Volunteer Advise.

[xovrutskyx]

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I have a question about volunteering. I graduated in 09 as a Finance Major and currently work at an investment bank, however, I changed paths and I enrolled in school full time (night-time) while still working full time.
Now, that I have a winter break from school, I am looking to find a decent volunteer opportunity to strengthen my application (at night or weekends since I still work full time).
So far, I haven't had much luck finding anything. I reached out to a few hospitals and all the decent opportunities available are during the day; night time/weekend is administrative work (shuffling papers).
So here is my question. Would it severely hurt my chances of getting in Med School if I do not have any volunteer experience? If I stress that I was working full -time at an investment bank (typically considered a rigorous demanding field) and going to school full-time.

Also if anyone has any ideas of EC's to do, that would be available on the weekends/ or T/Th after 3pm I am open ears.

Thank You,

 

[MedPR]

I have a question about volunteering. I graduated in 09 as a Finance Major and currently work at an investment bank, however, I changed paths and I enrolled in school full time (night-time) while still working full time.
Now, that I have a winter break from school, I am looking to find a decent volunteer opportunity to strengthen my application (at night or weekends since I still work full time).
So far, I haven't had much luck finding anything. I reached out to a few hospitals and all the decent opportunities available are during the day; night time/weekend is administrative work (shuffling papers).
So here is my question. Would it severely hurt my chances of getting in Med School if I do not have any volunteer experience? If I stress that I was working full -time at an investment bank (typically considered a rigorous demanding field) and going to school full-time.

Also if anyone has any ideas of EC's to do, that would be available on the weekends/ or T/Th after 3pm I am open ears.

Thank You,

Would it hurt your chances, yes. Severely? Depends on your gpa/mcat and other ECs. Imo, a big part of volunteering and shadowing is for the student to see what healthcare/medical is like. If you get an interview without any healthcare experience (working, volunteering, etc) and your interviewer asks you "So why do you want to be a doctor, and how do you know the medical field is right for you?" I don't see how you could give them an answer that they would like.

Do you have any medical schools near you? A lot of med schools have MD and MD/PhD professors that are either looking for people to volunteer in their lab, or are open to letting pre-meds shadow them for a while. Also, try calling health clinics that aren't directly affiliated with a hospital. You could also try finding a job (lab, patient transport, anything) in a hospital and quitting your current job. Obviously a hospital job that involves direct patient interaction is best, but even if you get a job in housekeeping, you will be an employee of the hospital and can probably ask your supervisor to get you a volunteer spot in a patient care area.

 

[Chip N Sawbones]

Did you try volunteering in the emergency department? Granted, restocking the blanket warmer and glove boxes isn't the most interesting job in the world, but since they're open 24 hours, you should be able to find a good time to work. Volunteering doesn't have to be medically related. Soup kitchens, homeless shelters and thrift stores all need volunteers on the weekends.

 

[Cherry212]

Unless you have stellar stats, chances are that lacking volunteering will kill your application. Even though its not officially a requirement, its an unwritten rule.

 

[Drogo]

I have a question about volunteering. I graduated in 09 as a Finance Major and currently work at an investment bank, however, I changed paths and I enrolled in school full time (night-time) while still working full time.
Now, that I have a winter break from school, I am looking to find a decent volunteer opportunity to strengthen my application (at night or weekends since I still work full time).
So far, I haven't had much luck finding anything. I reached out to a few hospitals and all the decent opportunities available are during the day; night time/weekend is administrative work (shuffling papers).
So here is my question. Would it severely hurt my chances of getting in Med School if I do not have any volunteer experience? If I stress that I was working full -time at an investment bank (typically considered a rigorous demanding field) and going to school full-time.

Also if anyone has any ideas of EC's to do, that would be available on the weekends/ or T/Th after 3pm I am open ears.

I work full-time and go to school full time as well. I currently volunteer every saturday night between 5 and 9 (emergency center). I had to be proactive about things and inquire here or there and make the necessary phone calls to a volunteer chairman at my hospital. If I could do it, you should be able to as well. I actually get a lot of patient contact/clinical experience.

I rarely do scutwork and if I do it's just a little here or there just to show I'm not an a-hole and I'm all about teamwork. (tech aide's know I'm all about helping the patients')

Swear though ER or post-op is your best bet. Hell, you even might be able to get an EMT aide paid position working on contingent hours. ( I know a gal who only needs to work like 16 hrs a month and she sets up her own schedule)

I strongly advise you do some community service work during breaks from school. I always volunteer around Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and on summer break at a churches food drive.

 

[QofQuimica]

OP, please don't post the same thread in multiple forums. Just pick one forum and post it once. I have merged both of your threads here.

To answer your question, some kind of clinical experience is a must. You should think of it as a prereq just like physics or biology is a prereq. Look at it from an adcom's point of view: how do you know you want to be a doctor if you've never spent any time seeing what doctors do? To get this experience, you can shadow physicians, you can volunteer in a clinical setting, or you can work in a clinical setting. So if you don't have any clinical experience yet, you need to get some via one of these venues.

If your question is more about volunteering in general (and assuming you have clinical experience through shadowing or work), then it's a tougher question to answer. Some schools care a lot about community service, and others don't as much. I was a student adcom for four years, and my med school cared a great deal about community service. A person without any at all would almost certainly not even get an interview invite, never mind an acceptance. Medicine is a service profession, and if you don't serve others, how's that supposed to work exactly?

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

I volunteered on evenings and weekends forever... National Ski Patrol (ski or snowboard), food shelf, volunteer tutoring, hospital ER, motorcycle racetrack, LOTS of stuff can be done on nights/weekends. Don't worry so much about clinical or not, just start getting some hours. It WILL hurt your application if you have none... Look for things that look for commitment to underserved populations, nursing homes, food shelves or soup kitchens, homeless shelters, etc...

 

[johnisles2011]

Volunteering is an unwritten rule.
Conveniently, it's not that hard to do. Seriously, you can get credit for volunteering even if you just commit like an hour or two a week. You can find the time.

 

[xovrutskyx]

I did not realize that the volunteer experience can be absolutely anything.
I was looking to do something that would be a little more related to the field I wanted to pursue, or shed some more light on it.
If I cant find anything like that, I will definitely take your advice and try to find something on the weekends.

Thank You,

 

[deleted357625]

I have a question about volunteering. I graduated in 09 as a Finance Major and currently work at an investment bank, however, I changed paths and I enrolled in school full time (night-time) while still working full time.
Now, that I have a winter break from school, I am looking to find a decent volunteer opportunity to strengthen my application (at night or weekends since I still work full time).
So far, I haven't had much luck finding anything. I reached out to a few hospitals and all the decent opportunities available are during the day; night time/weekend is administrative work (shuffling papers).
So here is my question. Would it severely hurt my chances of getting in Med School if I do not have any volunteer experience? If I stress that I was working full -time at an investment bank (typically considered a rigorous demanding field) and going to school full-time.

Also if anyone has any ideas of EC's to do, that would be available on the weekends/ or T/Th after 3pm I am open ears.

Thank You,

you def need some clinical experience at the least

 

[BiopsychStudent]

ER Volunteering isn't glamorous but its easily accessible, and usually you can fit it to your schedule due to the hours.

Don't do clerical work for a hospital. That should be someone's paid job.

Most hospital volunteers are typically either going to be younger people with an interest in healthcare or older people who want to get out of the house. And while its not the hospital's job to provide you with a fulfilling volunteer experience, I've always always been incredulous they try to pawn off that kind of work on people who are presumably looking to help actual PATIENTS in the hospital.

 

[pkwraith]

When I was working, I did a couple Habitat for Humanity. I liked it cause you can do it on the weekends, you got to work with your hands, actually accomplished something. Sometimes, they even had lunch for you.

I've also done youth coaching at YMCA. If you're pretty familiar with any sports, they have slots at night or weekends. But, specific sports really depends on location.

 

[varsityblue]

Yup, it'll hurt you. Maybe try doing some corporate volunteering type stuff related to health care? My cousin worked at a hedge fund for a few years and he told me that he could always take time off from his job on both Sat and Sun to do the kinds of things he needed to do to get into Harvard Law. Just ask your supervisor.