Volunteering? (pre-med question)

[seemomstudy]

I am currently in my second year of a BSc majoring in biology, but I will complete my honors research in my university's physiology department (my university doesn't have a physiology major program). I earned an internship position at a lab on campus (again, in the physiology department) studying CF. I have a 3.67 GPA right now (I got a B- in org. chem, before org. chem I had a 3.95), I work as a TA for first year mathematics, physics and chemistry and I have earned a few minor scholarships/bursaries. I also have a two year old daughter; because my time with my daughter is already limited because of how much time I spend working and studying I have not made any long-term serious volunteering commitments. I am currently studying for the MCAT, I am aiming for a 36 (I think that this is a reasonable goal for me...I hope so anyway, LOL), and I will be writing it in August of this year. I do have one volunteer project right now, I am training for a marathon for leukemia research (I run anyway and I can bring my daughter with in the jogging stroller when I train), but it's not hands on at all, lol I just run and and ask people for pledges.

So my question is, with my solid grades (I know that the GPA has to come up a bit, I am working on it...) and research experience, how much is the lack of volunteer experience going to hurt me? I also cannot afford the extra costs associated with hiring a sitter while I am off volunteering, and to be honest I'd rather spend the time with my daughter...

Also, is there anything I can do to offset the lack of volunteering?

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[sop]

Solid grades, a good MCAT score, and research experience are no longer sufficient to gain entry to medical school. Medical schools in Canada place a heavy emphasis on how well you meet (or exceed) their non-academic requirements - and typically one those requirements are volunteering in the performance of activities that provide care to a population of people different from yourself. The quality of your volunteer activity (ie how closely that activity comes to meeting the spirit of the requirements defined by the medical school), and the amount of time you have committed to volunteering, is scored. That score forms part of the overall score used by medical school admission committees to determine the strength of your application. Clearly, given the competition you face in gaining entry into a medical school, it is very important that you provide as strong an application as possible - and attempting to "offset" the volunteering requirement with another activity will almost certainly hurt your chances compared to all other applicants.

Incidentally, participating as a runner in a fund raising marathon will not get you much credit for performing a "volunteer activity". You need to be thinking more along the lines of helping with the organization and operation of the marathon.

 

[seemomstudy]

Thank-you for your reply and I appreciate your advice. However, I feel like perhaps I wasn't explaining myself clearly. It's not that I do not want to volunteer or that I cannot be bothered or that I do not care for people outside of myself or my circle. I am a single mom, I need to commute over an hour to school every day because I cannot afford to move, I have to work as well to make ends meet, and I have to take care of my daughter. There are only so many hours in the day and it is just impossible for me to fit anything else into my schedule aside from running (I take my daughter with me in a running stroller).

I was thinking of starting a parents' group at my university. This group would provide support (in conjunction with counseling services at my school) to other parents who are trying to maintain their balancing act by providing workshops on things like time management, how to make a realistic budget, effective parenting, how to purchase good quality whole foods on a budget, etc. I wanted to do this group, not because it would help me, but because I know how hard it is for me to complete school and I have great supports. I want to do this group so that I may help others in similar situations to complete their own academic goals. Perhaps such an endeavor would qualify as community involvement...at any rate time is always the limiting reagent in my life (so to speak, haha), so it is going to take me forever to get this thing off the ground...