social vs. medical volunteering

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eflwon

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here is my dilema,
i recently graduated with a 3.48 and got a 10, 10, 9, P on the august test. i am going to apply next june to predominantly DO schools. from what i gather my numbers are ok for acceptance (i think), however i have little to no relevant ECs and little volunteering. i was planning on working in a group home/juvenille hall from now until i apply and was wondering if that will be looked upon as positive and equally benefinicial as a job in the med field. it is much more important to me now than any work i feel i could get in a hostpital or such but am not sure if it will be productive towards getting into medical school.
i also plan to shadow a DO in the meantime

thanks alot

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eflwon said:
here is my dilema,
i recently graduated with a 3.48 and got a 10, 10, 9, P on the august test. i am going to apply next june to predominantly DO schools. from what i gather my numbers are ok for acceptance (i think), however i have little to no relevant ECs and little volunteering. i was planning on working in a group home/juvenille hall from now until i apply and was wondering if that will be looked upon as positive and equally benefinicial as a job in the med field. it is much more important to me now than any work i feel i could get in a hostpital or such but am not sure if it will be productive towards getting into medical school.
i also plan to shadow a DO in the meantime

thanks alot

Hi there!

Those are nice MCAT scores and you'll be able to get into allopathic and osteopathic schools with that.

It's important to have ECs and volunteering. You said they "weren't relevant", but maybe they are relevant somehow. What if your a member of your school's football team or are a figure skater? Those are quite relevant I think.

If you feel your a little bit low on volunteering, then go ahead and volunteer somemore if you are able to. Some hospital time helps, but spending time volunteering in non-medical fields helps tremendously as well too.

For example, I spent some time working with homeless folks. I think it's important to do social work - and they (the admissions/interview committe) asked me all sorts of questions about the social work I did with the homeless community we have in Philadelphia. They never asked me anything medical related at all which sort of was suprising to me!

Things like Habitat for Humanity are very good as well. Also the Salvation Army does a lot of social related work too.

Don't hesitate to do social work if you really want to do it. Have some medical volunteering and an equal amount of social work if not more. You might also learn about all sorts of hidden social inequalities and grow a tremendous deal in the process. I know I did.

My best wishes to you. :)
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