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deleted1161605
Hi there,
I'm trying to plan out gap year activities and would appreciate any insight. For some context, I did not do a lot of extracurriculars/volunteering throughout my undergrad; I was pretty directionless and immature up until spring of my junior year, when I experienced the death of my family member. It changed my outlook and I began to apply myself more towards doing something with the time I had and helping others. During senior fall, I started scribing in my university's emergency department. Working with so many patients whose only point of access to healthcare was through the ED and who were underserved in many more areas other than medicine led me to start volunteering in the prison system, a youth shelter, and a soup kitchen during spring of my senior year. To sum it up the length of my commitments:
4 years: research, involvement in student organization
1 summer of Americorps (~300 hr)
1.5 years: scribing (~1800 hr)
1 year: volunteering in prison, youth shelter, soup kitchen (~250 hr each)
I still have half a year before applying. I love hiking and recently became interested in a national park conservation volunteering opportunity that runs for 3 months and starts early next year. I'd love to do this before applying so I can write/talk more meaningfully about the experience, but I'm worried that the timeframe for my other extracurriculars is too short and looks like "box checking." If I don't do the conservation thing, I'd have almost 2 years scribing and 1.5 years volunteering.
My question is, does the current (relatively short) length of my extracurricular commitments raise any red flags? In the next few months, should I aim to increase the length of these commitments or can I pursue sometime else?
For some additional context, my GPA is 3.88 and I'm taking my MCAT in January.
Sorry for the long post and TIA for your help
I'm trying to plan out gap year activities and would appreciate any insight. For some context, I did not do a lot of extracurriculars/volunteering throughout my undergrad; I was pretty directionless and immature up until spring of my junior year, when I experienced the death of my family member. It changed my outlook and I began to apply myself more towards doing something with the time I had and helping others. During senior fall, I started scribing in my university's emergency department. Working with so many patients whose only point of access to healthcare was through the ED and who were underserved in many more areas other than medicine led me to start volunteering in the prison system, a youth shelter, and a soup kitchen during spring of my senior year. To sum it up the length of my commitments:
4 years: research, involvement in student organization
1 summer of Americorps (~300 hr)
1.5 years: scribing (~1800 hr)
1 year: volunteering in prison, youth shelter, soup kitchen (~250 hr each)
I still have half a year before applying. I love hiking and recently became interested in a national park conservation volunteering opportunity that runs for 3 months and starts early next year. I'd love to do this before applying so I can write/talk more meaningfully about the experience, but I'm worried that the timeframe for my other extracurriculars is too short and looks like "box checking." If I don't do the conservation thing, I'd have almost 2 years scribing and 1.5 years volunteering.
My question is, does the current (relatively short) length of my extracurricular commitments raise any red flags? In the next few months, should I aim to increase the length of these commitments or can I pursue sometime else?
For some additional context, my GPA is 3.88 and I'm taking my MCAT in January.
Sorry for the long post and TIA for your help
