Volunteer hours from high school

[clocks123]

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I volunteered over 300 hours in a hospital throughout high school. Can I list that on my application or should I only list college volunteering?

 

[candbgirl]

Did you continue the same volunteering through college? If so include it. If not don't include it!

 

[clocks123]

No, I volunteered at a different hospital in college

 

[Kochanie]

Did you continue the same volunteering through college? If so include it. If not don't include it!

What if it's the same "branch" of hospitals? I did 1000 in high school and continued it at another location in college.

 

[STLMako91]

I volunteered over 300 hours in a hospital throughout high school. Can I list that on my application or should I only list college volunteering?

My honors college advisor told me that you can't put this. Only activities starting from the summer before freshman year I believe.

 

[Catalystik]

I volunteered over 300 hours in a hospital throughout high school. Can I list that on my application or should I only list college volunteering?

There is no rule that you can't list a HS activity, but don't expect it to carry the same weight as one from the college years, when you might reasonably be expected to have more mature perspectives to gain from the experience. Many will use a HS activity such as you describe as part of their Personal Statement when discussing their path to medicine, rather than listing in in the Work/Activities section.

 

[Catalystik]

What if it's the same "branch" of hospitals? I did 1000 in high school and continued it at another location in college.

If you can think of header information that will apply to both locations, then go for it. Alternatively, you might list the college-years activity in the header, and then in the narrative add the information about the other location.

 

[deuist]

Can I list that on my application

No

or should I only list college volunteering?

Yes

 

[allantois]

You may be able to bring it up on your secondaries as to when your interest in medicine first developed or something of the sort. I would try to jut get it out there!

 

[moisne]

No - nothing from high school can be included.

 

[DoctorWhoo]

No - nothing from high school can be included.

For the record, that is not a steadfast rule... Just a strong guideline.

I would approach this by not putting the highschool volunteering as an independent activity, but rather by mentioning it as an intro in your description of college volunteering. IE "after completing a hospital volunteer program in highschool, I was influenced to continue hospital volunteer work when I began college at X university..."

Good luck!

 

[familyaerospace]

My rule is that if it continued with no breaks (except for like summer or such) through college, I'd list it but would not make it the focus. I basically wrote my stuff from most recent to the past.

I have one activity that literally covered longer than most pre-meds on SDN have been alive. It obviously started before college, but continued through college consistently then sporadically in graduate school and beyond.

 

[zeppelinpage4]

I volunteered one summer in high school. I ended up volunteering at that same hospital a few summers later in college, and when I listed that college volunteering, I added the high school summer volunteering with it to show how my role and perspective changed as I volunteered at the same place but as an older student.

I don't think it helped much, but I don't think it hurt my application either since my app process went relatively well I think.

 

[LMBLBM]

He volunteer does not count unless you continued. I mean you should have enough hours without putting hours from Hs

 

[sunflower18]

I definitely included the hours I volunteered in high school, alongside hours that I completed at the same hospital during college. I volunteered ~150 hours in college and ~400 hours in high school. I don't think this is a problem. Just because an activity happened longer than 3 years ago doesn't make it not important. I am not really sure why people seem to be so insistent otherwise. I know that some adcoms have this viewpoint too.. I guess I just don't really get it. If college activities are important for nontrads to list, why aren't high school activities important for traditional applicants to list? Oh well. I didn't list any of my high school activities except for shadowing and volunteering, but I feel like they would have helped clarify my motivation for entering medicine and the reason why I am the way I am today. I tried to talk about some of those things in my PS and essays, but still. I don't know. It seems silly to me, that's all.

 

[TKE340]

It's most likely not how long ago the activity took place that matters, but the environment in which they took place. For instance, high school is significantly easier and less time consuming than undergrad so it is fairly easy to acquire 500+ volunteering and shadowing hours. putting in the same amount of ours during undergrad at most universities is much more difficult. Adcoms can draw more accurate conclusions about work ethic and dedication from volunteering done in undergrad than in high school.