Should I be concerned?

I am 39 years old pursuing my dream of becoming a practicing physician. I am completing my prereq now and doing great 3.8 GPA right now in my science class. My undergrad is 3.45 GPA BS in Bus Admin. Im beginning to study for the MCAT. I praying for a great score.


Here is my concern: I volunteer once a week at a clinic for the homeless. However, by the time I apply for med school I will only have about 73 hrs of time in. I have volunteered thru the years in many capacities: mentoring, tutoring, etc. However, I’ve been reading that I should have at least 120 to 150hrs. Is this going to be a problem for me?


I have an offer to shadow a doctor for about a week. I have a lot of experience visiting the doctor with my dad and my husband of for their cancer treatments…would that count as experiencing the atmosphere of what a doctor does?


Please advise.

When it comes to volunteering, I believe the rule of thumb is that quality trumps quantity. Typically what the adcoms look for is volunteering experience that shows a candidates desire to help people’s travails and their philanthropy/benevolence.


Personally I don’t think volunteering is a make or break for an applicant but then I may be wrong!

I typically suggest to pre-meds that they think in terms of about four hr/wk in a medical environment, on an ongoing, consistent basis. Ditto with volunteering into an underserved population. BTW, shadowing physicians is generally viewed as an adjunct to volunteering in a clinical environment, not a substitute for.


Cheers,


Judy

And, although experience regarding your family members will give you some “insight” I would not use this as “part of” your shadowing experience.

Ok this thread seems to be on this subject of volunteering, I recently started volunteering as a tutor at a school where kids that live in homeless shelters in the OKC area go, I absolutely love it although it’s a little sad. The kids love me and I feel like I’m making their day just a little happier…I do this on my lunch hour once or twice a week. The kids all want to write me LORS! I realize they can’t but the staff there is serious about helping me get into med school. Is this type of volunteering helpful? It has nothing to do with medicine, it’s just really a good thing.

Sounds great in the “service to the underserved” vein.


Cheers,


Judy

Thanks Judy! I just have another question on how I should be documenting my volunteering time. Should I keep a journal with times? I mean obviously I wouldn’t turn in the journal but it would give me an estimate of the amount of volunteer hours I have done in the past several years before applying to medical school. The place I am volunteering has no formal system for keeping track, the woman running the program said if I need her to sign off for the hours for anything to just let her know and she’d sign whatever I made up. And does it need to be 4 total hours combined of “underserved” and “medical” or 4 medical plus the other?


Thanks. This is very helpful and makes me feel as though I’m really on my way.

Shoot I wouldn’t even know how to document the volunteering I do at the pregnancy websites. It’s not clinical but it is directly related to breastfeeding as I am the primary go to for questions. I doubt any of it counts in reality, but it’s not like I haven’t been volunteering in a “helping people” capacity.

Susan- I am sure that the website takes up a good chunk of your time and is very helpful so why shouldn’t it count as volunteering? I’m just unsure as to how medical schools want this time documented if it all. If it’s completely undocumented then really anyone can say anything and I’m not so naive as to think that everyone trying to gain acceptance into med school is completely honest.

Well, it’s been a five year endeavor spattered with giving birth and breaks here and there, so there is no way to actually say I’ve done “x” amount of hours there, however, I do have a good rapport with the site administrators and use them often on job apps.

You can mention it on your AAMC/ACOMAS application under “activities”.

  • RAdamson Said:
Thanks Judy! I just have another question on how I should be documenting my volunteering time. Should I keep a journal with times? I mean obviously I wouldn't turn in the journal but it would give me an estimate of the amount of volunteer hours I have done in the past several years before applying to medical school. The place I am volunteering has no formal system for keeping track, the woman running the program said if I need her to sign off for the hours for anything to just let her know and she'd sign whatever I made up. And does it need to be 4 total hours combined of "underserved" and "medical" or 4 medical plus the other?

Thanks. This is very helpful and makes me feel as though I'm really on my way.



The AMCAS and AACOMAS applications ask for the date span of your experience (e.g. 06/2003-09/2007) and a general estimate of the number of hours per week you spent doing your activity during that time frame. Unless an AdComm has reason to believe that one is padding the experience, documentation isn't required.

Although others may disagree with me, I suggest approximately four hr/wk in a clinical environment as well as four hr/wk in working directly with an underserved community/group (not an arm's distance relationship).

Cheers,

Judy

This is all from memory, but I hope it helps your preparation:


For the AMCAS app, you’ll be prompted to name your activity, categorize it, and put in the dates and average hours/week. After that, you’re left to your own to describe it in whatever way you see fit.


IMHO, anything that seems relevant to showing you and your motivation could be considered for this section. This type of volunteering is definitely relevant to describe - and I think it’s a darn fine thing to be doing, too .


One piece of advice I remember reading at OPM was that AdComs want to see experience where “you can smell the patients.” That was directed towards clinical exposure, but I think it applies here as well. Hands-on ways of making onseself useful to others are good!