MD Reapplicant Question

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stickgirl390

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I've had a lot of people look over my MD application from this past cycle. One of the things I definitely need to improve is my volunteering. I've heard that I should do more clinical volunteering before applying again, but I've also heard "don't do something just to check boxes". Well, that's exactly what I would be doing. This advice is very confusing. Any suggestions? Thanks!
 
I've had a lot of people look over my MD application from this past cycle. One of the things I definitely need to improve is my volunteering. I've heard that I should do more clinical volunteering before applying again, but I've also heard "don't do something just to check boxes". Well, that's exactly what I would be doing. This advice is very confusing. Any suggestions? Thanks!

What does it look like on your current application? What did you do and for how many hours?
What about other ECs? It ALL factors in!
 
AmeriCorps has a lot of placements in underserved med/clinic settings. PM me if you wanna know more
 
What does it look like on your current application? What did you do and for how many hours?
What about other ECs? It ALL factors in!
I volutneered a lot at our animal shelter, I forget how many hours. I don't have any volunteering that is clinical though. I shadowed a cardiologist for a few months and a cardiothoracic surgeon once. Clinical experience working in an animal hospital.
 
I volutneered a lot at our animal shelter, I forget how many hours. I don't have any volunteering that is clinical though. I shadowed a cardiologist for a few months and a cardiothoracic surgeon once. Clinical experience working in an animal hospital.
Pretty sure they want human clinical experience.
 
Yes volunteering is extremely crucial in your application. I can't believe you don't have any clinical hours in. The average applicant has around 100-200 hours. The more the better, and longevity is important as well.
 
I volutneered a lot at our animal shelter, I forget how many hours. I don't have any volunteering that is clinical though. I shadowed a cardiologist for a few months and a cardiothoracic surgeon once. Clinical experience working in an animal hospital.

Oi. Well... no clinical experience is what was killer to your app. IT IS CRITICAL.
You don't have anything other than working with animals and some shadowing. You need actual clinical experience with human patients and ideally.. 100+ hours.

To be honest, you're going to be best off applying June 1, 2018. You won't get in this year if you reapply if you didn't fix that deficit. It's major.
 
Oi. Well... no clinical experience is what was killer to your app. IT IS CRITICAL.
You don't have anything other than working with animals and some shadowing. You need actual clinical experience with human patients and ideally.. 100+ hours.

To be honest, you're going to be best off applying June 1, 2018. You won't get in this year if you reapply if you didn't fix that deficit. It's major.

if OP gets a full time clinical job now, she can have roughly close to ~300 hours by early June. not ideal but doable.
 
Getting in a lot of volunteering hours negates any hint that you're checking boxes.
But love what you do and do what you love



I've had a lot of people look over my MD application from this past cycle. One of the things I definitely need to improve is my volunteering. I've heard that I should do more clinical volunteering before applying again, but I've also heard "don't do something just to check boxes". Well, that's exactly what I would be doing. This advice is very confusing. Any suggestions? Thanks!
 
OP just accumulated 150 hours, then apply
 
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Thanks for the advice everyone!
 
I'm a reapplicant this year and I got 3 interviews (again). 2 acceptances and 1 waitlist (Lizzy M ~70). I'm a strong interviewer (based on mock interviews/ and a lot of job interviews), so I knew that wasn't the problem. I was able to talk with some schools about how to improve my app and each time they told me my clinical and non-clinical volunteering was "thin" (I have a heavy research background). Therefore, I had the exact same deficit as you when I applied 2015-2016 cycle. I began volunteering at Habitat for Humanity and a children's hospital to try and strengthen these application flaws. My main advice is to start right now if you plan on applying back-to-back. You need to get those experiences on your primary app and not sent in on a secondary/update letter. These experiences became easy talking points during my interview. I still volunteer at these places because I actually like it. Did I do it at first to check a box? I think you can guess the answer to that question. However, volunteering in these capacities became very meaningful to me, which made "checking the boxes" not only fun, but much more rewarding. As Goro would say, stats get you to the door, EC's get you through.
 
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