Volunteering?

[trep14]

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Hey all, just had a quick question. How badly will it hurt my application if I just started clinical volunteering a month ago and am applying this cycle? I heard that adcoms don't like to see something like volunteering started at the last minute because it is perceived as padding your resume but I didn't know that before I submitted my AMCAS. I have been a volunteering a good bit; I'm already near 100 hours and should have 250+ hours by the time interviews come around.


Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Tensyle]

If you have that many hours, it cant hurt to list it on your application. Sure, they might think it was last minute, but you still did the work. I would just list it on my app anyway.

If it comes up in interviews, say that's how your schedule worked out.

 

[LizzyM]

Does this applicant have any other clinical exposure? (including a parent or significant other in medicine.) Why did this applicant wait so long to test an interest in clinical care?

 

[hewmanoid]

It won't necessarily hurt your chance if this is the only clinical volunteering experience you've had because it's always better to have some volunteering hours than none. But, if I were on an admission committee, I would get the impression that you're doing this for the sake of getting into med school (I'm not saying this is your case, btw). But, I guess at this point you have no choice but to put it on your AMCAS app. Good luck.

 

[SunDevilDoc]

Yeah I've got the same problem. I actually started the process over 6 months ago, but the hospital wasn't very organized and I couldn't get in until 3 weeks ago. I had to pester the crap out of them to get in there. I know that it will look bad, and its annoying. I'm also about to start shadowing and other things. If you have over a year experience by matriculation, though, should it really be looked down upon that badly?

 

[trep14]

Does this applicant have any other clinical exposure? (including a parent or significant other in medicine.) Why did this applicant wait so long to test an interest in clinical care?

I've worked full time in a doctors office filing medical records (granted, that was in high school, so I didn't put it on AMCAS, but I'd definitely talk about it in a secondary or interview). My dad is a physician, and I've done plenty of clinical shadowing in a lot of different specialties and environments.

I had the same problem SunDevilDoc said. I tried to get started late last summer when I started working only part time at my job, but the hospital took forever getting stuff organized and didn't even get a chance to start until this summer.

 

[Tensyle]

I've worked full time in a doctors office filing medical records (granted, that was in high school, so I didn't put it on AMCAS, but I'd definitely talk about it in a secondary or interview). My dad is a physician, and I've done plenty of clinical shadowing in a lot of different specialties and environments.

I had the same problem SunDevilDoc said. I tried to get started late last summer when I started working only part time at my job, but the hospital took forever getting stuff organized and didn't even get a chance to start until this summer.

Just put all that medical experience on your apps too...like shadowing hours (and what you've seen while shadowing your father). I don't think the late-volunteering thing will be a big problem. If they ask you about it, do not say it was the hospital's fault for being disorganized.

 

[LizzyM]

What was going on the summer after freshman year? and the following summer? When did you decide to be pre-med? How did you test that interest?

 

[BeAdmitted]

I would say that it's the type of volunteering that matters. If it's clinical in nature, then it will work for you much better than volunteer work that doesn't involve patients. Having experience with patients is extremely valuable, and it allows you to speak about clinical care intelligently. It doesn't really matter when you did it, as long as you're able to articulate what the experience was like and how it has affected your perception of clinical medicine. This experience really comes into play during interviews.

Hey all, just had a quick question. How badly will it hurt my application if I just started clinical volunteering a month ago and am applying this cycle? I heard that adcoms don't like to see something like volunteering started at the last minute because it is perceived as padding your resume but I didn't know that before I submitted my AMCAS. I have been a volunteering a good bit; I'm already near 100 hours and should have 250+ hours by the time interviews come around.


Any advice would be appreciated.