nonclinical community service

[txprodigal]

All of my nonclinical community service has been done for my church - (sunday school, youth fellowship, etc.)

Is this a bad thing when it comes to applying?

(I'll have 300 + hours of clinical volunteering by application time this May.)

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[diosa428]

All of my nonclinical community service has been done for my church - (sunday school, youth fellowship, etc.)

Is this a bad thing when it comes to applying?

(I'll have 300 + hours of clinical volunteering by application time this May.)

No, it's fine. It's actually great that you show commitment to something and having nonclinical community service shows that you care about the community and aren't just going through the motions to get into med school. Keep it up!

 

[236116]

Eh, not really.

But is there anything-- maybe at school-- you could do too?

 

[txprodigal]

i don't think i'll have any time to do anything else - my schedule is packed - until after i submit my application this summer.

 

[mattng]

Schools like to see that you have immersed yourself into medicine, whether it be clinical service, EMT, etc... On the other hand, to supplement this, have you done any extensive physician shadowing that you could get a letter of recommendation out of?

I think it's great that you have shown commitment to volunteering for your church and yes schools do like that.

 

[lord_jeebus]

I don't see an issue here. Good luck!

 

[diosa428]

i don't think i'll have any time to do anything else - my schedule is packed - until after i submit my application this summer.

I think that 300+ hours of clinical volunteering and additional non-clinical volunteering is definitely enough. I probably had about 100 hours of clinical volunteering and no outside volunteering (although a lot of other ECs) when I applied and no one said anything.

 

[chad5871]

Most of my volunteering was at my church (and I reported this - about 10 hours per week throughout the 4 years of undergrad) and student organizations at my school. I actually have very little clinical volunteering but I've gotten a great deal of clinical exposure through paid positions.

As you can see it hasn't held me back this cycle at all.

 

[justdoit31]

You will be great- admissions committees really don't care about the specifics of volunteer work as long as you do it (they love long-term commitments too) and since you have lots of clinical hours the non-clinical at you church will be a bonus!

Don't worry about discrimination based on the activity- I think everyone recognizes that you will be involved in a church group or other religious organization that you find a connection with and as long as you can work with people from other groups in practice it is great to have that connection.