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Volunteer Hours
Started by fawkes94
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So let me get this straight: you're going to apply with ~100 clinical volunteer hours?
Please don't. The rest of your stats are solid, no reason to cheapen out on the EC that many would consider the most important one on any application.
Please don't. The rest of your stats are solid, no reason to cheapen out on the EC that many would consider the most important one on any application.
Would the hours I volunteered at my pediatric cancer organization count for clinical if they were in a hospital? If so I would have around a 130. Is that still bad? What if I could get it up to 150 hours? And do other clinical experiences count, even if they are not volunteering?
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I'll answer your question with another question: How would your plans change if I said most of us on here have 300+ hours in clinic (volunteer and paid combined)?
To quote LizzyM (I think), "If you're close enough to smell the patient, it counts as clinical experience." Having ~100 hours isn't necessarily lethal if the rest of your application is strong, but if I were you I wouldn't apply until I had at least 200 hours.
Edit: And yes, I believe clinical experience still counts even if its paid.
The word on the street is that 100 hours is the average amount for hospital volunteering.
Yes, but you should try to avoid fudging your hours, too.
Personally, I think you are a little light on the clinical experience. However, I would caution against measuring it purely on number of hours (as most people here seem to do) because 1) most people inflate the number of hours they performed and 2) every medical school administrative staff member I have ever spoken to has always stressed it is more about the length/consistency of commitment and not the number of hours. Because most people highball their hours on the AMCAS application, judging the quality of one's experience based on hours alone would be a poor metric. It is hard to verify that people aren't exaggerating their hours, especially when the organization keeps poor records. Also, number of hours alone doesn't mean that the applicant had a quality experience because they could have been sitting on their ass all day doing nothing for most days they showed up.
Not always. In my area it is much easier to pick up more than one shift per wk for shadowing (staying ~5/6 hrs per shift) than a hospital volunteer position that only allows ~4hrs/wk for policy reasons.
That said, the barrier of entry for shadowing seems to be higher in general. SD suffers from a prodigious over-saturation which makes me so much more grateful I got my ECs out of the way before the proverbial doo doo hit the fan...😆
Your best bet is to "binge volunteer" when possible to rack up more hours. Maybe do a few hours each day during spring break. You can also look at the Volunteer Match website and try to find one-time charity events where you can spend a whole day volunteering and rack up close to 10 hours in a single day. Also try adding another weekly activity with a 3-4 hour commitment, those hours should add up by June.
Gotta love pre-meds though... This is the only place where you'll get called out and labeled a selfish person if you have less than 100 hours. I mean come on, unless someone has at least 100 hours, they are a selfish bastard. 🙄
Gotta love pre-meds though... This is the only place where you'll get called out and labeled a selfish person if you have less than 100 hours. I mean come on, unless someone has at least 100 hours, they are a selfish bastard. 🙄
I think you are safe to begin the application process OP. I would say that the total of all of your volunteering experiences is close to the average mark. Your MCAT is great, you have 2 years of research with a poster presentation and possible pub, and your other ECs add a bit to your application.
Definitely continue your planned volunteerism. If you can, try to squeeze in ~40 hours of shadowing (five 8-hr shifts) by the Summer as well and you will be in good shape.
Definitely continue your planned volunteerism. If you can, try to squeeze in ~40 hours of shadowing (five 8-hr shifts) by the Summer as well and you will be in good shape.
D
deleted738762
Hi,
Doesn't the application ask for clinical volunteering hours? If so how does paid hours count?
Thanks
Paid employment is NOT considered volunteering and doesn't take care of the unwritten volunteering requirement. So if you are working as an EMT or scribe in a clinical setting, then you will still need to volunteer on top of that. The volunteering in this case, however, doesn't need to be clinical.
What's wrong with ~100 clinical hours?
Oh right. Forgot that hours serve as a metric for altruism. My bad.
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I applied with <200 hours of clinical volunteering and all my volunteering was done in the year preceding my application. It can be done. You just have to make those hours meaningful and show adcoms that you gave something of value during them and got something personal out of them.
You have a strong MCAT score and a decent enough GPA, 100 hours of volunteering will not kill your application. Ultimately it's just a balance , I had strong EC'S and GPA, a lower MCAT score, and 200 hours and still got accepted this cycle.
Just do your best to rack up a few more hours the next few months and you should be fine.
Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
Just do your best to rack up a few more hours the next few months and you should be fine.
Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
