<p>1) Do med school applications count activities done during the summer before freshman year?</p>
<p>2) I have two options of volunteering:</p>
<li><p>apply to a hospital, fill out complicated paper work, take a TB test, volunteer for a minimum of a few months, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>go to a clinic (have a friend that’s a doctor there) and help nurses check in patients (no official paper work, etc.)</p></li>
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<p>Do both count equally as “volunteering in a hospital”? Obviously the first one seems more official but the second one is a lot easier to schedule and there are no pressures as to when I could help. </p>
<p>3) Does a job count as an extracurricular to med schools? What is better, working at a job this whole summer or volunteering this whole summer?</p>
<p>Yes, you can put it down on your AMCAS. It’s the least important summer, though - no adcom will fault you if you decide to take time off and enjoy yourself before college.</p>
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<p>Uh, no - only one of them is happening in a hospital. In terms of volunteer experience, they seem equivalent to me.</p>
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<p>Yes, a job counts as an extracurricular. It’s not whether or not it’s a job or volunteer work that counts - it’s what you’re doing in the position that matters.</p>
<p>^ thanks! Do adcoms see a difference in volunteering in the hospital and volunteering at a clinic (at the clinic i’d be taking patient’s vitals and just typing them into the computer)</p>
<p>so would you say that it’s more important to volunteer in clinic/hospital than getting some job at, say, pizza hut :)</p>
<p>No difference between hospital and clinic. They’re both clinical environments where you’ll be doing basic work.</p>
<p>Sure, it’s more important to volunteer than “work at pizza hut”. But volunteering doesn’t need to be full time, nor does having a job. You could easily fit in work and volunteering. By all means, if you need a job for financial reasons, do it. You have plenty of time to get significant ECs once you get to school, and it won’t hurt you to spend your summer before college working rather than doing med school related ECs.</p>
<p>Consider doing some work as an Emergency Medical Technician and volunteering for the local rescue squad…I’m getting my EMT-B license and learning a lot. It’s also a lot more exciting than being a scribe or nurse assistant in the emergency room. There’s tons of responsibility that goes with lots of hand on learning.</p>