Summer Work or Volunteer

[sistermike]

Ok this question pertains to your pre-med years. During the summer of your pre-med years, did you guys do lab work or volunteer? I know med schools want you to have some clinical work behind you but would it matter if you volunteer or do lab work? Does one weigh over the other one more?

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[MUN2005]

Do both. I am working full time and also volunteering. If your job is in the days, I'm sure you could volunteer for a few hours on the weekends.

 

[Amy]

Lab work isn't mandatory. If you're really not into research, don't do it.

 

[ckent]

You can try to do both basic science research and clinical volunteer work. Don't go crazy with the volunteer work, if you shadow a physician once per week for a month or two, that should be sufficient. If you are sure that you want to go into medicine, just get any random clinical experience that doesn't require a lot of time. On that note, if you are able to get some good experience, you can incorporate it into your personal statement so be sure to be on the look out for good stories while you are volunteering. You can do your volunteer work on Fridays or something instead of going into the lab, most lab PIs are very flexible with undergrads. Just make sure that you do meaningful research in the lab (not washing beakers 24/7, beaker washing is OK sometimes), and that you get paid (you will need a lot of $$ for the application process).

 

[oldman]

i usually took classes. it allowed me to finish in 3.5 years.

i also did volunteer work, mostly outdoors stuff to enjoy the sun!

 

[Doctora Foxy]

1st summer: shadowed a doctor & research (but not in a lab)
2nd summer: orgo
3rd summer: volunteered in a free clinic

I also did volunteer-work every semester at school (about 2 hours a week)

Just try to get both research and volunteering in your application before you apply. If you can't, emphasize doing a lot of one since you won't have the other.

 

[XenoXplant]

Try to do research for a physician so you can get some clinical exposure as well. Maybe one day/week you could round with him/her, or go observe certain procedures,etc. Clinical research is great, but beware of big chart reviews.