Volunteering

[kiahs]

So here's the deal I've been reading previous posts but haven't found an answer so I have to ask again...or maybe I wasn't looking hard enough in any case. I am a junior now and premed of course but for whatever reasons I've never really gotten too involved with anything. I've tried a couple of things but nothing too substantial. So here's the problem every med school kid is essentially the president of this or the vp of that. That's not me. I don't like the "atmosphere" for lack of a better word. (For those of you out there that are all about this stuff NO OFFENSE! I'm just explainig my situation) So my questions is with next to no time left I'm not competiative in that department and can't do much to change that; does anyone have something similar that still worked out for them, or did you find that it was a really big problem? Either way I guess it doesn't change much but maybe it'll give me some hope. Await your replies / suggestions.


What I've done:
1. Vol. in ER for about 6 months now

2. semi-part of a med school organization at school

3. I also have research experience but I didn't publish or anything

That's about it.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Optimist]

I think you'll have to mention what you HAVE done before anyone can give you feedback.

 

[Amy B]

Do you have a medical school in your town? If you do they can be very helpful in leading future applicants to great places to volunteer.

Do you have any free health clinics that depend on volunteers? I got the best clinical experiance on my application at our free clinic. I was there 3 years and loved it?

Do you have any basic EMT programs in your area or volunteer rescue squads in your area?

Any habitat for humanity projects going on in your area?

How about Meals on Wheels. Those programs rely heavily on volunteers and they do show adcoms how much you care about helping people that truely need help.

Have you gone to the pre-med advisor and asked if there is an area you can help in? I just literally stubbled into my president postition of our pre-med club and I was able to serve for 2 years. I was basically there at the right time. Start asking around and maybe something will be available.

Maybe you can find a different area in the hospital. I was involved in the cancer center delievering snacks and drinks to people getting chemo and radiation.

Not sure if this is what you are looking for in your post. Don't be assuming all applicants are officers, there are a whole bunch that aren't, so don't let that worry you.

 

[DrBodacious]

Sounds like you have a fine start kiahs. Being the president of your pre-med club isn't for everyone so don't sweat about that. The previous posts mention some good volunteering activities that only require a day a week. I did Habitat for Humanity for a few months last year when I actually had spare time/energy.

I'd look into internships for the upcoming summer, those are a big help as far as have publication possibilities, although I didn't get one out of my internship... If you do an internship at a medical school you can volunteer in the hospitals, shadow physicians, talk to med students, lots of possibilities for concurrent ECs. Plus you are garaunteed a great LOR from your PI if you can prove yourself to him/her. That is one reason to give internships at prestigious schools a shot; really good LORs.

Something I wish I did, I almost did it as a junior, was join the sailing club. I decided I didn't have time so I didn't join. Anything you can write in on your app as a EC whether medically related or not is good. I can relate to you not really enjoying clubs, they are my cup-o-tea either, but they make really good app boosters and could be fun if you can muster up some effort to get out there and be a active member of something.

 

[Optimist]

I think adcoms favor applicants that do fewer things, but do them well: for a decent period of time, and so it doesn't seem they are doing the activities purely for med school admission.

Volunteering and research are very different from being a board member of a school organization. I think being in an organization is good, but it doesn't show the dedication or desire to help others that volunteering does.

You definitely have a good start, and if you keep it up, you shouldn't have any problems, at least in terms of extra-curriculars.

 

[CalBeE]

The main thing is to convince adcom that you have enough clinical exposure to make a mature decision in applying to med school...you may have to take a year off if you need time to build up that kind of exposure.

 

[ewing]

I totally disagree. I think that if your numbers are good enough, you don't need much at all in the way of extra-currics...other than a cursory stint in the ER to show that you can handle the sight of blood. Also, you should have a cursory stint doing comm. service: helping out at an old-age home, tutoring inner-city kids, or some such. Neither one needs to be more than 5 hours/week for 20 weeks.

Basically, if you have a 3.8 and a 35 MCAT, the medschools will want to believe that your application is complete, so they'll look at those "bare minimums" and be like, "yeah, that's cool..."

If you're a more average applicant, with say a 3.4 and a 28, then you might want to take the year off and get some serious clinical exposure, to distinguish yourself from the rest of the mediocre pack.

Good luck...it's all good.

 

[Amy B]

Originally posted by ewing
I totally disagree. I think that if your numbers are good enough, you don't need much at all in the way of extra-currics...other than a cursory stint in the ER to show that you can handle the sight of blood. Also, you should have a cursory stint doing comm. service: helping out at an old-age home, tutoring inner-city kids, or some such. Neither one needs to be more than 5 hours/week for 20 weeks.

Basically, if you have a 3.8 and a 35 MCAT, the medschools will want to believe that your application is complete, so they'll look at those "bare minimums" and be like, "yeah, that's cool..."

If you're a more average applicant, with say a 3.4 and a 28, then you might want to take the year off and get some serious clinical exposure, to distinguish yourself from the rest of the mediocre pack.

Good luck...it's all good.

I disagree. I think you need ECs more than ever if you have high high stats. They know you are very smart but they want to be sure you are human also. They want to be sure you are a caring person that can realte to your patients.

A dean of admissions told me once... "We turn down quite a few applicants that have very high stats simply because they don't have any person to person skills or experiences. They have not shown to us that they care about people and they can be compassionate. When I see these applications and there is a big gapping hole on the EC's section, I question their motives for becoming a doctor. We know they are very smart, but how are they as a human?"

 

[CalBeE]

Originally posted by ewing
I totally disagree. I think that if your numbers are good enough, you don't need much at all in the way of extra-currics...

I can only agree with you if the person has decent amount of Clinical exposure. I'm not talking about 10 years or so, but definitely more than 6 months. As many will agree, you don't need to volunteer in ER for 5 years or work on the pediatric floor 10 times a week.

If I were on adcom, I want to roughly see the THOUGHT PROCESS that the person took to make the decision to apply. Looking at the list of clinical experience is just one way to see that; reading the personal statement and LORs add more depth to that.

Sometimes looking at someone's clinical experience can give you a clue of the person's motivation, so in general I recommend a solid amount of exposure.

If an applicant's clinical exposure is not alot, but the LORs are obviously superb, the personal statement's great, and the applicant shows maturity and motivation in pursuing medicine during the interview...sure, I think schools should accept that applicant.

I personally have relatively little clinical experience. I only have two real experience in a hospital setting--Volunteer as an interpreter in the hospital for a few years and rotate through different hospital dept for a year. NO ER, EMT, Pediatric volunteering whatsoever. Yet this issue was only brought up ONCE in all the interviews I attended, and even in that case, the student interviewer said it wasn't a big deal and I did get accepted by that school.