Edit: I understand that this may be too long for some of you to even bother reading. So in for those who don't have time to read the long post, the question here boils down to whether a paid position gets less credit than a volunteer position of that very same job? What criteria are put into consideration?
Ex: My job as an EMT-B and Corp member (see below for more info). I can either get paid or volunteer as an EMT; as for being a Corp member it is only offered as a paid position or course credit from my university unless I work something out for it to be considered community service or make donations with my salary.
Since I need the money for school, I want to get both positions as a paying job. But because I lack volunteer work, does that mean I should reconsider making one or both of these positions into volunteer jobs? Let's say I do not have as much volunteer work in my ECs, and only paid jobs. Will this look any worse than an application where I have both of these jobs as volunteer work? I think both the EMT and corp member jobs are very enjoyable work, but will there be any disadvantage choosing pay over volunteer?
In your opinion, and in the opinion of an adcomm, does a paying job as an EMT and Corp member take away any interest of the meaningfulness of the job as oppose to be being completely volunteer?
Thanks!
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It is true that your grades and your performance on the MCAT should be the biggest concern as a premed, but when it comes down to your extracurricular activities, exactly how are they evaluated and what quality counts more than others (in terms of continuity, the experiences you gained, volunteerism, the type of activity, etc)?
The reason why I am concern with this is because I spent my first two years at college not taking advantage of my time to do any extracurricular activities. I did not see it as something I can do as a learning and enjoying experience at the time. Eventually I felt that it was time I needed to do something that I can learn more about myself as a person and whether medicine is something I wanted to get myself into.
I am currently a junior and my tentative plan is to apply to Med schools during my 1st year off (I'm taking 2 years off). I'm taking a long break because I have made a late decision to get into medicine and a history of mediocre grades. I may or may not apply to a postbacc program. I am currently finishing up my prereqs for med school and trying to maximize my GPA. In the mean time, I want to know whether the extracurricular activities that I have done and will do next year are good enough to strengthen my application.
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Here is what I have done so far (Pretty much started in Junior year with the exception of the club sport):
1) WORK (Leadership)-Worked as a Corp Member for a program that aims to develop early skills in literacy, language, social, and initiative skills specifically in preschool children from low-income communities to prepare them for future school success. We truly believe that these skills are the foundation for school success and that this age group is the most critical age group to begin these skills. I am partnered with a child for 1 year (~350 hours) spending time after class with a small team of other corp members. I also provide assistance to the child's teacher and classmates and promote family involvement. I plan to do this for a second year (another 300-350 hours).
2) VOLUNTEER-I took a volunteer trip to Vietnam where we held 4 day medical clinic, spent 2 days shadowing surgeons, gave out scholarships to students in a rural area, and visited orphanage homes.
3)SPORT-I spent 3 years during college training and competing in collegiate tournaments for a club sport and won 2 seasonal titles, 1 national championship title, and 1st runner up for the highest division national championship title.
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Here is what I am working on/plan to do:
4) WORK (Patient Contact)-I completed an EMT-B course and I will be taking the national registry exam to become certified soon. I will have plenty of time to work before applying to medical school so hopefully I will get a lot of good experience and learn a lot.
5) RESEARCH-I have completed a year of research at my school and did not get much of a good experience as I had hoped for so I plan to get another year of research, this time probably a clinical one.
6) CAMPUS ACTIVITY (Leadership)-I plan to start and run a club at my school serving disadvantage high school students through mentoring. This will be for 1 year.
7) SHADOWING (Clinical exposure)-I plan on shadowing 1-3 physicians.
8) VOLUNTEER-I plan to volunteer at a local health clinic and/or visiting homeless shelters/orphanage homes.
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Questions/concerns:
1) Does something have to be volunteer in order to qualify as community service? I don't know exactly how this works, but I am worried about my lack of volunteer work. I have not volunteer in any community service so far. I plan to do a lot during my 2 year off, specifically visiting homeless shelters and orphanage homes because I have done this several time and find it very rewarding.
2)Would you guys not consider the work I have done for the preschool kids community service since I get paid to do it? I am planning to use the money I earn from work to sponsor 20 students in Vietnam for 1 year of school. That's half of my earning that I am donating. If my job does not qualify as community service, will it still look as meaningful being in a paid position as oppose to volunteer? I love what I do, but the work requires me to take the program as work study or course grade.
3)Also, if community service mandates volunteerism, that would mean I don't have any community service. Should I volunteer as an EMT? What if I needed the money for school, does the fact of getting paid for my job as a EMT and Corp Member erase the fact that I didn't do much volunteer work?
4)If I get around to running that mentoring club for disadvantage high school students, that can be considered leadership. Will the time that put into mentoring the disadvantage high school students be listed under community service?
5)What if I started doing community service all of my senior year. Does that one year lack commitment? Or those the amount of hours contributed more important?
6)Do you guys have any recommendations that could complement my extracurricular activities to make me a well rounded premed? Such as more leadership, clinical exposure or patient contact, more research, volunteer work, etc.
7)The fact I did one year of Human Molecular Genetic and will do 1 year of some clinical research say anything about not being committed to a single research?
I know it is a lot to read but thanks for reading and any help is greatly appreciated.
Ex: My job as an EMT-B and Corp member (see below for more info). I can either get paid or volunteer as an EMT; as for being a Corp member it is only offered as a paid position or course credit from my university unless I work something out for it to be considered community service or make donations with my salary.
Since I need the money for school, I want to get both positions as a paying job. But because I lack volunteer work, does that mean I should reconsider making one or both of these positions into volunteer jobs? Let's say I do not have as much volunteer work in my ECs, and only paid jobs. Will this look any worse than an application where I have both of these jobs as volunteer work? I think both the EMT and corp member jobs are very enjoyable work, but will there be any disadvantage choosing pay over volunteer?
In your opinion, and in the opinion of an adcomm, does a paying job as an EMT and Corp member take away any interest of the meaningfulness of the job as oppose to be being completely volunteer?
Thanks!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is true that your grades and your performance on the MCAT should be the biggest concern as a premed, but when it comes down to your extracurricular activities, exactly how are they evaluated and what quality counts more than others (in terms of continuity, the experiences you gained, volunteerism, the type of activity, etc)?
The reason why I am concern with this is because I spent my first two years at college not taking advantage of my time to do any extracurricular activities. I did not see it as something I can do as a learning and enjoying experience at the time. Eventually I felt that it was time I needed to do something that I can learn more about myself as a person and whether medicine is something I wanted to get myself into.
I am currently a junior and my tentative plan is to apply to Med schools during my 1st year off (I'm taking 2 years off). I'm taking a long break because I have made a late decision to get into medicine and a history of mediocre grades. I may or may not apply to a postbacc program. I am currently finishing up my prereqs for med school and trying to maximize my GPA. In the mean time, I want to know whether the extracurricular activities that I have done and will do next year are good enough to strengthen my application.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is what I have done so far (Pretty much started in Junior year with the exception of the club sport):
1) WORK (Leadership)-Worked as a Corp Member for a program that aims to develop early skills in literacy, language, social, and initiative skills specifically in preschool children from low-income communities to prepare them for future school success. We truly believe that these skills are the foundation for school success and that this age group is the most critical age group to begin these skills. I am partnered with a child for 1 year (~350 hours) spending time after class with a small team of other corp members. I also provide assistance to the child's teacher and classmates and promote family involvement. I plan to do this for a second year (another 300-350 hours).
2) VOLUNTEER-I took a volunteer trip to Vietnam where we held 4 day medical clinic, spent 2 days shadowing surgeons, gave out scholarships to students in a rural area, and visited orphanage homes.
3)SPORT-I spent 3 years during college training and competing in collegiate tournaments for a club sport and won 2 seasonal titles, 1 national championship title, and 1st runner up for the highest division national championship title.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is what I am working on/plan to do:
4) WORK (Patient Contact)-I completed an EMT-B course and I will be taking the national registry exam to become certified soon. I will have plenty of time to work before applying to medical school so hopefully I will get a lot of good experience and learn a lot.
5) RESEARCH-I have completed a year of research at my school and did not get much of a good experience as I had hoped for so I plan to get another year of research, this time probably a clinical one.
6) CAMPUS ACTIVITY (Leadership)-I plan to start and run a club at my school serving disadvantage high school students through mentoring. This will be for 1 year.
7) SHADOWING (Clinical exposure)-I plan on shadowing 1-3 physicians.
8) VOLUNTEER-I plan to volunteer at a local health clinic and/or visiting homeless shelters/orphanage homes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Questions/concerns:
1) Does something have to be volunteer in order to qualify as community service? I don't know exactly how this works, but I am worried about my lack of volunteer work. I have not volunteer in any community service so far. I plan to do a lot during my 2 year off, specifically visiting homeless shelters and orphanage homes because I have done this several time and find it very rewarding.
2)Would you guys not consider the work I have done for the preschool kids community service since I get paid to do it? I am planning to use the money I earn from work to sponsor 20 students in Vietnam for 1 year of school. That's half of my earning that I am donating. If my job does not qualify as community service, will it still look as meaningful being in a paid position as oppose to volunteer? I love what I do, but the work requires me to take the program as work study or course grade.
3)Also, if community service mandates volunteerism, that would mean I don't have any community service. Should I volunteer as an EMT? What if I needed the money for school, does the fact of getting paid for my job as a EMT and Corp Member erase the fact that I didn't do much volunteer work?
4)If I get around to running that mentoring club for disadvantage high school students, that can be considered leadership. Will the time that put into mentoring the disadvantage high school students be listed under community service?
5)What if I started doing community service all of my senior year. Does that one year lack commitment? Or those the amount of hours contributed more important?
6)Do you guys have any recommendations that could complement my extracurricular activities to make me a well rounded premed? Such as more leadership, clinical exposure or patient contact, more research, volunteer work, etc.
7)The fact I did one year of Human Molecular Genetic and will do 1 year of some clinical research say anything about not being committed to a single research?
I know it is a lot to read but thanks for reading and any help is greatly appreciated.
