Volunteer hours and gap year

[lenap3]

Hi all,

Currently, I have not had any volunteer experience since high school (spring of my junior year in college). I'm aware this is less than ideal, but since I transferred colleges and had to make up for credits, sought out research internships, and work as a babysitter on the side, I haven't had the ability to volunteer as I would have liked. I thoroughly enjoy helping people etc. so this isn't just a "check the box" issue for me, but rather I just couldn't find the time given the other things I balance. I was hoping to start really getting into volunteering this summer, but now COVID-19 has put many hospital volunteer programs on hold. I have applied to four volunteer positions next year, in hopes to pursue 2-3 depending on time commitments, but will this look bad on an application if all my volunteer hours come from one year? I plan to continue volunteering throughout my gap year, which I can speak to during interviews, but the continued volunteering won't be reflected on my application. By the end of my senior year of college I will hopefully have ~160 hours of shadowing experience, so I should be ok in that regard, and have had 5 research internships.

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[Blueprint Med School]

While it would definitely look better to have volunteer hours spread out, it's not going to be a red flag at all, especially since you're also going to have more hours in your gap year. As long as the rest of your app is good, you're fine.

 

[Talldoctor96]

You cannot change the past, just improve the future. Diversify your volunteer portfolio and my suggestion is this: Using it as the last stage of the progression of why you wanted to be a doctor. Example : You liked science, you realized that turned into a passion for medicine, and through your volunteer work thsi past year you have fallen in love with the humanity of medicine and want to care for the underserved. Boom.

 

[Goofy Goober]

Volunteering is a good addition to your application, but is not essential. It looks like you have a lot of shadowing experience as well as research. If your GPA and MCAT are sufficient, then this should give you a solid chance so long as you can talk about your extracurriculars favorably and as motivators to pursue medicine. Good luck!

 

[Engrailed]

Volunteering is a good addition to your application, but is not essential. It looks like you have a lot of shadowing experience as well as research. If your GPA and MCAT are sufficient, then this should give you a solid chance so long as you can talk about your extracurriculars favorably and as motivators to pursue medicine. Good luck!

Volunteering is pretty much essential unless there is something so extraordinary that would make volunteering irrelevant. Buy a copy of the MSAR and you'll see that the vast majority of accepted applicants have volunteering, both clinical AND non-clinical. That distinction also matters.
To the OP, yes, if all the volunteering activities all have a start date around the same time, it will be less than ideal.
You've applied to several positions and plan on doing 2-3? Do you know how much time you will be spending and will you be able to keep up with your other commitments?

Maybe choose 2 things that you know you can manage long-term. Try not to spread yourself too thin; that can compromise your performance in school etc.

 

[lenap3]

Hi everyone, thanks for the feedback. Just heard back from a volunteer program at the best children's hospital in my area and was offered an interview, so that's a good start! The commitment for that is 4 hours a week for a year, but I will try to do more during school breaks etc. especially because those often coincide with holidays and times when being in the hospital as a child can really suck. And for those who said use it as the seal-the-deal, I was a chronically ill child, so my motivation for pursuing clinical volunteer hours stems from the impact hospital volunteers had on my own childhood, and I will definitely be able to show genuine interest in volunteering. I honestly just haven't had the time to volunteer before now since I've finally ironed out my coursework, but I will definitely continue into my gap year and be able to speak to that during interviews.

As for commitments, I'm hoping to volunteer 6-8 hours a week, which would give me over 200 hours by the time I apply.