Hi there,
I'd appreciate any opinions on whether I should take another gap year to extend the longevity of my volunteering experiences. Apologies for the long post ahead.
Some context: I graduated this month. I decided on pre-med in the spring of Junior year and shortly thereafter began a scribe job. I am already taking 2 gap years with hopes to matriculate in 2026. With this plan, I'll have plenty of clinical hours by the time I apply, but I'm more concerned about my volunteering.
Prior to deciding on medicine, I was somewhat interested in K-12 education and was (and still am) passionate about the opportunity for social mobility that education provides. So while I did do non-nonclinical volunteering during undergrad (including Americorps), it was focused entirely on education in underserved communities, and I have heard that tutoring-adjacent activities are not as strong as others.
I started volunteering at a homeless shelter and women's crisis center after graduation. I also started hospice volunteering because even if I don't necessarily need the clinical hours, I really wanted to have direct patient contact. This gives me ~8 months of these activities before I apply in 2025. I know premeds who have been volunteering at one organization for 3-4 years, and I'm afraid that my 8 months of volunteering right before I apply will come across as box-checking.
Would it benefit me significantly to take another year in order to extend the longevity of my volunteering?
I also worry about how to convince service-oriented schools of mission-fit. I'll have a good amount of hours (~800 including the education stuff), but an 8 month-long timeframe doesn't seem to illustrate a deeply held mission/conviction to me (even though I do resonate with it).
As always, thank you for your insight!
I'd appreciate any opinions on whether I should take another gap year to extend the longevity of my volunteering experiences. Apologies for the long post ahead.
Some context: I graduated this month. I decided on pre-med in the spring of Junior year and shortly thereafter began a scribe job. I am already taking 2 gap years with hopes to matriculate in 2026. With this plan, I'll have plenty of clinical hours by the time I apply, but I'm more concerned about my volunteering.
Prior to deciding on medicine, I was somewhat interested in K-12 education and was (and still am) passionate about the opportunity for social mobility that education provides. So while I did do non-nonclinical volunteering during undergrad (including Americorps), it was focused entirely on education in underserved communities, and I have heard that tutoring-adjacent activities are not as strong as others.
I started volunteering at a homeless shelter and women's crisis center after graduation. I also started hospice volunteering because even if I don't necessarily need the clinical hours, I really wanted to have direct patient contact. This gives me ~8 months of these activities before I apply in 2025. I know premeds who have been volunteering at one organization for 3-4 years, and I'm afraid that my 8 months of volunteering right before I apply will come across as box-checking.
Would it benefit me significantly to take another year in order to extend the longevity of my volunteering?
I also worry about how to convince service-oriented schools of mission-fit. I'll have a good amount of hours (~800 including the education stuff), but an 8 month-long timeframe doesn't seem to illustrate a deeply held mission/conviction to me (even though I do resonate with it).
As always, thank you for your insight!
