Question about volunteering/EC's--what counts as what?

[RealLifeDaria]

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I have been perusing the threads regarding volunteering/EC's, but I can't find anything that really answers my question, so maybe you guys can help me out. I'm getting ready to apply to MD schools this summer. I graduated with my BS in neurobiology w/ a minor in chemistry June 2010. I'm not overly concerned about my numbers (3.71 cGPA, 3.68 sGPA, taking the MCAT April 9th and estimating to get a 35/36), but I'm all sorts of confused about EC's.
My undergraduate program was EXTREMELY competitive, and my junior year I spent about 40 hours a week outside of class just writing lab reports for neuro. On top of my full course load, in my last 2 years of college I worked in a lab for credit, worked a regular job for money, and shadowed a neurologist at our schools hospital 4 hours/week for 1.5 years. Needless to say, I had approximately zero hours left at the end of each week for anything else. I was worried about my lack of traditional volunteering, but my advisor (who has seen many a student pass on from the neuro program to med school) told me that my extensive shadowing would be sufficient. In addition, in my research position I ran EEG's on babies at risk for autism, so I feel like I have had significant exposure and interaction with patients. But now snooping around here it seems like some schools are really looking for that stereotypical volunteering experience.
So, in a nutshell, does anyone have any opinion on whether I can rest my head a little easier?
(PS: Any last minute volunteer cramming would have to wait until April. In Sept. I temporarily moved across the country. I don't drive and didn't realize there is essentially no public transportation where I am now before I got here, so I really can't get around. In April I will be back home and more mobile.)

 

[alexrgross]

I do not think medical schools would frown upon the lack of traditional volunteer service. Your shadowing and clincal interactions seem to compensate for this. That said, I think traditional volunteering helps to show you can balance your academic, personal, and social life in the community.
It also depends on what shcools typically evaluate in their applicants. So check out admissions websites to find the points the consider important when evaluating an applicant to rest a bit easier.

You can start a volunteer commitment after the MCAT and then include it on your AMCAS app. Write in the description that you plan to continue the service in your gap year. That should give your application the flavor you are looking for.

 

[Catalystik]

If you only plan to target that one med school, and trust your advisor to be giving you accurate information, maybe you don't need to do anything further, but to have your application appeal to a broader spread of schools which will have different expectations (and for your own personal "testing of medicine" as a career), I think it would be a good idea to have some experience interacting with sick people of various ages. Applying for a volunteer position in a clinical environment is a good plan. Further, I'd continue with the position through the application cycle, as update letters and interview conversations about it can still benefit your application.

If there is any chance of shadowing a primary care doc for a day, consider doing that too.

 

[RealLifeDaria]

That said, I think traditional volunteering helps to show you can balance your academic, personal, and social life in the community.

So maybe they would be super stoked to hear about how my buddy and I started a drinking club for our program (for those 21 and over, of course)? We got together every Friday at our favorite pub, shared a few pitchers, and talked neuroscience. By the time we graduated even most of the TA's were showing up

 

[Catalystik]

So maybe they would be super stoked to hear about how my buddy and I started a drinking club for our program (for those 21 and over, of course)? We got together every Friday at our favorite pub, shared a few pitchers, and talked neuroscience. By the time we graduated even most of the TA's were showing up

Don't laugh. Starting a weekly social group for neuroscience types could be looked at as leadership. I'd probably downplay the ETOH references, though.

 

[noshie]

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[RealLifeDaria]

Another question since I've been reading on hear alot about explaining your gap year(s). I graduated 2010 and will apply 2011. Assuming I get in somewhere my first time applying, I will start 2012 and effectively have 2 years off. Everything I've been reading on here seems to imply that I need to be spending all of this time doing EC's to show my passion for medicine. But, to be quite honest, I got burnt out during college doing all of the things I've previously described. I took this time off so I would have a chance to do all of the things I wanted to do and am passionate about (read voraciously for personal pleasure, cook elaborate locally sourced meals, adopt and nurse back to health a rescue dog, live somewhere else, see the east coast) that I knew might be off the table or at least put on the back burner while in med school. None of these things are EC's, but they are the things I really care about. How do I balance what I really think/feel with what I know it is that med schools are looking for. Would owning up to it be effectively shooting myself in the foot?

 

[Catalystik]

Reading, travel, and cooking are great Hobbies to list. Rescuing a rescue dog is fine to mention, too, among your ECs. But I do think it would be a mistake to have no recent clinical experience, along the lines I mentioned above, at the time you submit your application, as well as something pertinent to mention in update letters during your application cycle. Can't you have your adventure, except for a few hours a week?

And if you truly need to recharge your batteries for a longer time, why rush into applying? Med school isn't going anywhere, at least not until you hit 60. Rich life experience is something that adcomms love to see.

 

[NeverSurrender]

Hey Catalystik, could you please comment on my WAMC thread? Thank you!

 

[RealLifeDaria]

The bigger issue with getting in my clinical experience/etc is simply a matter of means. I don't have a car. I don't drive. I rely 100% on my feet or public transportation (with a few people offering to give me a ride here or there). That has been my major hindrance since I graduated and moved. It will be less of one once I am home again and in a major city in March, but I am not taking the MCAT until April, so this really only gives me a few months before applying. And my concern then is that I live in a city with a HUGE premed population (very large undergraduate school with a top medical school affiliated--put your arms out and spin around and you'll hit a dozen pre-meds). The immediate area is pretty much saturated in terms of volunteer positions, so you kind of have to go farther out to find openings. And a lot of the places there are openings are harder to access if you rely only on public transportation.
So yeah pretty much this is just me boohooing and having a pity party, but these are things I am concerned about, logistically.