Is nonclinical volunteering actually necessary?

[deleted667525]

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[Goro]

Please especially read the last paragraph. Thank you!
Before I begin, I realize the importance of helping out in the community and working with the underserved. I have had a fair amount of extracurriculars, which include community work. I plan on applying next summer. I have yet to take the mcat and I am beginning to study for it but my GPA is good (4.0).

ECs:
- President and Founder of the photography club (2 years by the time of application)
- Officer at my school's clinic volunteering program (been active since last winter, projected around 200 hours of volunteering by the time of applications); my school's clinic operates as would a normal doctor's...we have over 13 medical providers (MDs and a few ARNPs)
- Founding member of my campus' medical response team, we are beginning to be active shortly to respond to emergent cases
- tutored for 200 hours during sophomore year
- student research assistant for public health research (started this past summer and just recently did a poster presentation)

The main reason why I ask this question to begin with is due to my public health research. The research has been focused on conducting a community needs assessment through working with the dept. of social services and going out into the community to interview residents, perform service-learning activities in order to gain a better understanding of community needs and to convey community needs to the county. I am highly interested in this research and I am continuing it as I believe it allows me to play a pivotal role in helping my local community. I honestly feel as if I can do more good through donating my time and helping with this research than I could through other means, such as specifically labeled nonclinical volunteering. A lot of these activities are performed in other areas by NGOs and would count as nonclinical volunteering but as I am doing this through my college and we have a PI, it will count as "research". Am I being over concerned with specific classifications of my activities or do I need to perform specific nonclinical volunteering?

If the rest of your app is stellar, then you might be able to get by without displays of altruism, but you should have tons of hours in this regard.

 

[Goro]

I would disagree with this. Research is doing something that adds to your own record. Providing direct community service, without the potential of publishing, is a requirement in my view.

Public health research seems to be viewed differently.

 

[Planes2Doc]

No, but it's always a good idea. The cool thing about non-clinical volunteering is that you can make it your own. Instead of being treated like garbage at a clinical volunteer site (often full of pre-meds), you can find something that aligns with your passion, and meet others that share that with you. I abhorred my clinical volunteering gigs, but on the contrary, loved my non-clinical stuff (professional photography for charitable organizations). I emphasized it later at interviews. I have done it sporadically throughout medical school. I intend to pursue it during my free time as an attending physician.

Speaking of photography, what do you shoot?

For the purpose of maximizing your application, I would do sporadic non-clinical stuff on top of clinical volunteering. For clinical volunteering, find something where you can spend a good portion of your shift studying. That would be the best of both worlds.

 

[ciestar]

I loved my nonclinical volunteering and got very heavily involved in it. It was asked about at every single one of my interviews.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Honestly, you just gave me a great idea so I just signed up to volunteer as a photographer at my county’s local pet shelter. Honestly that type of volunteering never even came to my mind before. It would be fun and destressing, who doesn’t like to play with dogs and cats. It would be awesome to be able to take photos of the pets and try to get them new homes!

Also I love to shoot nature photography but lately I’ve been getting into portraiture! I’d love to do some more portraits and just to experiment with the lighting, maybe do some fun, artistic photos. I actually did a whole artistic portrait series last year using inspiration from Phillip Halsman’s jump photos (my favorite photo ever is his Dali Atomicus). Sorry went on a slight rant there, I’ve been doing photography for about 7 years now so I’ve been quite into it for a bit too.

Awesome! I'm very glad that I could help you find a creative way to use your genuine passions to help with medical school! I've always been into portraiture, but have been taking photos of dogs most recently. They are always awesome subjects and will never snub you.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Sorry, I felt the need to share. It's cool when you can make the most out of your passions.

 

[Planes2Doc]

I do have one more question actually, if I do start the nonclinical volunteering soon (after they put me through orientation and all), would it look like I'm just trying to "check the box" to med schools since I won't have an excessive amount of nonclinical hours by the time I apply (which I plan on applying this upcoming summer).

You have enough stuff that it won't look bad. It will just look like another activity added to the numerous ones you already have. If I were an ADCOM, I would be more concerned about someone who just randomly started volunteering for the first time very close to applying with a nice round number of hours like 100. I would also not look kindly on someone who volunteered in a hospital during freshman or sophomore year and got 100 or 200 hours, then called it quits long before applying. You should be more than fine.

 

[mcatjelly]

I also think you should be okay, especially since it’s not like you have zero volunteer hours. I had a LizzyM of ~68 without the standard clinical or nonclinical volunteering but close to 1,000 hours of mental health advocacy and education hours and ended up with 5 MD interviews. Your app has similar vibes to what mine had and it’s clear you’re passionate about your research topic. In my mind, as a med school interviewer, that means a lot.