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Hi everyone,
So I've had some volunteer experience, but it's not exactly consistent. My freshman year, I began volunteering at a local hospital in FL. I loved volunteering there (you could work in any department), but I unexpectedly had to move to CA three months later. I only got about 50 hours of volunteering. With taking care of my younger brother and working in community college, I couldn't find time to volunteer.
I later transferred to a university and got really involved in research (15+ hours/week), worked (16 hrs/wk), became involved in a health club (sometimes 10 hrs/wk), and was doing school full-time. My last quarter, I decided to make time to volunteer at a free medical clinic. Again, I only got about 50 hours of volunteering because I just graduated and got a full-time job working at my research lab. So I can no longer make the 8-5 weekday volunteer times.
I found a hospital in my area that allows me to volunteer on nights/weekends, but it doesn't start until later this July. I'm taking the MCAT later this year and applying to med school in June 2010.
My question is, do you think adcomm's will look at my volunteer history and consider it flaky? Or is this common with other med school applicants? I've had to move around and transferred colleges twice due to family issues.
Also, I participated in several events with my health club, including visiting preschools to educate the kids about doctor's equipment, going out to underprivileged high schools that don't have sex ed programs and educating them about HIV/AIDS, and volunteering at health fairs in which we assist doctors and nurses provide free medical care. Would any of this qualify as volunteer/clinical experience?
Thank you for any advice and for reading my long post! I really appreciate it!
So I've had some volunteer experience, but it's not exactly consistent. My freshman year, I began volunteering at a local hospital in FL. I loved volunteering there (you could work in any department), but I unexpectedly had to move to CA three months later. I only got about 50 hours of volunteering. With taking care of my younger brother and working in community college, I couldn't find time to volunteer.
I later transferred to a university and got really involved in research (15+ hours/week), worked (16 hrs/wk), became involved in a health club (sometimes 10 hrs/wk), and was doing school full-time. My last quarter, I decided to make time to volunteer at a free medical clinic. Again, I only got about 50 hours of volunteering because I just graduated and got a full-time job working at my research lab. So I can no longer make the 8-5 weekday volunteer times.
I found a hospital in my area that allows me to volunteer on nights/weekends, but it doesn't start until later this July. I'm taking the MCAT later this year and applying to med school in June 2010.
My question is, do you think adcomm's will look at my volunteer history and consider it flaky? Or is this common with other med school applicants? I've had to move around and transferred colleges twice due to family issues.
Also, I participated in several events with my health club, including visiting preschools to educate the kids about doctor's equipment, going out to underprivileged high schools that don't have sex ed programs and educating them about HIV/AIDS, and volunteering at health fairs in which we assist doctors and nurses provide free medical care. Would any of this qualify as volunteer/clinical experience?
Thank you for any advice and for reading my long post! I really appreciate it!
