Hi, I am new to the boards, completing 2nd year of pre-med. I know part of the pre-med requirement is obtaining clinical experience and performing community service. Does the mandatory duration of both vary in terms of acceptance from school to school? Among the clinical volunteers here, how many hours per week are you putting in? Thanks for any input.
Volunteer duration
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There's no mandatory requirement for you to complete any of this if you don't want to. You should find some volunteering experience that you think is meaningful and that you'll enjoy.
There's also no minimum in the amount of hours you should dedicate. Don't try to volunteer to meet a bare minimum, otherwise you really won't get anything out of it.
Most people I know had maybe 5 hrs a week.
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The hope is that people who are drawn to a life of service through medicine will by their natures seek out opportunties to serve the community as a volunteer. So you should do something that interests you and nurtures your desire to be of service to others.
The expectation is that people who think that a career in medicine might be a good choice for them will take some time to find out what the career entails including the work environment(s), the hours, duties, roles of other members of the team, "the typical day". Many applicants to medical school get this background by shadowing physicians, others have worked closely with physicians or have members of the immediate family who are physicians. The question comes down to "how have you tested your interest in medicine as a career?"
The expectation is that people who think that a career in medicine might be a good choice for them will take some time to find out what the career entails including the work environment(s), the hours, duties, roles of other members of the team, "the typical day". Many applicants to medical school get this background by shadowing physicians, others have worked closely with physicians or have members of the immediate family who are physicians. The question comes down to "how have you tested your interest in medicine as a career?"
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^obviously this...
OP, just start voolunteering and/or doing some clinical work somewhere. You should fulfill expectations naturally from there by your own interests. There is no "checklist" for admission so stop looking for one. For ideas, do a search here. This question comes up about every 6 hours; by the time you've eaten dinner tonight, someone else will be asking this, so why not search for yesterday's answers?
If you insist on hours, here is what Dr. Sonheimer of the AAMC (former assoc. dean of admissions, U of Colorado Medical School) has said (my paraphrase from a conference presentation he gave):
Clinical: min. 500 hrs, to include shadowing (up to ~100 hrs shadowing)
Definition of clinical experience: direct work with patients that involves direct (partial) responsibility for the care and outcomes of those patients
Volunteering: 200-300 hrs
Best to exceed a 12 mos commitment in any activity
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I really appreciate your answers. I found some great volunteer/service programs I want to be part of; I was worried about time constraints bcs I am still working full time while attending school so good to know something like 5 hours/week can be acceptable. I always wanted to volunteer in medicine even before I decided to pursue med school, but pushed it to the back burner because I had too many other responsibilities. Nice to know I now have an excuse to make the time to do it.
more hours always= better.
I volunteered in a hospital 3hrs a week every summer for 3 years and had a job in the hospital for one. One school that outright rejected me told me that a "possible red flag" on my app was my lack of clinical/volunteer experience
. Other schools thought it was great that i had so much.
The amount of time is very subjective but I'd say it's always better to do more than you think is necessary.
I volunteered in a hospital 3hrs a week every summer for 3 years and had a job in the hospital for one. One school that outright rejected me told me that a "possible red flag" on my app was my lack of clinical/volunteer experience
. Other schools thought it was great that i had so much.The amount of time is very subjective but I'd say it's always better to do more than you think is necessary.
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For my medical volunteering about 4-5 hours a week.
For my non-medical volunteering, it varies between 2-40 hours a week. No, that is not a typo. I spend periods of time where my non-medical volunteering is basically a full time job.
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OP, how did you get your hands on an Official SDN Pre-Medical Student Checklist(c)?!
Clearly you did not fully decode it, for if you had, you would know that 150-300 hours is recognized as the SDN Gold Standard Minimum(c). Nor would you ask whether or not smelling the patients is required!
I myself, personally, have smelt over 1,200 patients, give or take. Some days, I smell over a dozen before lunch! I used to work in an organic lab, but I had to give it in order to perserve my sense of smell! I will, however, soon publish a study on the smells of geriatric patient populations, so I can safely check off the research box.
Welcome to SDN. I challenge you to make less sense.
Clearly you did not fully decode it, for if you had, you would know that 150-300 hours is recognized as the SDN Gold Standard Minimum(c). Nor would you ask whether or not smelling the patients is required!
I myself, personally, have smelt over 1,200 patients, give or take. Some days, I smell over a dozen before lunch! I used to work in an organic lab, but I had to give it in order to perserve my sense of smell! I will, however, soon publish a study on the smells of geriatric patient populations, so I can safely check off the research box.
Welcome to SDN. I challenge you to make less sense.
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Volunteering at a hospital covers volunteering & clinical. It does not cover "shadowing," which is a separate (but related) unwritten requirement.
I "shadowed" doctors running a code on a patient this week during my volunteering. I have also "shadowed" bedside procedures such as chest tubes, central lines, etc while volunteering as well.
It's not the same as spending an entire workday with a doctor though.
It's not the same as spending an entire workday with a doctor though.
