I'm a traditional applicant in my junior year planning on applying this next cycle in the summer. I think I have a well rounded application except for maybe not having much or any nonclinical volunteering hours that will count. I will have about 300 volunteer hours from a hospital that I been volunteering since Freshman year, and will also have maybe around 100 from a Hospice from this year. I think I can count my hospital volunteering as nonnlincal since I don't really interact with any patients and is mainly desk stuff. I have been hearing the importance of volunteering to serve underserved communities especially in Texas, so I was thinking of volunteering at a food bank. The only issue is that I don't have much time with classes, work, and research. I am also in a social frat where we have done a few volunteering events that are all over the place, but nothing that really adds up. The rest of my application according to TMDSAS is 3.9 Cum GPA, 511 Mcat, 1000+ hours of being a MA, 1300+ hours of research since freshman year, and 50 hours of shadowing across 3 specialties. Please let me know what you guys think, thanks!
Should I add additional non-clinical volunteering hours?
- Thread starter FlyingJit
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TL/DR: work at the food bank. Or something similar like housing rehabilitation. Job/tax preparation. Social services not clinical. At least 150 hours by submission.
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Engage in service to others less fortunate than you. And off campus
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Unless you were working in the gift shop, or moving empty gurneys through the sub-basement, hospital volunteering is usually automatically considered "clinical", particularly if you had any interactions with staff members providing hands on care, or were speaking with patients and/or their family members such as a information desk.
If the reason you want to be a physician is to help people, use some of your time now to help people using the skills you already have (maybe orienting and guiding people using a food pantry or soup kitchen, tutoring kids from under-performing schools, helping athletes with disabilities participate in Special Olympics, etc) Find something you enjoy and try to stick with it for 3 hours per week for the next 10 months.
If the reason you want to be a physician is to help people, use some of your time now to help people using the skills you already have (maybe orienting and guiding people using a food pantry or soup kitchen, tutoring kids from under-performing schools, helping athletes with disabilities participate in Special Olympics, etc) Find something you enjoy and try to stick with it for 3 hours per week for the next 10 months.
OP
If you can't find the time to do significant nonclinical volunteering while still in school, then consider taking a gap year where you can bolster either clinical exp or research while doing nonclinical volunteering.
It's a lot more fun than being a reapplicant.
You do have to watch out that your MCAT score doesn't expire in the meantime, however.
If you can't find the time to do significant nonclinical volunteering while still in school, then consider taking a gap year where you can bolster either clinical exp or research while doing nonclinical volunteering.
It's a lot more fun than being a reapplicant.
You do have to watch out that your MCAT score doesn't expire in the meantime, however.
