I had 70 hours of shadowing, no clinical volunteering, and one summer of research that involved minimal patient contact (testing subjects in the ED - maybe 10 hrs patient contact total). Shadowing is fine for clinical exposure. Applied to 12 schools, 4 interviews, 2 acceptances. Medicine is delivered face-to-face in almost all cases and you are going to be interacting in person with patients in medical school and residency. What does r/premed think? According to SDN members because I have no clinical volunteering since high school it's really bad. Just have strong volunteering in other fields. So, you have been working hard in college on your classes and taking lots of practice tests for the MCAT. Woohoo. Whereas they no longer list the minimum GPA or MCAT score they’ll accept—we provide a list of the average GPA and MCAT score of matriculants at every US medical school—Utah does provide the minimum number of volunteer, shadowing, and patient exposure hours you need to obtain, as well as what they look for in leadership and research activities. Applying for Medical School. Posts like these make me want to quit. What killed me last cycle was a late application completion from a late MCAT retake (9/11/13). Medical schools will arrive at the same conclusion about you as well. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ProspectiveDoctor. The only reason why SDN and every other premed does clinical volunteering is because it kills two birds with one stone - it gives you "clinical experience" and volunteering hours. However, I'd say that if you get over 100 hours in something that is an ok amount. Press J to jump to the feed. I'm going to copy and paste my response from a similar thread. If a majority of your volunteer activities are one day 4 hr events that might not be as powerful as a 3 yr once a week commitment to big brother or Canadian blood services. Take SDN advice with a huge grain of salt. I guess volunteering shows altruism, but whatever.. However, while many are very good at accumulating experiences, they are sometimes not so good at putting these experiences in context or effectively communicating them to interviewers and application reviewers. Reddit's home for wholesome discussion related to pre-medical studies. Teen volunteers can host free one-on-one virtual tutoring sessions to help kids with homework or improve their reading, writing, and math skills. Hospital/Clinic Volunteer The first choice for clinical experience for many pre-med students is in a hospital or clinic setting. Medical volunteers can make many positive contributions, but their presence can also have negative effects. These include running a personal protective equipment collection center, assembling COVID-19 test kits and making phone calls to geriatric patients to provide social support. I did a lot non clinical comm service and had a couple comm service/philanthropy leadership positions in my sorority, I had a lot of clinical work experience too with patients, basically minimal research doing a retrospective chart review for a clinical research project, TLDR: you're fine just balance all of your other activities out with the absence of clinical volunteering, Thank god I did not want to volunteer that sounds so stupid bring milk to rooms and stacking shelfs. But with shadowing experience, I don't think that will be the make-or-break for your application. Volunteering over a long period of time shows commitment to a cause rather than a need to check a box for medical school admission. Medical schools that are deep into research will give greater heft to a two-year long stint on a research project. Been wondering the same thing! Volunteering is one of the best ways to demonstrate that commitment to service. Here are five options to pursue. 500 would be … Meanwhile, students at the University of Michigan Medical School have put together numerous volunteer opportunities in both community outreach and clinical care support. You are fine. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. With that being said, they do recommend applicants read the Medical School Council's work experience guidance in the time of COVID-19. With online sessions through TeensGive.org, high school volunteers can connect with children attending Title 1 schools across the country. Most medical school applicants have enough volunteer, work, shadowing, and research experiences to fill every space in their AMCAS application and prompt in their secondary applications. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. But you do not specifically need clinical volunteering. This gets asked every so often. Medical School: Diversity Beyond Race Think about a unique aspect of your identity or experiences as a way to highlight diversity in med school applications. The original subreddit for discussing all things related to medical school. I think most hospitals (at least in areas with large COVID outbreaks) won’t have shadowing, but not sure about other kinds of experience/volunteering ( I line in Southern California for reference). What is your take? By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Of course, you might be unsure how to gain experience in the medical field as a high school student. They will question your motivation of becoming a doctor, which can have a negative effect on your medical school admissions. I'm sure. If you value your sanity and self-esteem, assume that SDN posters are lying at least half the time. Personally I think shadowing and working in a clinical setting is much more impressive than being a hospital volunteer but that's my own two cents. The reason why clinical volunteering is good because it knocks out two birds with one stone, you get both clinical exposure and volunteer credit. This, of course, depends on what kind of scores you have. Volunteer Activities for Premeds During COVID-19 Here are some ways premeds can volunteer during the COVID-19 pandemic, which can then be included in medical school applications. Volunteer at a hospital or health clinic. Ali Lotfi, M.D. Dec. 15, 2020 To me, shadowing is exactly what I think of when I hear "clinical experience". But it’s not so much how many volunteer hours for medical school you need as it is the quality of those experiences. It is essential to have clinical experience, you need to show adcom's: "hey I know what it is somewhat like to work in a hospital/be a doctor. (Remote volunteering options exist for those at high risk.) I am not wanting to go to medical school because House is my favorite TV show". Cookies help us deliver our Services. if you're a reapplicant and you had "less"/weak clinical hours that did not change from the first cycle, how fucked am I? The opportunity to observe numerous medical conditions, professionals in action and the daily operation of a medical facility draws many applicants to seek out this experience. Virtual volunteering can solve distance dilemmas. I was in the same boat as you this time last year. I want to apply to medical school in my mid to late 20s. If you have that and good non-clinical hours you're most likely solid on that front. High GPA (> 3.9 cGPA & sGPA), good MCAT (35), fairly decent ECs with a lot of volunteering hours, but no clinical experience aside from ~50 hours shadowing. Look into the volunteer National Medical Reserves Corps branch near you; Donate blood and volunteer to help the Red Cross address blood delivery and donation support needs in your community. Well, for one thing, you need to volunteer! Warwick All applicants must have completed two weeks (70 hours) full-time work experience across a minimum of two placements in the last four years. Volunteer programs overseas within the health & medicine sector generally focus on underserved and/or rural populations, who don’t have easy access to healthcare. As you probably know by now, if you’re intending on applying to medical school, some form of volunteering or community service would be necessary (because it’s so competitive and everyone else would probably have done it). Some of the people there are complete assholes and should be disregarded. But you do not specifically need clinical volunteering. Your app sounds fantastic... Hopefully your list was top heavy? The most competitive medical school applicants have strong academics, a true passion for medicine, and a desire to serve others. Applied to 12 schools, 4 interviews, 2 acceptances. Clinical volunteering—150 hours-plus. I think many people misunderstand the difference clinical experience and clinical volunteering. Proof: I did not do clinical volunteering in college because when I did it all through high school I got kind of bored. There are many other ways to get clinical experience and volunteering experience. For wholesome discussion related to pre-medical studies and opinions expressed in this article are those of the people are., non-clinical volunteer hours should add up to 100-200 when all is said and done because is! 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