Hospital Volunteering

Pre-Med & Medical School Multiple Degree Programs
1

<p>Hi everyone,
I have a few questions about volunteering at hospitals. I am a sophomore in high school right now and I'm aspiring to go into the medical field one day, maybe even get into one of those selective direct medical school programs offered at various colleges. With that in mind,
1) How important is volunteering at hospitals? Aside from that, I am also participating in a research program at the University of Rochester. Would that also be considered by colleges?
2) What is the significance of the number of hours volunteering at a hospital? Does 500 hours mean anything more to colleges than 200 hours? I'm in a summer program at this exact hospital so I get about 60 hours every summer regardless. I just want to know whether or not I should continue volunteering during the school year or not. </p>

<p>If you can, please check out my other thread and maybe add some suggestions please? :)
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1406771-direct-medical-school-programs.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1406771-direct-medical-school-programs.html&lt;/a> </p>

<p>THANK YOU!!! :)</p>

2

<p>Very important. Accelerated md programs mean you WILL get an M.D at the end of the program, so the college wants to know that you have at least decent experience in a hospital setting and maybe even some research if possible so they know you’re not just applying and attending on a whim. </p>

<p>For hours, it really depends on how meaningful the experience and what you get out of it and can talk about.</p>

3

<p>Cortana, thank you! In my case, the hospital I volunteer let’s you do more complex jobs as you volunteer more.</p>

4

<p>Research is viewed very highly when applying to medical school. As for the hospital volunteering, I think it helps but not as much UNLESS you are in a clinical setting. I think the clinical volunteering is the most important, so people know you can handle the job and things like that. I do think the amount would still matter even though both were high too. 500 shows that you are much more committed to me than 200.</p>

5

<p>1) Colleges will focus the most on grades and classes for admissions, but for highly competitive programs admission will probably also depend on what you learned from volunteering, as cortana said (in teamwork, managing a schedule, working in a crisis, etc.)</p>

<p>2) Given the above, the difference in the number of hours probably won’t matter as much as the intensity during those hours and the knowledge learned from that work. If you believe that you won’t gain anything from working and you would rather not volunteer, don’t. (Note that knowledge doesn’t really mean medical knowledge learned - you’re going to college for that). </p>

<p>I looked at your other thread - for a high school sophmore (and for high schoolers in general), you’re taking a very challenging, very intense courseload. You should probably relax a bit on the schoolwork*, or at least not get too obsessed with it, as you’re already way ahead of most of your peers. Focus on things not taught in school but are absolutely essential in college, through your extracurriculars (how to work with opponents even in a competition, how to identify and ignore useless comments, how to work under opposition etc.). If you already can do that, you’re ready to graduate.</p>

<p>*consider taking a foreign language
p.s. - I am a junior in high school who had to make a similar decision (Then again, this is the internet, so take that with a grain of salt).</p>

6

<p>I would recommend the most intense courseload you can handle. Medical school will be very rigorous, and I know one of my interviewers was impressed that I was taking 6 AP classes senior year and still pulling all As.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t focus on hours. No one really asks about hours, although sometimes they ask about moths or years spent somewhere (commitment to the same place for a few years looks good). The more important thing is to get meaningful experiences you can write and talk about.</p>

<p>After a certain point, SAT and GPA won’t really do much (there are more applicants with high stats than spots available). Every program expects medical ECs, and the top ones essentially expect unique ECs like research, arts, etc. to be included too.</p>

7

<p>why do people like to bring up threads that are more than 2 weeks old?</p>

8

<p>The original poster is only a sophomore, so they might eventually encounter the replies made 2 months later even if they don’t immediately see them. And even if the OP doesn’t read the new commends, there are plenty of others browsing the forum with similar questions or in the same situation who can benefit from them.</p>

9

<p>Wow, thank you for all the answers everyone! If you guys don’t mind, would you take a look at my college resume? My ultimate goal is to get into a BS/MD program (I’ve seen some of your posts in related threads for BS/MD programs. Stalking threads ftw!) and I am absolutely set about entering into the medical field one day. I absolutely love biology and being exposed to medicine constantly, I KNOW I want to be a physician one day. So, please check this out, and let me know what I can work on!</p>

<p>State of Residence: New York
Race/Ethnicity: Asian
GPA: 4.0 unweighted
Rank: No ranking process at my school</p>

<p>Past Classes (relevant classes):
Regents Biology
Regents Chemistry
Regents Geometry
(all classes passed with flying colors)</p>

<p>Current Classes:
AP Physics B
AP Biology
AP World History
Algebra II ES (advanced/honors)
Spanish 3ES (honors)
All my grades, for all current and past classes, have been passed/are passing with high A’s (95 or above) with the exception of Physics which is currently an A- (90-93)</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:
4 years on cross country team
3 years on track team
News Editor for school newspaper
Avid participant of MUN, Science Olympiad and Math Team (aiming to participate in state competition for Science Olympiad this year)
Devoted violin player for 10 years, privately studies at the Eastman Community School of Music (University of Rochester) and current member of local youth orchestra</p>

<p>Medical-Related Activities:
Currently participating in medical research program that offers frequent shadowing opportunities at the University of Rochester
60+ hours of volunteer time at local hospital (amount of hours will increase)
4 hours of shadowing with oncologist/GI specialist at University of Rochester</p>

<p>Awards:
Editor on “Best Overall Newspaper” of New York State as awarded by ESSPA in 2012
Honorable mention in Write-off contest at ESSPA
Received multiple medals at invitational/regional competition for Science Olympiad
Received the American Chemistry Society award for outstanding performance in chemistry
Represented Eastman School of Music to multiple internationally-acclaimed music festivals (International Academy of Music-Italy, Euro Music Festival-Germany, and Summit Music Festival-NYC)- Performed solo and along with multiple different ensembles/chamber groups at each festival
Received the Molly Mulligan Scholarship, Merit Scholarship, and Alexander Leventon Scholarship to the Eastman Community School of Music as a result of superb violin performance</p>

<p>To jlin: First of all, nice username. Jeremy Lin is a huge role model of mine :D. Also, I do take a foreign language (Spanish-3 years) and you are right. As a sophomore, I am WAY too stressed but it’s through hard work and dedication that students are able to get into prestigious (and highly selective) BS/MD programs.</p>

10

<p>Chancing is hard to do, but your application looks pretty solid in terms of GPA and ECs. SAT/ACT will be very important, but you have plenty of time to study for that since you’re only a sophomore. You also don’t need to stress that much, a decent SAT and essays/interview could probably get you into several programs based on your current resume alone.</p>

11

<p>Yeah, I understand that my SAT score will be crucial but I have started preparing for it. Thanks neoevolution! I hope you won’t mind if I message you with questions in the future…</p>

12

<p>This year, though, I don’t think its all about GPA & SAT, heck, I don’t even know what they were looking for this year. Some people were notified for interviews to top tiers and rejected to mid/low tier and vice versa. Basically, try curing cancer by your senior year and you’ll be good :slight_smile: Good luck!</p>