No Community Service???

[deleted1049665]

I have no community service and plan on applying this cycle barring a bad MCAT score

My Extracurriculars consist of:
1000+ CNA at a hospital connected to #1 school
250 hours at a free clinic as a front desk receptionist
16 hours work at a free clinic as a triage
Worked on my school homecoming committee
Worked as a Sales Associate at JCPennys
did some community work with prehealth committee

Am i in trouble???

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[Goro]

Get in some service to others less fortunate than yourself

 

[esob]

I completely agree with Goro that you should have some on your application. However, the sad fact is that when you check MSAR stats there is a significant portion of each matriculating class that has zero community service. Just like there is a chunk of folks with no shadowing. I'm not sure who these people are or what kind of numbers they posted but they must be stellar.

 

[deleted1049665]

My subcommittee for homecoming was commit outreach, would volunteer work at the free clinic not be the same as community service??? Or even a couple of hours doing yard work for home for HIV/AIDS people with the prehealth club

 

[Sky138]

No offense, but I think the bigger issue is that you don’t know what community service is.... If you don’t know whether you have community service, I’m curious to see how you can convince people that you’re altruistic.

 

[deleted480308]

I completely agree with Goro that you should have some on your application. However, the sad fact is that when you check MSAR stats there is a significant portion of each matriculating class that has zero community service. Just like there is a chunk of folks with no shadowing. I'm not sure who these people are or what kind of numbers they posted but they must be stellar.

I’m going to agree with you and goro that OP is not playing the game well. Know the rules and play them

I’m going to disagree with the snuck premise that it’s unfortunate someone without volunteer hours could become a doctor. This is a job. Hard and important but still a job. The virtue signaling of volunteer hours is an unfortunate symptom of needing to narrow the field and should not be misinterpreted to the point that it is considered actually necessary to being a good doctor (despite maybe beibg required to get into school)

 

[deleted1044561]

Get in some service to others less fortunate than yourself

Would you recommend OP apply this cycle? I think no nonclinical volunteering is lethal

 

[Goro]

Would you recommend OP apply this cycle? I think no nonclinical volunteering is lethal

I agree with you

 

[deleted1044561]

I’m going to agree with you and goro that OP is not playing the game well. Know the rules and play them

I’m going to disagree with the snuck premise that it’s unfortunate someone without volunteer hours could become a doctor. This is a job. Hard and important but still a job. The virtue signaling of volunteer hours is an unfortunate symptom of needing to narrow the field and should not be misinterpreted to the point that it is considered actually necessary to being a good doctor (despite maybe beibg required to get into school)

I agree with this; however, physicians that do volunteer have been much more empathetic than those that 'clock-in and clock-out', from my experience.

I know this is anecdotal and not evidence of anything but I feel some volunteering is useful in at least building a relationship with those of the community. This could be accomplished by a simple 150 hours instead of the hundreds people acquire.

 

[deleted1049665]

I volunteered at the front desk of free clinic for 2.5 years that can be nonclinical? I am not sure how this correlates to not applying this cycle?
I also volunteered at a local hospital for about thirty hors but didn't feel that it does much for my application

@Goro

 

[deleted480308]

I agree with this; however, physicians that do volunteer have been much more empathetic than those that 'clock-in and clock-out', from my experience.

I know this is anecdotal and not evidence of anything but I feel some volunteering is useful in at least building a relationship with those of the community. This could be accomplished by a simple 150 hours instead of the hundreds people acquire.

The actual patient care of being a doctor is enough relationship building

 

[Sky138]

I volunteered at the front desk of free clinic for 2.5 years that can be nonclinical? I am not sure how this correlates to not applying this cycle?
I also volunteered at a local hospital for about thirty hors but didn't feel that it does much for my application

@Goro

I’m really not trying to bash you but I think you need to take a lot of time to reflect on what you gained out of those experiences. The fact that you had to ask if working at a free clinic counts as community service is to me, very concerning. When you can discern the difference between empathy/sympathy and how it ties into your calling for medicine, that’s when I think you are truly ready.

 

[Goro]

My subcommittee for homecoming was commit outreach, would volunteer work at the free clinic not be the same as community service??? Or even a couple of hours doing yard work for home for HIV/AIDS people with the prehealth club

No, service at a clinic is clinical.

Medicine is a service profession and as such, you need to show off your altruism

 

[esob]

I’m going to agree with you and goro that OP is not playing the game well. Know the rules and play them

I’m going to disagree with the snuck premise that it’s unfortunate someone without volunteer hours could become a doctor. This is a job. Hard and important but still a job. The virtue signaling of volunteer hours is an unfortunate symptom of needing to narrow the field and should not be misinterpreted to the point that it is considered actually necessary to being a good doctor (despite maybe beibg required to get into school)

I would agree to the extent that the individual experience makes more of a difference than simply checking the box. For example, someone who begrudgingly racks up 300 hrs moving boxes of produce at the food bank probably didn't develop a ton of skills that translate into good bedside manners. However, someone who spends those same 300 hrs volunteering for memory care hospice, talking to families, and learning to "be" with the suffering and death that is associated with those experiences probably enters medical school with a decisive advantage. The same goes for someone who works with underprivileged kids. OFC, it is also speciality dependent, but I think the closer you get to the primary care spectrum, the more important those skill sets become.