Looking for EC advice

[GoCamels]

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I'm curious to know how, or if at all, Med schools weigh volunteering in a hospital setting against other forms of volunteer work. I'm currently volunteering for one of the big name hospitals in my region. The volunteer position they placed me in doesn't give me the feeling that I'm giving back to my community. The position is what they call their typical "pre-med" position, I basically survey patients about their stay in the hospital.

Along with the hospital work I currently do minimal volunteer work with the local school system (science fair and science olympiad tutor). I'm also registered to begin EMT training this spring, I've been interested in becoming an EMT for a while now. What I would like to do is give up the hospital position and put more emphasis on tutoring and take on an EMT position after certification.

So my question is when I apply to Med schools will having little to no volunteer experience in a hospital setting (I've only been at this hospital for about 2 months) reflect poorly? Should I stick it out with the hospital? I plan on applying to Med schools in the summer of 2012, so I will hopefully have a years worth of EMT experience by then.

Thanks for any insight or opinions!

 

[Isoprop]

I always feel like hospital volunteering is one of those "checklist" things premeds should do for about 75-100 hours. Now some may say that they got an amazing experience from hospital volunteer work, and that's okay. But if you can't really talk about your experience with any passion at the interview, accumulating a billion hours in the hospital is just a waste of time.

There are other clinical experiences that will allow you more exposure to the clinical side of medicine. EMT would be a great position, and will open many doors for paid and non-paid experience.

I think an overlooked experience is hospice volunteering. You can provide companionship to dying patients and their families. A lot of it may be clerical work, and a lot of patients may want to be left alone (most of them sleep bc of pain meds). But every once in a while, you get a life-changing experience.

 

[Isoprop]

Also, I advise you to not dump your hospital volunteer position until you start your other position. Plans sometimes fall through, so it's good to have a backup.