Will volunteering in HS show up on my med school app?

[Fai]

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I know this might sound like a stupid question because it's not being done in college but say if I volunteered in a hospital for 3 years (Junior, senior year and freshman year of college) or even just junior and senior year of HS. Could I put that down when applying to Med school?

Also another question relevant to this: That Apprentince Doctor thing, could that too be put on my application and look pretty good for med school?

I'm trying to be as exposed to medicine as early as possible to see if this is really what I want to do, as well as make my future application should I pursue it shine for med school (EMT, participating in clubs, shadowing, research etc are all in mind for ECs)

Thanks in advance! Any advice would be loved too!

Edit: Title fail. Should've been: Could volunteering in HS be put on a med school app?

 

[kduck]

No. It is never (never ever) appropriate to list high school activities as part of your extracurriculars on your medical school application. There are many threads devoted to this topic if you search the entire website.

By all means, get involved in medical volunteering early - it will help you decide if you really want to do it, help you make helpful contacts etc. But at most, it will earn a sentence's mention in your personal statement, so only do it if you are genuinely interested and committed. Once you start college, you get a totally clean slate in terms of GPA and extracurriculars - nothing carries over.

Edit: P.S. You are only in high school. You haven't even taken general biology yet - there is no way for you to know what specialties you are interested in! If you go around saying you are only interested in those specialties, people are not going to take you seriously. I don't mean this in a mean way - I'm just trying to tell it like it is. Don't box yourself in too soon, get exposure to everything.

 

[raltima07]

I know this might sound like a stupid question because it's not being done in college but say if I volunteered in a hospital for 3 years (Junior, senior year and freshman year of college) or even just junior and senior year of HS. Could I put that down when applying to Med school?

No. It is never (never ever) appropriate to list high school activities as part of your extracurriculars on your medical school application. There are many threads devoted to this topic if you search the entire website.

Not to say your wrong kduck, but if you continue the activity into college it is definitely ok to list it. This is personal experience - I volunteered at the same hospital for 6 years from high school through college, and every one of my interviewers comment very positively on it. Not only that, but I am successful so far in the cycle - 14+ interviews. So I don't think your advice here is warranted if the activity continues; if not, do no list it. Continuity is key.

 

[Fai]

Thanks for the replies!

To kDuck - Oh the reason why I wanted to post my interests is because when I first wanted to be a doctor I'd want to be a psychiatrist, and should I not enjoy Psychiatry I'd get thrown around about what else I'd like to be. (Back in July, I didn't want to JUST go to Med school for one specialty. I'm sure some people went into med school thinking they'll be a dermatologist and end up being a pediatrician). Those interests are just general ideas and although I know specialty interests could definitely change during rotations (and wake-up calls) it's just some things I might see myself doing should I pursue med school.

To Raltima - Glad to know that I could carry it over to college.

Thanks for the info~

 

[kduck]

Not to say your wrong kduck, but if you continue the activity into college it is definitely ok to list it. This is personal experience - I volunteered at the same hospital for 6 years from high school through college, and every one of my interviewers comment very positively on it. Not only that, but I am successful so far in the cycle - 14+ interviews. So I don't think your advice here is warranted if the activity continues; if not, do no list it. Continuity is key.

That's very true, continuity changes the situation. However, I feel like most people aren't lucky enough to be able to maintain continuity throughout high school and college - OP would have to know that they'd be attending a university close enough to home to allow this, which is unusual for many people. Thanks for pointing this out!

OP - my point was just that you don't want to box yourself in too soon. It's great that you have ideas about what you want to see more of and explore!

Good luck with your volunteering and high school/college career. 🙂

 

[raltima07]

That's very true, continuity changes the situation. However, I feel like most people aren't lucky enough to be able to maintain continuity throughout high school and college - OP would have to know that they'd be attending a university close enough to home to allow this, which is unusual for many people. Thanks for pointing this out!

OP - my point was just that you don't want to box yourself in too soon. It's great that you have ideas about what you want to see more of and explore!

Good luck with your volunteering and high school/college career. 🙂

Yep, I was just point that out. When the OP said he (what I bolded), I thought he was attending school close. OP, the ball is in your court now!

 

[zamzee]

No. It is never (never ever) appropriate to list high school activities as part of your extracurriculars on your medical school application. There are many threads devoted to this topic if you search the entire website.

By all means, get involved in medical volunteering early - it will help you decide if you really want to do it, help you make helpful contacts etc. But at most, it will earn a sentence's mention in your personal statement, so only do it if you are genuinely interested and committed. Once you start college, you get a totally clean slate in terms of GPA and extracurriculars - nothing carries over.

Edit: P.S. You are only in high school. You haven't even taken general biology yet - there is no way for you to know what specialties you are interested in! If you go around saying you are only interested in those specialties, people are not going to take you seriously. I don't mean this in a mean way - I'm just trying to tell it like it is. Don't box yourself in too soon, get exposure to everything.

I also don't completely agree with this. I agree that the vast majority of activities completed in high school are not ok to list on your med app. However, I included hospital volunteer commitments that I did in high school which did not continue into college. I also included that I played an instrument since I was 13. I haven't had as much fortune as Raltima (congrats btw!) but I have a few top invites under my belt as well, so I think my HS activities went over all right.

Kduck is completely correct when he says you shouldn't box yourself in too soon. Explore all the possibilities, even ones outside of medicine! You'll never get the same chance to do so as you will in college.

 

[kduck]

I'm mainly quoting advice that I read on SDN while I was working on my application, but SDN has been wrong before. There are always alternate opinions.

OP, if you search LizzyM, she's an adcom member who gives great advice on this website. I know she has posted about this topic before. Additionally, plugging in "high school volunteering" in the search SDN box will turn up a wealth of threads if you have any further questions. 🙂

 

[LizzyM]

The instructions for the medical school application (AMCAS) do not specify that "experiences" listed on the application should be limited to activities in college but it is not common to include activities from HS or earlier. If you don't do any volunteering and/or working in a health care setting while in college, you might raise a question as to whether you have made a mature decision to pursue medicine. Also, don't consider it something you can do and quit as a box-checking exercise.

 

[zamzee]

The instructions for the medical school application (AMCAS) do not specify that "experiences" listed on the application should be limited to activities in college but it is not common to include activities from HS or earlier. If you don't do any volunteering and/or working in a health care setting while in college, you might raise a question as to whether you have made a mature decision to pursue medicine. Also, don't consider it something you can do and quit as a box-checking exercise.

Agreed.

For clarification, when I mentioned the I included hospital volunteer activities in HS that didn't continue into college, I meant that those specific volunteer activities didn't continue because I was in a different city. I continued volunteering in a clinical setting in college though, and chose to include those HS activities not to check a box but to show continuity.

 

[Fai]

To LizzyM - Thanks for the info but I do plan to continue volunteering from HS into college (waitlisted currently at South Nassau though, so I might not even get in until I am in college) I just wanted to know if I could put anything health care related that I did/started in HS through college to be put on my app.

I know it sounds like I want to do that, EMT and the such just to make my app look better but I legitimately want to do them. Mostly for experience and get a feel for the hospital environment. EMT is for a little taste of any sort of emergency situations and how to handle them. I plan to do EMT from as soon as I hit 18 and continue should I enjoy it.

 

[LizzyM]

You can put anything on the AMCAS. You should prefer to put things that are recent or of a long standing nature.

So, let's say you volunteered at St. Elsewhere Hospital from sophmore yr through senior and then went to college where you volunteered at County General Medical Center from freshman through junior year.

You also started playing tuba in 3rd grade and played in HS orchestra and marching band and continued playing in marching band in college.

You also took martial arts classes from grade 4 through HS.

Most people would say that you should list your County Hospital experience, your marching band experience and that you might list tuba and martial arts as hobbies if you have continued to practice them for enjoyment.

Listing the volunteerism at St. Elsewhere would look like padding as would the listing of HS orchestra & HS marching band.

You could mention in the descriptions of the County and college band experiences that you had been involved at St. Elsewhere and in HS orchestra and band as a way of showing that these are long standing interests but that would not be required. You could also work either into your essays indescribing your motivation for medicine, etc.

 

[IRASNA]

I guess I have a "special circumstance" that kind of has to do with this.

Right after I graduated from high school, I volunteered as an "assistant" for a family friend with cerebral palsy who served on a youth disability advisory board. It was about 5 days of caretaking and definitely had an impact on me. Is this fair game to list on AMCAS? It was almost 24 hours/day for 5 days (minus sleep), so it may not have been over a long period but had substantial hours? Thanks!

 

[QuizzicalApe]

That sounds more like personal statement fodder than it does like something to put under activities. Not to downplay the significance of the experience, of course! I'm sure it had a lot of impact but folks might scoff at a 5 day commitment being listed there on AMCAS.

 

[Mango15]

Just to ask- I received over 500 volunteer hours in high school at the museum of discovery and science. I will not be able to continue this in college but I feel like I earned so many hours it would be a waste to not mention them. Will they over look it when you note you received the hours in high school?

 

[sector9]

Just to ask- I received over 500 volunteer hours in high school at the museum of discovery and science. I will not be able to continue this in college but I feel like I earned so many hours it would be a waste to not mention them. Will they over look it when you note you received the hours in high school?

Listing them on your medical school app really wouldn't be recommended