Free Clinic Volunteer: You'll interact with patients, doctors, and other medical professionals while providing care essential to your community. You'll meet patients with a variety of medical needs, and your entry about working at the free clinic should be about direct patient interaction. (You need at least one patient-interaction in your W&A.) Runner up for the best entry focus is a learning experience you had with a staff member. Showing yourself as a problem-solver is great.
We had a client in charge of patient intake at a neighborhood free clinic. He spoke to many patients and observed a wide variety of minor ailments that sharpened his focus on becoming a general practitioner. We had another very shy client who volunteered at a local college clinic administering COVID-19 tests, meeting with the same nervous student athletes weekly, and developing her communication skills and personal relationships. She also took it upon herself to hop on the clinic's phone and assist parents and students in finding COVID-19 testing information on the university's confusing website. What she did in those instances was not medical but showed that she was a patient and caring person. It also allowed her to express in a Most Meaningful entry how having the testing information available only on the website, and in a hidden place at that, was a barrier to student care that is emblematic of a greater problem in the healthcare space. Her bottom line: Patients need easy access to accurate, understandable information regarding their own care.
Planning to apply to medical school in 2025? Check out our med school application tutorials here or get in touch here.
We had a client in charge of patient intake at a neighborhood free clinic. He spoke to many patients and observed a wide variety of minor ailments that sharpened his focus on becoming a general practitioner. We had another very shy client who volunteered at a local college clinic administering COVID-19 tests, meeting with the same nervous student athletes weekly, and developing her communication skills and personal relationships. She also took it upon herself to hop on the clinic's phone and assist parents and students in finding COVID-19 testing information on the university's confusing website. What she did in those instances was not medical but showed that she was a patient and caring person. It also allowed her to express in a Most Meaningful entry how having the testing information available only on the website, and in a hidden place at that, was a barrier to student care that is emblematic of a greater problem in the healthcare space. Her bottom line: Patients need easy access to accurate, understandable information regarding their own care.
Planning to apply to medical school in 2025? Check out our med school application tutorials here or get in touch here.
