Military FNP to medicine. Questions about volunteering.

[TheGrand]

Hello! I'm planning to apply for next year's cycle (2022). I was told by my Health advisor that I'd need to volunteer and/or shadow to improve my application resume. Could this be an optional item for me based on my situation and just focusing on my remaining premed classes or is this a must? (my advisor doesn't exactly know my background).

I was an RN for 6 years in a cardiac inpatient floor before graduating with my nurse practitioner degree and becoming active duty for the US Air Force for 3 years in family medicine. I've taken care of active duty military, retirees, and DoD beneficiaries as their primary care provider (total between 1,500 to 3,000 patients at times). I've also organized the founding of our base's COVID19 clinic and became the operations director (seeing upwards of 40 patients a day and organizing COVID19 deployment screening of about 3,000 active duty personnel total), while managing between 1,500 to 3,000 patients almost independently in my clinic, simultaneously. Actually got personally commended by a 3-star general. I'm preparing to separate this August to pursue medicine and have the backing of my colonel and commander (who happened to be a physician) and a few other 'high-ranking' USAF officers.

I feel like I've fulfilled the clinical aspect and community service, but I don't want to necessarily discard the advise of my advisor as well without a second opinion. I would be willing to shadow physicians in other specialties though. Preferably, I'd like to forego volunteering in order to focus on my 3 sets of science classes for pre-medicine and study for MCAT. Do you think volunteering is still necessary or is optional? If so, perhaps volunteering at non-clinical site or volunteering as an unpaid provider?

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[gramnegative]

I'm just an RN with a couple years of experience and the response I got here was that shadowing wasn't necessary in my case, so I think you are probably fine if you can't fit it into your schedule - it didn't hold me back.

Volunteering, especially service to others that face challenges in our society is looked upon positively by adcoms, but I would also keep in mind your past achievements and whether a hundred or so hours will really stand out comparatively. Make sure to apply smartly and craft a coherent narrative through all of your essays. Don't underestimate the MCAT; in my opinion, as a nontrad, strong performance on the test will go a long way to show that you can hang academically, separate from what you will contribute due to your background.

 

[Just Call Me Doc]

Agree with @gramnegative. Shadowing isn't necessary (I was a Navy Corpsman and didn't do any shadowing prior to med school) and don't think you need to volunteer just to check boxes. Shadow only if you're curious about a specific specialty and I'd say serving your country for 3 years will be more impressive than volunteering at a soup kitchen a few times.
If you want to continue serving after you separate, though, I'd check out Team Rubicon for some volunteering, especially with your background as a veteran and nurse. They do disaster relief both in-state and overseas. They've been doing a lot of work with COVID immunization recently.

 

[TheGrand]

I'm just an RN with a couple years of experience and the response I got here was that shadowing wasn't necessary in my case, so I think you are probably fine if you can't fit it into your schedule - it didn't hold me back.

Volunteering, especially service to others that face challenges in our society is looked upon positively by adcoms, but I would also keep in mind your past achievements and whether a hundred or so hours will really stand out comparatively. Make sure to apply smartly and craft a coherent narrative through all of your essays. Don't underestimate the MCAT; in my opinion, as a nontrad, strong performance on the test will go a long way to show that you can hang academically, separate from what you will contribute due to your background.

Thanks for your input! Interesting perspective. I didn't think about the relativity (between active duty service and off-hours volunteering) in the way you framed it. Thanks!

 

[TheGrand]

Agree with @gramnegative. Shadowing isn't necessary (I was a Navy Corpsman and didn't do any shadowing prior to med school) and don't think you need to volunteer just to check boxes. Shadow only if you're curious about a specific specialty and I'd say serving your country for 3 years will be more impressive than volunteering at a soup kitchen a few times.
If you want to continue serving after you separate, though, I'd check out Team Rubicon for some volunteering, especially with your background as a veteran and nurse. They do disaster relief both in-state and overseas. They've been doing a lot of work with COVID immunization recently.

Thanks man! Appreciate your input. I'll just rank volunterring as 'optional' in this case then.

Also, I didn't know about Team Rubicon. I'll go check it out! Thank you!

 

[raglandMD]

Hello! I'm planning to apply for next year's cycle (2022). I was told by my Health advisor that I'd need to volunteer and/or shadow to improve my application resume. Could this be an optional item for me based on my situation and just focusing on my remaining premed classes or is this a must? (my advisor doesn't exactly know my background).

I was an RN for 6 years in a cardiac inpatient floor before graduating with my nurse practitioner degree and becoming active duty for the US Air Force for 3 years in family medicine. I've taken care of active duty military, retirees, and DoD beneficiaries as their primary care provider (total between 1,500 to 3,000 patients at times). I've also organized the founding of our base's COVID19 clinic and became the operations director (seeing upwards of 40 patients a day and organizing COVID19 deployment screening of about 3,000 active duty personnel total), while managing between 1,500 to 3,000 patients almost independently in my clinic, simultaneously. Actually got personally commended by a 3-star general. I'm preparing to separate this August to pursue medicine and have the backing of my colonel and commander (who happened to be a physician) and a few other 'high-ranking' USAF officers.

I feel like I've fulfilled the clinical aspect and community service, but I don't want to necessarily discard the advise of my advisor as well without a second opinion. I would be willing to shadow physicians in other specialties though. Preferably, I'd like to forego volunteering in order to focus on my 3 sets of science classes for pre-medicine and study for MCAT. Do you think volunteering is still necessary or is optional? If so, perhaps volunteering at non-clinical site or volunteering as an unpaid provider?

Your experience is impressive. I would continue to volunteer in some capacity with direct patient care as you study for MCAT etc.

 

[TheGrand]

Your experience is impressive. I would continue to volunteer in some capacity with direct patient care as you study for MCAT etc.

Thank you! I'll take that into consideration. I'm hoping that once I have completely separated that I might have time to look into other volunteer activities. I did know of a few volunteer clinics, so I'll take a look at those if I have time while I'm finishing the rest of the premed classes.