into college.

For example I did some hospital volunteering in high school but didn't include it in amcas since my college hospital volunteering was unrelated (different hospital, location, patient population, ect).

I also worked at a camp for disabled kids for several consecutive summers both during high school and undergrad, so I included the high school and college portions together in AMCAS as one activity.
 
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You should only include high school extracurriculars in the activities portion of AMCAS if you continued them while in college. It would be fine to tie it in with your personal statement if it works with your "story." Don't force it in there, though.
 
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The only time you should mention any accomplishment in high school after high school is if you were valedictorian, and then only maybe and only things you apply for immediately after college. Or if you accomplished something incredibly unusual, such as patenting a new invention that you turned into a million dollar business or something. Barring that, the words "high school" might as well be "elementary school" when you are talking about it.

No, you should not include volunteering you did when you were 15 years old. No more than you should include volunteering you did when you were 8 years old. It's hard enough to sell yourself as an adult when you are fresh out of college at 22. Throwing in teenage activities undermines your argument that you have an adult perspective on work.
 
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