Nontraditional Student - Volunteer Experience

[Antivirus]

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Hows it going everybody? Im planning on applying for med school (hopefully soon) but just have a few questions before I do.

I'm currently in the military, I have all my pre-req's for med school completed and I'm going to be taking the MCAT soon. The thing is, I have absolutely NO time to volunteer. My military schedule right now is so hectic that if I take on some volunteer work ill be stabbing myself in the foot. My schedule most likely isnt going to change until I finish my enlistment, but by then I was hoping I would be able to apply for school.

I'm assuming military experience wouldn't waive volunteer experience, so should I hold off on applying till after I get out of the military and do a few months of volunteer work?

Thanks for the help!

 

[noworkhistory]

Hows it going everybody? Im planning on applying for med school (hopefully soon) but just have a few questions before I do.

I'm currently in the military, I have all my pre-req's for med school completed and I'm going to be taking the MCAT soon. The thing is, I have absolutely NO time to volunteer. My military schedule right now is so hectic that if I take on some volunteer work ill be stabbing myself in the foot. My schedule most likely isnt going to change until I finish my enlistment, but by then I was hoping I would be able to apply for school.

I'm assuming military experience wouldn't waive volunteer experience, so should I hold off on applying till after I get out of the military and do a few months of volunteer work?

Thanks for the help!

I'm new here, but from the responses I've received to my own asking this question, it's my understanding that adcoms want to see volunteer experience because they want to be sure that you've explored the career and are certain that it's what you want to pursue. It's pretty important in other words. Hope this helps...

 

[debthasnumbedme]

my buddy was in the army for four years and got into a florida med school. if you have your pre-reqs and mcat done, id suggest you apply for the disadvantaged status. he had to do one year of grad school but now hes in med school at a major florida university and he's not even from florida.

 

[Hook]

I'm currently active duty and am considering med school. I am deployed and have been volunteering here at the combat hospital. Regardless of what I decide for med school, volunteering downrange has been great and probably unequaled to any state-side volunteer opportunity. I do the standard volunteer work like resupply shelves, make beds, man the copier, make lab runs and empty Foley bags.

However, the staff has made it a point to show me anything and everything unique. They've let me observe in the ED, they brought me into an OR bay to watch a crainiotomy as the neuro team fished shrapnell out of a dude's mellon, and they've shown me how to pack a large blast wound that was a few centimeters deep. Yesterday, the team-lead nurse gave me a 30 minute lesson on how Foleys work. A few days before that, it was the intensivist describing what he uses the ultrasound for, and how it works much better on local national patients.

If you're still going to deploy between now and your ETS date, I highly recommend volunteering downrange. To say that it's been worth while is an understatement.

 

[Mojo8427]

I'm currently active duty and am considering med school. I am deployed and have been volunteering here at the combat hospital. Regardless of what I decide for med school, volunteering downrange has been great and probably unequaled to any state-side volunteer opportunity. I do the standard volunteer work like resupply shelves, make beds, man the copier, make lab runs and empty Foley bags.

However, the staff has made it a point to show me anything and everything unique. They've let me observe in the ED, they brought me into an OR bay to watch a crainiotomy as the neuro team fished shrapnell out of a dude's mellon, and they've shown me how to pack a large blast wound that was a few centimeters deep. Yesterday, the team-lead nurse gave me a 30 minute lesson on how Foleys work. A few days before that, it was the intensivist describing what he uses the ultrasound for, and how it works much better on local national patients.

If you're still going to deploy between now and your ETS date, I highly recommend volunteering downrange. To say that it's been worth while is an understatement.

When I was in afg, nothing upset me more then seeing people volunteer at the USO or take college classes. I mean why the eff are they overthere in the first place? Leatherneck was a clown show, chicks that never left the wire wearing dual pistols, marines getting fat at the amazing chow halls. A px that sold playstations and whatever the hell else you didn't need. Americans think most troops have it hard over there and it's simply not true. Very few had a hard living.

Oh, even marines/clowns on unicycles. Wtf.

 

[Catalystik]

Hows it going everybody? Im planning on applying for med school (hopefully soon) but just have a few questions before I do.

I'm currently in the military, I have all my pre-req's for med school completed and I'm going to be taking the MCAT soon. The thing is, I have absolutely NO time to volunteer. My military schedule right now is so hectic that if I take on some volunteer work ill be stabbing myself in the foot. My schedule most likely isnt going to change until I finish my enlistment, but by then I was hoping I would be able to apply for school.

I'm assuming military experience wouldn't waive volunteer experience, so should I hold off on applying till after I get out of the military and do a few months of volunteer work?

Thanks for the help!

Volunteering to serve in the military is considered "volunteering." But, you still need clinical experience where you interact with patients, and physician shadowing. If you can acquire that on the job, then you're fine. If not, you'll want to get more than "a few months" experience before applying. See if you can work something out like what Hook suggests. An hour or two a week adds up over time to what adcomms like to see.