Paid vs Unpaid Clinical Experience

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dwarfplanet

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By the time I apply I should have close to 1000 hours of /paid/ clinical experience, but I don’t really have any unpaid clinical work unless volunteering at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center counts... however, I do have a lot of non-clinical volunteer work (600+ hours).

Is the lack of unpaid clinical work going to hurt me? I’ve received a lot of mixed answers.

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Volunteer clinical work is more favorable than paid, but it shouldn't hurt much considering you have a decent amount of other volunteer experience.

When do you plan on applying?
 
Volunteer clinical work is more favorable than paid, but it shouldn't hurt much considering you have a decent amount of other volunteer experience.

When do you plan on applying?

I plan on applying this May!
 
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I plan on applying this May!
You have seven months until application submission. Assuming the rest of your application is in good shape, I'd get started on some type of clinical volunteering asap if you want to be as competitive as possible for as many schools as possible.
 
Does it matter as long as you can write a convincing meaningful experience out of it? Real question, not sarcasm.
 
Does it matter as long as you can write a convincing meaningful experience out of it? Real question, not sarcasm.
It does matter to some extent, since as gonnif explained above, certain schools value certain experiences more heavily than others. Therefore, it is most logical to try to get at least some clinical volunteering under your belt to make sure you have all areas covered.
 
Volunteer clinical work is more favorable than paid, but it shouldn't hurt much considering you have a decent amount of other volunteer experience.
It does matter to some extent, since as gonnif explained above, certain schools value certain experiences more heavily than others. Therefore, it is most logical to try to get at least some clinical volunteering under your belt to make sure you have all areas covered.
this is hard for me to believe, but granted i've been out of the loop a bit in the ever-evolving "Process." what schools value volunteering over paid work? in the past this would be a non-issue
 
You have seven months until application submission. Assuming the rest of your application is in good shape, I'd get started on some type of clinical volunteering asap if you want to be as competitive as possible for as many schools as possible.

The two areas that are lacking on my app are research and clinical volunteering. I’ve applied to do both this past month and I am waiting to hear back; sounds like the clinical volunteering should be first priority.

Follow-up question: If I plan on volunteering for a set length of time (8 months in my case), but haven’t completed it by the time I apply, is there a way to note that? Such as projected hours?
 
this is hard for me to believe, but granted i've been out of the loop a bit in the ever-evolving "Process." what schools value volunteering over paid work? in the past this would be a non-issue
Other than taking the word of some adcoms on sdn, the only objective data I have is the 2015 AAMC survey of importance ratings by adcoms. Clinical volunteering is rated highest of all (higher than non clinical, shadowing, research, etc.). Clinical employment is rated medium importance. This data is of course averaged across all schools that took part, so it shouldn't be of concern at some schools.
 
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The two areas that are lacking on my app are research and clinical volunteering. I’ve applied to do both this past month and I am waiting to hear back; sounds like the clinical volunteering should be first priority.

Follow-up question: If I plan on volunteering for a set length of time (8 months in my case), but haven’t completed it by the time I apply, is there a way to note that? Such as projected hours?
I agree! Yes, on the amcas application, you can make note of future projected hours.
 
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I see. Just out of curiosity, is there a chart that tells the percentile of clinical hours medical school applicants have? I saw on a previous post where @Goro said having 300 hours put you at the top 25%.
 
The reason you are getting mixed answers is that the medical schools are mixed themselves on this. A medical school may have a category, measure total hours or give more weight to overall healthcare experience (volunteering, paid, shadowing) and/or overall volunteering/community service (clinical
and non-clinical) and/or other combinations. Since applicants need to prepare for the broadest array of schools, clinical volunteering is usually best path to that end.

As to your situation, from the minor amount of detail we have, and not knowing the rest of your application, it is seems to a minor to moderate risk not having any typical hospital or medical clinic volunteering.

It's interesting that schools are split on this. Every clinical job I've worked has had way more responsibility and time spent directly caring for patients. I understand they look for volunteering to demonstrate altruism and shadowing to understand a physician's job, but my clinical volunteering ended up being a box to check and I know many premeds besides myself with similar sentiments. Would meaningful non-clinical volunteering combined with paid clinical experience directly with patients not be sufficient for adcoms? If anything I'm interested to know their thought process on this.
 
I see. Just out of curiosity, is there a chart that tells the percentile of clinical hours medical school applicants have? I saw on a previous post where @Goro said having 300 hours put you at the top 25%.
This number is an estimate based primarily on the experience of adcoms present on sdn. Keep in mind that ~300hrs puts you at ~t25% only in terms of clinical volunteering. At that point, you can safely focus on other parts of your application.
 
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