Lack of volunteering

[mandym00]

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I just recently started volunteering, which I really enjoy by the way, and will be entering my junior year in the fall. I was hoping to apply to med school next spring, but I am worried now after talking to some other pre-meds at my school and reading the forums on here. For my freshman year and first semester of sophomore year of college I have no ECs. It wasn't until my second semester of my sophomore year that I knew that I wanted to go to medical school. Since I made the decision to go to medical school I have worked a lot harder in my classes and improved my GPA. 3.46 for my freshman year compared to a 3.86 in my sophomore year. Starting second semester of my freshman year I began to work two part-time jobs, one with clinical experience at an ophthalmologist's office and the other is an on-campus position. Recently this last semester (second semester of sophomore year) I also began unpaid research in a microbiology lab.

My question is: Can I reasonably explain my lack of volunteering by involvement in other activities (research and 2 part-time jobs to support myself) for those three semesters? Will the schools take that into consideration? I would like to get some advice from ADCOMs if possible. If I can earn a sufficient number of hours for volunteering and shadowing, as well as more (and different) clinical experience will it not matter (too much) that I didn't complete them over a long continued span of my undergraduate career?

 

[WedgeDawg]

Don't worry about this - you will be 100% fine. As long as you've done something, it doesn't matter too much when you've done it.

FWIW, I did all of my ECs during the year before I applied other than research (which I did continuously throughout college) lol.

 

[mandym00]

Don't worry about this - you will be 100% fine. As long as you've done something, it doesn't matter too much when you've done it.

FWIW, I did all of my ECs during the year before I applied other than research (which I did continuously throughout college) lol.

Okay maybe I should stop listening to everything I read on SDN lol

 

[Pusheen]

Same here, I didn't start any significant EC's until the second semester of junior year...applying at the end of senior year. GPA also soared once I changed to pre-med, haha

 

[ConfusedChemist]

you have ECs....
work, lab research, it all counts. Not just volunteering hundreds of hours-not everyone has that luxury and they still get into med schools

 

[Grace184]

It's fine, not everyone was a gunner since birth.

I spent 3 semesters trying to figure out where my classes were. That's harder to explain lol

 

[GrapesofRath]

Just keep at it. Gap years exist for a reason.

 

[mandym00]

Thanks for the response guys. I figured there were other people who got into med school fine with similar situations as my self.

 

[mandym00]

Same here, I didn't start any significant EC's until the second semester of junior year...applying at the end of senior year. GPA also soared once I changed to pre-med, haha

Yeah it seems the more I do as far as ECs and working my GPA is unaffected, if anything its improving. It shows that I can handle multiple responsibilities at once and still manage a heavy course load. How can they not like that right?!

 

[Conflagration]

Volunteering can be anything- do you tutor for free? Do you help out at your church? What do you do for other people?

You got this, OP!