Started Volunteering Late: Problem?

[Endoxifen]

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So, it took me my first two years of college to decide that I wanted to go to medical school instead of graduate school. My stats are good, but I didn't start clinical volunteering until my junior year (I spent all of my time in the lab). By the time of application, I will have a couple hundred hours of volunteering at least, but I am wondering if this will raise some eyebrows from ad coms. Will they think I am being disingenuous, when I am honestly just trying to get clinical experience?

 

[premedicalstudent]

Same here, and I applied anyways. They say as long as you can talk about your experiences / articulate how meaningful they were to you, then it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[keemobad]

Definitely not a problem. 200 hours by interview date is great. I only had 44 hours of clinical and ~75 of other types of volunteering and I was good. Honestly they just want to know what you got out of it.

 

[Gibbward]

Nah I started 3/4 of my main volunteer experiences within 6-12 month from applying and it hasn't been an issue for me. As long you get something meaningful out of the experiences you're good to go.

 

[benjamin94559]

I didnt start volunteering until jr year and got 10 interviews. I think you'll be fine.

On the flip side it was low key miserable to cram 12 or so hours of volunteering a week for a year and a half so be prepared.

 

[Endoxifen]

I didnt start volunteering until jr year and got 10 interviews. I think you'll be fine.

On the flip side it was low key miserable to cram 12 or so hours of volunteering a week for a year and a half so be prepared.

I'm spending next semester and the following summer working at a hospital. It will be a little bit less stressful than what you went through, I imagine. Thanks for the warning though.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Nope, you'll be alright