"Longevity" of interest in Medicine?

[student113]

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Hi guys,

What's the general rule of thumb around here for how long prior to applying you have to start volunteering/shadowing/be in a clinical setting? Do we get that rule from SDN information or admission committee sources?

 

[mechanictodr]

The title of your thread and your question don't seem to jive.

 

[flip26]

I'll bite.

I say > 1 year.

Preferably 1.5 to 2 years.

 

[afugazzi]

I finally decided on medicine the fall (~9 months) before I applied. May have hurt me. Not sure.

 

[sportsfreak]

decided on it last february, applied this cycle

 

[roseglass6370]

I'm not sure there is a "rule of thumb" per se. A lot of applicants go in their freshman year knowing they want to do medicine and some others decide their junior year that they want to apply to med school. I think adcoms just want to see a true passion/interest in medicine and the best way they can do that is by taking a look at ways you got involved in the scene.

What's your situation, and maybe we can give better advice...?

 

[MilkmanAl]

I didn't really decide on it for sure until I was applying.

 

[Catalystik]

One adcomm's opinion:

In terms of clinical volunteer stuff. The minimum we generally see is 2 hours per week for 3-4 mos or full-time for 1 week. I generally like to see at least a little more than the minimum. Ideally, someone has a couple of years of clinical exposure in a few different settings or increasing involvement in one setting.(3/30/09)

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[clifftacopter]

I only did actual medical volunteering 6-7 months prior to applying, and I've been faring well this application cycle. However, I had a lot of other non-medical volunteer things that I had been doing for years. -shrugs-

 

[Sammich117]

The longer the better. I'm pretty sure they just want to see that you've had some exposure to it and that you're still interested.

 

[student113]

Thanks for the reply everyone.

I decided to go down this road at the end of high school. However, I was on this varsity sports team during college with a 35 hour/week commitment, so I didn't figure out how to find time to volunteer/shadow until halfway through sophomore year.
I'm applying at the end of junior year, so within this year so far I've picked up another clinical volunteering activity, shadowing, and a job in a lab. But technically by the time I submit, I'll only have "officially" been in clinical settings for a little more than a year, counting from the beginning of volunteering.

I just wanted to make sure this thing by itself is not going to hurt me. I did grow up in a medical families so I practically grew up in hospitals, but I guess that's not the same. I'm graduating and will have a full time job during my application year, and I'll keep up the volunteering/shadowing, so I just hope my decision to go to medical school is not discredited because I haven't volunteered for years. Thanks.