Volunteer only in summer...

[sshashid87]

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As app. time rolls around, I just want to know what people think about my situation and whether or not it will sink my application...Practically ALL of my volunteer work came in the 4 summers after high school (05-08)...each summer I did about 50 hours in the hospital, and two of the summer I had some religious volunteering totaling 40 hrs...this past march/april i started volunteering with united way and at the va (~6 hrs week total between the two)....

So...about 240 hrs in summer, and by june, about 60 hrs of work during the school year...I'm happy with the 300 total, but admittedly worried about the work only being in summer...i figure med schools will def. pick up on this and drill me about not being committed during the school year and balancing multiple activites with school...has anyone been in this situation and any advice on how to respond to adcoms if they ask me about this? honestly, i had much lighter course loads in summer, didn't want grades to suffer in fall/spring...any help is appreciated thanks!

edit: also, i didn't get an lor from the director since i only met her once per summer at orientation + really laid back place to volunteer, didn't really develop any relationships with other workers there...i used doctor letter from shadowing for my committee letter instead, will this show up negatively to adcoms?

 

[Longshanks]

Do you have any other ECs during the school year? I think if all you did was take classes and study during semester, then it may be a problem. But if you were a member of some clubs or did other volunteering throughout the year, then I wouldn't think it would be a big deal. Did you have to work during the semester?

 

[sshashid87]

I was a member of some clubs, some intramurals, and the past year I did research...looking back I'm fairly certain I could have done volunteering, etc. throughout the year without much concern for grades, but can't really change that...I didn't work or anything, so besides the intramurals and such it was pretty much just study, etc (after my worst gpa semester fall 06, i got paranoid and that pretty much stopped me from signing up for anything...)