I’m currently a junior in college. I will be taking the MCAT this spring and applying to medical school this summer. I start volunteering at a hospital tomorrow. This will be the first time I’ve gotten medical volunteer hours. I have been on four different short-term mission trips, but none of them were medical oriented. Two of the trips were to an orphanage in Mexico and the other two were working with children in El Salvador. I also went on a Habitat for Humanity mission trip over spring break through my university. My question is, did I wait too long to begin getting medical volunteer hours? And how many volunteer hours does the average applicant have?
Some students don’t have any volunteer hours, and they make up for it in other ways (research, leadership experience, etc). As long as you have a good idea of what it means to be a doctor, volunteer hours don’t actually prepare you for anything in Med School or Residency, anyway.
Med Schools don’t track volunteer hours of applicants, or publish that information.
#1 by Emily on January 19, 2012 - 6:10 am
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Some students don’t have any volunteer hours, and they make up for it in other ways (research, leadership experience, etc). As long as you have a good idea of what it means to be a doctor, volunteer hours don’t actually prepare you for anything in Med School or Residency, anyway.
Med Schools don’t track volunteer hours of applicants, or publish that information.
References :
Married to an MD (who didn’t have any clinical volunteer hours before getting accepted to Med School)