Would you still volunteer or do similar ECs if it had no effect on your chances?

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Would you still volunteer and participate in ECs if it did not affect your app?

  • Yes

    Votes: 66 44.6%

  • No

    Votes: 82 55.4%
  • Total voters
    148
sweetie2pie

sweetie2pie

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Apparently I'm a "box-checker" applicant according to my last thread. 🙁 I'm wondering if I'm alone or not here on SDN. How many of you would still do all of these ECs if it hypothetically had no impact on your application? Please be honest! After years of lurking, I know how SDN members are sometimes not entirely honest on these polls. 😉 👍
 
I do my ECs because I love doing them. I started them before I was pre-med, and they really shaped me into wanting to become a doctor.
 
It's safe to say 90+% of pre-meds do their ECs because they "have" to. if everyone could just worry about studying and doing well, they would. There are few that truly do all of these things just because they want to. Thats my opinion at least based on what I've seen.
 
The large majority of my extracurriculars I started long before I knew I was going to apply to medical school, with the exception of clinical exposure. I kind of "lucked out" in that what I had been doing all along made for a great application.

I liked shadowing but working in a clinic/hospital gets repetitive. After a certain amount of time I feel that you pretty much got what you're gonna get from it...400 hours or whatever ridiculous number seems kind of pointless to me. I'm certainly not going to medical school to do the same stuff I did as an undergrad in the hospital.



Edit: Most of my friends were the box checking type though. Some did ok this cycle, some didn't.
 
I love my athletics so I'd continue those. My volunteering in the medical field had no effect on my desire to study medicine so I'd never have done it (I didn't want to to begin with). That being said, I would have volunteered somewhere, somewhere where I actually was making a difference.
 
DoctorLacrosse said:
It's safe to say 90+% of pre-meds do their ECs because they "have" to. if everyone could just worry about studying and doing well, they would. There are few that truly do all of these things just because they want to. Thats my opinion at least based on what I've seen.
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I'll admit that I am part of that 90%+. Am I ashamed? No. I worked very hard throughout college doing in my power to have a good application this year. Now I'm just worried about ADCOMs blaming me for the blatantly obvious. 🙁
 
I don't think this can be just a yes or no question. Most of them i'd still do, but a few of them I probably wouldn't
 
I agree with a previous post, I would continue to do athletics no matter what I majored in. I also really enjoy my research. I do wish I did something else with my volunteering and job. If I didn't feel a job was boosting my application then I wouldn't do it (I don't need the money). I would really like to be volunteering full-time with Samaritan's Purse or Doctors Without Borders. However, it may not be realistic, so for now, my schedule works...
 
I was a volunteer EMT long before I considered medical school. In fact, like I said in my personal statement, it was volunteer patient care that drove me to pursue medical school, not the other way around.

Though I do admit next Friday is my last day of work and I'm going to take a little time off after 5 years of service.
 
Most of my extracurricular activities are unrelated to medicine and, as others have said, were started long before medical school was even on my radar. For awhile I was spending upwards of 20 hours/week volunteering for a dog rescue and I loved it. I know a fair bit about dog behavior and training, so the rescue is a place where I feel I can really contribute. I had to scale back my involvement at the rescue in order to make time for clinical experience, which I wasn't terribly thrilled about.

I don't think I would have sought out the clinical stuff if I wasn't planning to go to medical school, mostly because I don't feel like I have a whole lot to contribute. I'm enjoying the experience and I'm learning quite a bit, actually, but I feel like the hospital/doctors/patients are helping me far more than I can help them at this point in my life. However, having decided that I want to go to medical school, I would definitely still spend some time shadowing to get a feel for the day-to-day even if the schools didn't see that as a "plus".
 
I enjoy my volunteering, but if given the chance ill honestly opt for a few extra hours of sleep.
 
For my non-clinical experiences, definitely.
For my clinical experiences, probably not. However if I didn't do them, I probably wouldn't have much interest for med, so wouldn't even be applying.
 
Yes. I began doing almost all of mine before I became "pre-med," although I was certainly happy to see that what I was doing already would look "good" for my app! The clinical experience I got was because I was considering medicine, so I got a few hospital jobs. I also did some volunteer clinical to get experience so that I could obtain a job in the hospital. My other (non-clinical) ECs were simply started because I liked doing them and are things I've done for years. No point in taking up a new sport or something to go to med school!
 
music2doc said:
Yes. I began doing almost all of mine before I became "pre-med," although I was certainly happy to see that what I was doing already would look "good" for my app! The clinical experience I got was because I was considering medicine, so I got a few hospital jobs. I also did some volunteer clinical to get experience so that I could obtain a job in the hospital. My other (non-clinical) ECs were simply started because I liked doing them and are things I've done for years. No point in taking up a new sport or something to go to med school!
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As side note, I found your open-letter to the pre-med volunteers you see at your clinical sites interesting. While you enjoy your work, you definitely saw first hand how frustrating it is to be there with the people who do not want to be there!
 
AllDaWEI said:
As side note, I found your open-letter to the pre-med volunteers you see at your clinical sites interesting. While you enjoy your work, you definitely saw first hand how frustrating it is to be there with the people who do not want to be there!
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Absolutely. That letter came off a lot stronger than I meant for it too, but yes, I've seen how frustrating it is for some people. I've also met hospital volunteers who, upon hearing that story, take the other side and go "WTF?! Why didn't those kids take advantage of every opportunity and do the work? Did they think they were going to get to do surgery their first night or something?!" so there's a wide spectrum. I don't know whether or not the person willing to do anything makes a better physician/med student, but I would suspect that that kind of work ethic might be a positive indicator for success.

Regardless, it's interesting.... I would hope that given the right kind of volunteer/clinical opportunity, most pre-meds would find something they enjoy. I know I've been able to get quite a few pre-meds into great clinical settings where they really do seem to enjoy the work and have a lot of fun (as evidenced by the fact that they come in happy to be there, engage patients and staff, and even come in to help on days they aren't actually scheduled as well as offer to help in non-medical areas, such as reception, eligibility, and pharmacy as needed).
 
The only thing I probably wouldn't have done is ER volunteering but everything else I did because I enjoyed the activity.

Then again, I did very little actual volunteering. Most of my other ECs have some decent payoff for myself.
 
I enjoy volunteering but to be honest I'd much rather be getting paid. I am scrambling for cash even though I am busy all the time. My family is not helping me so I cannot afford to leave work and can barely afford to spend hours working for free.
 
Depends on the EC.

Volunteer in a hospital setting? No.
Volunteer in research lab? Yes.

Also, I'd rather get a real job while maybe doing an EC on the side. It def helps and adds to the resume as well as enjoying it
 
SunsFun said:
I enjoy volunteering but to be honest I'd much rather be getting paid. I am scrambling for cash even though I am busy all the time. My family is not helping me so I cannot afford to leave work and can barely afford to spend hours working for free.
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Getting paid takes the whole "altruism" aspect out of the experience. My parents came here from China with very little money and were NOT happy to see me doing "free labor" at the hospital I volunteered at. I don't understand where this mentality that it is helping patients? It is not like hospital is throwing money, sunshine, happiness, and rainbows at the patients. They still need to pay for their care, and the hospital directors can pocket the savings from not hiring an extra tech, secretary, etc. (Dont believe me? Then how exactly does an elderly volunteer working as secretary actually benefit patients?)

All other volunteers were older folks, many who were financially secure at hospital I volunteered. I think its nice if older financially-secure people decide to give so MANY hours to volunteer. But it sucks that some pre-meds volunteer for so many hours considering how little money they have. If you have volunteer who worked for "only" 200 hours, had they made $10 an hour doing a tech position or what not, they could have made $2,000! As for altruism argument, if these pre-meds would have considered doing this for $$$, then they weren't genuinely altruistic. In my opinion, this just isnt right time to donate so many FREE hours. You need to save money for years of debt and living on very little money. Want to volunteer tons of hours? Then do it when you are financially secure as doctor!
 
My ECs are/will be work, volunteering, and shadowing. I'd like to get involved in research even if it has no affect on my application, but I'm unable to because I go to a school with pretty much a $0 research budget. I refuse to do clubs because they're stupid, and I absolutely would not volunteer if I didn't have to.
 
Honestly, I LOVE volunteering at the hospital but I am not sure that I would have started there had I not been pre-med and needed it...now that I have though, it has been the greatest experience for me
 
torshi said:
Depends on the EC.

Volunteer in a hospital setting? No.
Volunteer in research lab? Yes.

Also, I'd rather get a real job while maybe doing an EC on the side. It def helps and adds to the resume as well as enjoying it
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This. I'd still play guitar, I'd still work in a pharmacy, I'd still volunteer in labs.
 
Half and half on most activities.

Wouldn't volunteer at a hospital, would volunteer at the non-clinical place I'm at.
 
AllDaWEI said:
As side note, I found your open-letter to the pre-med volunteers you see at your clinical sites interesting. While you enjoy your work, you definitely saw first hand how frustrating it is to be there with the people who do not want to be there!
Click to expand...

I think I found a solution. Volunteer coordinators should stop offering the meaningless position of ED volunteer and any similar positions. It just doesn't serve any useful purpose except to burden the staff, frustrate and annoy pre-meds, and encourage animosity between the two sides.
 
I was thinking the poll would be 99% "wouldn't volunteer" but 99% of comments would be "I would definitely volunteer."
 
duress said:
I think I found a solution. Volunteer coordinators should stop offering the meaningless position of ED volunteer and any similar positions. It just doesn't serve any useful purpose except to burden the staff, frustrate and annoy pre-meds, and encourage animosity between the two sides.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

Unfortunately, I doubt this will happen because pre-meds seem to think the ED will be "fun" and so they ask for it. When I initially talked to a volunteer coordinator about volunteering in the hospital to find out whether I might like going into medicine, she suggested the ED. I never ended up volunteering in a hospital and, after what I've seen, I'm glad I didn't follow her advice!
 
I think volunteering and ECs are kind of broad terms... People play strange sports or have strange hobbies they partake in frequently that aren't med-school related at all, and for that I think the default answer to the poll has to be "yes."
 
Love volunteering with children and always have. The level of excitement I get out of them is great and according to people that work at the place I volunteer at and other volunteers "the place is just different when I'm around." The kids learn more than they usually would, they work harder, and they have a better time. Kids that usually don't get excited for anything get overjoyed when I show up. And it's always a surprise when I show up because I am the one volunteer at the place that has the privilage of showing up whenever I desire instead of following a schedule.

I've always wanted to volunteer at a soup kitchen and a hospice, didn't get the soup kitchen going until I decided on med school and never ended up doing the hospice. So that's sort of in between.

Worked at a group home for developmentally disabled individuals well before I decided to go to med school and took the job knowing I would recieve less pay than I would working elsewhere. Greatly enjoy it and I think it will help my application.

Scribe job in an ER I took for my application, but that's to be expected with any other career. Get experience in the field before entering the no turning back point in a career. And I do love it.

There's other stuff like TAing that I would do regardless. I enjoy helping others. I wish I could get into more volunteering but I just haven't had the time with everythin pre-med requires. I most likely won't get into a "great" school like many check the box students will, but I decided on med school later in college and think I will get into a fine school.
 
That's tough to say. It may have been my initial motivation, but after walking thru the door, the experience became its own motivation.

It's not that I wouldn't want to do it if it had no impact on my application, but that it would be at a lower position on my list of priorities. I enjoy what I'm doing and I see the impact immediately on the population I serve, but if it wouldn't assist me in my goal then I would spend less time doing it (I.E. I'd still do it, but not as much) and more time doing things that got me closer to the place I want to be in my life.

I don't feel that's a horrible thing to admit. It shows persistence and a willingness to prioritize one's life.
 
Why does everyone always jump straight to volunteering? What about the people joining 8 clubs and trying to become president in all of them.

I'd do everything that I do currently, but then, I don't really do that much. I just spend a lot of time/energy on the few things I do.
 
I would continue all my ECs for sure. I was just fortunate to have some volunteering when I applied as my involvement in my volunteer program was pegged to personal philosophy. I didn't even know community service was a "requirement". I love research and would have done it regardless, especially as I want it to be part of my career. I also didn't have official clinical volunteering on paper, but that didn't stop me from getting interviews and an acceptance.
 
Narmerguy said:
Why does everyone always jump straight to volunteering? What about the people joining 8 clubs and trying to become president in all of them.

I'd do everything that I do currently, but then, I don't really do that much. I just spend a lot of time/energy on the few things I do.
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Honestly, I would have still jumped in on my involvement with my post-bacc school's pre-med program because it was "broken" (i.e., basically non-existent) and I tend to be the kind of person that hates to see people who are not properly supported. While my involvement was helpful in the application process, even if I had not gone the medicine route, I would have found similar organizations to be a part of. It's more of a personality thing than a "gotta get to the top 'cuz I'm pre-med" thing. It's what I generally consider my greatest strength, yet my greatest weakness. I know it wouldn't change if I weren't going into medicine because I tended to rise quickly to leadership positions and be fairly entrepreneurial in other fields in which I have worked as well.
 
nburnett3 said:
Ha! Hell no.
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Haha truthfully though, there are so many better ways you could invest your time instead of doing volunteer work. I could learn something new in those three hours instead of just making beds, it just gets repetitive.
 
I do think that the poll is a little flawed...

Even though I hated pre-med volunteer experience passionately, I still volunteered here and there with one time events. I think a lot of people would volunteer at an event here or there through university, church, or other ways. I just don't think we would see hundreds of hours worth of massive commitments.

It's funny how you keep seeing in threads regarding subject when people ask what they should do, and SDNers respond by saying: "Do what you enjoy." Well, what if the things you enjoy involve sleep, playing video games, etc. That doesn't quite help your application for medical school, now does it? 🙄

My favorite is in volunteering abroad threads. Once the SDNers make their point about how pre-meds volunteering overseas doesn't help much, they say, "If you want to really help, you should donate that money to international organizations." Once I saw response saying: "How will donating money help me get into medical school?" 😳

These are seriously altruistic applicants here!
 
KnuxNole said:
Volunteer: NO

Hobbies: YES
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Wouldnt most people be doing hobbies anyhow? I think that's also a flaw of poll.

People probably played sport, instrument, or did other things way before being pre-med. But devoting all their free time to their community? Only a few.
 
I was a volunteer EMT before I even wanted to go to med school, I'd definitely do that over. I don't know if I'd be a CNA again, though. Honestly I'd quit right now if I didn't need to make money somehow, I'm accepted already. There is very little about the job that is mentally engaging. I wouldn't do any sort of hospital volunteering, except the summer I got to do hearing screenings for the newborns. 😀 I'd still volunteer for the homeless shelter I'm at, that's just fun. I'd still be a TA but NOT a private tutor for rich kids, that was awful.
 
KnuxNole said:
That's a good point. Mah bad D:
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I probably should have re-phrased my question for the poll to ask about activities you joined when you finally realized you wanted to pursue the pre-med path. I've been in band since middle school, and can't say that I joined it in middle school because I knew I would be applying to medical school one day. 😛
 
I taught women's self defense. I would have done it anyway.
Most any other kind of voluteering would have been forced.
 
I think the poll is a little flawed. Most people would do some kind of volunteering/hobbies anyway and would enjoy it. But de-facto medical school requirement volunteering (in hospitals/ER/etc) would probably have much lesser number of volunteers to work with.
 
SunsFun said:
I think the poll is a little flawed. Most people would do some kind of volunteering/hobbies anyway and would enjoy it. But de-facto medical school requirement volunteering (in hospitals/ER/etc) would probably have much lesser number of volunteers to work with.
Click to expand...

👍

I think medical school admissions is the red herring when it comes to hobbies. I don't think medical school admissions is relevant at all. Except some hobbies are more PC in the admissions game than others.
 
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