Med students... how important is volunteering and other activities when applying

[SCynn]

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I'm a pre-med student and just want to know what to do to have a good standing when I apply, you know...

 

[45408]

Your question would be more appropriate for the Pre-Allopathic forum, as this forum is meant for those who are already in medical school.

 

[MadameLULU]

Your question would be more appropriate for the Pre-Allopathic forum, as this forum is meant for those who are already in medical school.

Agree. Moving to pre-allo. If you do a search, you can probably find many threads addressing this topic. 🙂

 

[mrjbb]

Important, however don't volunteer and do EC's because of med school, do it because you want to and it might interests you as well as personal satisfaction. I say this because many Adcomm's (Not all) can smell your BS a mile away when it comes to volunteering. Go to http://www.volunteermatch.org/.... Oh, and volunteering is NOT a requirement but only a suggestion med schools state. I know of people who've gotten accepted without ever really doing any volunteering, just great EC's.... Btw, I'm sure if you conduct a search on this topic something will come up.... Just a tip..😉

 

[LDK]

I agree with the above message. I really valued my free time to do other things (like have a life and still be premed), so I did do some volunteering, but not a ton. I volunteered about 3 hours a week, but only for 2 of my 4 years--and I still got in. Volunteering is a great experience (and def does help with med school), but also remember to enjoy yourself as you keep your goal in mind!

 

[carlosc1dbz]

Ive talked to many people in the medical community and admissions committees and they say that volunteer work really doesn't mean much to them. You want to know why? Well its simple, because you cannot prove that you did what you are saying. They care about GPA and MCAT not that your are claiming to be helping the world for 1-4 years. Only if you are doing something really cool like establishing clinics in 3rd world countries than ok. One thing thou just don't leave the community service part blank on applications.

 

[Instatewaiter]

Ive talked to many people in the medical community and admissions committees and they say that volunteer work really doesn't mean much to them. You want to know why? Well its simple, because you cannot prove that you did what you are saying. They care about GPA and MCAT not that your are claiming to be helping the world for 1-4 years. Only if you are doing something really cool like establishing clinics in 3rd world countries than ok. One thing thou just don't leave the community service part blank on applications.

The above post is way off track. If you dont have enough volunteer experience especially medical volunteering you wont even be considered at most schools. And, while they probably wont check to make sure that you did all of those volunteer activities listed on AMCAS, if they happen to and find out you lied, expect to get blacklisted.

 

[TheRealMD]

Ive talked to many people in the medical community and admissions committees and they say that volunteer work really doesn't mean much to them. You want to know why? Well its simple, because you cannot prove that you did what you are saying. They care about GPA and MCAT not that your are claiming to be helping the world for 1-4 years. Only if you are doing something really cool like establishing clinics in 3rd world countries than ok. One thing thou just don't leave the community service part blank on applications.

Oh no, it's quite easy to prove. Just ask questions during an interview. Sure, a few people may be able to pull of lying extremely well, but most will freeze up like no other and will fumble. Adcoms are pretty good BS detectors and it's easy to tell when someone isn't being genuine.

More importantly than volunteering is clinical experience. I think that's just an obvious requirement and shouldn't be faked ever.

 

[mvenus929]

If you dont have enough volunteer experience especially medical volunteering you wont even be considered at most schools.

You don't need to have medical volunteering. You need to have clinical experience, yes, but that doesn't have to be included in volunteering. You can shadow, work in a healthcare field, or volunteer. You should also have volunteering hours if you can at all manage it, because it shows you are willing to give of yourself. Of course, if you work and go to school full time, and don't have any time to do 1-2 hours of volunteering a week, I'm sure some adcoms will understand.

 

[futuredrcrawfor]

Ive talked to many people in the medical community and admissions committees and they say that volunteer work really doesn't mean much to them. You want to know why? Well its simple, because you cannot prove that you did what you are saying. They care about GPA and MCAT not that your are claiming to be helping the world for 1-4 years. Only if you are doing something really cool like establishing clinics in 3rd world countries than ok. One thing thou just don't leave the community service part blank on applications.

I shadowed my doctor yesterday who is on an adcom board at a top 10 univeristy and she told me I could be competitve with a 3.6 and all the extra curriculars I have. She said for them it is more about what you do with your life and you need good scores but they don't want people who do the same stuff all the time just because.

I personally have done- volunteering sophmore year to present (junior) 4-6 hours a week of child life and tutoring at a children's hospital, worked a special needs summer camp, studied abroad (once already for history doing another for marine biology next summer), travelled abroad with misssions trips, work 10-20 hours a week as a nanny, am involved with several campus groups, intermural sports, etc...

My doctor said if I do well on the MCAT I should be good and she is going to write letters and help me to shadow in more specialties too. She told my mom the other day that she had talked to other doctors and they were trying to be more pro-active with helping students and she told them she was going to me mentor me. I had a blast shadowing her! And will do it several more times so I should have all the checkmarks covered and then many of my own personal interest

 

[spygal]

Most schools want well-rounded individuals. Shadow a few docs to get a good understanding of the health care system, but choice what you do in your free time based on your interests. You should try to do some volunteer work, but it's not going to make up for poor or mediocre grades. Like a previous post said, the admissions committee at my school values a lot of aspects of the application over volunteer work. It's great to give your time to a cause you support, but honestly, there's not much difference between 25hrs and 250hrs in the eyes of most admission committees.

 

[Jew Alcindor]

One thing I wish I'd done is start volunteering as a Freshman. 5 hours/week, which is easy to do, really adds up over the course of a year. Plus, you look more dedicated.

I'm sure some schools don't really care that much about it, but some do. I'm pretty sure Mayo, for example, puts a huge premium on it and wants their applicants to have a ton of hours.

 

[ADeadLois]

The above post is way off track. If you dont have enough volunteer experience especially medical volunteering you wont even be considered at most schools. And, while they probably wont check to make sure that you did all of those volunteer activities listed on AMCAS, if they happen to and find out you lied, expect to get blacklisted.

I agree the post was off-track, but you're taking it to the opposite extreme. Volunteer experience is in no way a requirement, but it does help a lot (in the same vein as research). Many get their clinical exposure through employment.

 

[imamom]

It's what you do with the volunteer work. Are you just using it to "pad" your resume or is it something you have a passion and/or interest in? Or, is there something relevant you learned (from however few or many hours you expended) that is meaningful & can be talked about on an essay or interview.

Quality, people, not necessarily quantity.

 

[CCLCMer]

I'm a pre-med student and just want to know what to do to have a good standing when I apply, you know...

I won't presume to speak for other schools, but at CCLCM, anyway, it's super important. You definitely won't get in here just based on grades and MCAT like some of the other people were suggesting. There are so many applicants with outstanding stats that they don't really stand out if that's all they have going for them.