How many volunteer positions are enough for MSTP? Is one volunteer position enough?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p>I am interested in MSTP and MD/PhD programs. Is one volunteer position enough? And is it okay to not have any non-clinical volunteer positions?
I am looking at my schedule for fall term, and I just don't get how people have so much time to put into volunteering. I will have to work 10 hours a week as a tutor to pay for some bills, will probably put in 10 hours a week working in a lab (research), while taking 16 credit hours (quarter hours, my university has a quarter system, not a semester), which are all three science classes with labs, so that's 26 hours total "in school time (lab and class)", 4-8 hours per week volunteering at the emergency department at my local med school, and an additional 4-6 hours per week volunteering at one of my local med school's research internships. So that's a total of 26 hours per week in school, and 34 hours per week of "outside of school work". Plus homework time. Plus transportation time. Plus sleep time (I cannot focus at all if I get anything under 9 hours of sleep, I am not even kidding, I don't know what my problem is). </p>

<p>All in all, the only things I will get out of it are:
-research internship at local med school (unpaid)
-lab research at university (unpaid)
-computer tutor job (paid)
-emergency dept volunteer at local med school (clinical volunteering)
-I am also planning to engage in student activities at university, and maybe start my own club
-some shadowing</p>

<p>I don't have any other volunteer hours, and I don't understand how people can find the time to do like 4-5 volunteer positions, and volunteer in them for like 2-3 years. And I cannot quit my computer tutor job, because then I would have no car and no way to pay for transportation (I won't be able to afford bus either, because that's also an extra $100 per month that I won't have if no job). </p>

<p>Do MSTP programs care if you have non-clinical volunteering? Also, is it okay just to have one clinical volunteer position for those programs? (Like, I would only have that one, the emergency department volunteering). I will really not have any time at all for anything else. As you can see, it would be like going to school full time taking a full load of science courses and "working" full time while trying to keep up a 4.0 GPA. I don't understand how people have so much time to do a million activities during their undergrad years. Maybe because they don't work? If I didn't work, I suppose I could fit in another volunteer position in there, but work is a must, otherwise I wouldn't be able to get to school since I would have no transportation. </p>

<p>But it just seems that those EC activities I listed above are definitely not enough, compared to what some other people do. Some other people have like 1-3 years of clinical volunteering in two areas, 1-2 years of non-clinical volunteering, some leadership jobs, some other jobs, and like a bunch of research publications and 3.8+ gpas. I wish I knew how they do it, because I checked my schedule and so far do not see an increase in the number of hours each day has. I am really nervous :/</p>

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<p>Yes, although perhaps not as much as straight MD programs do.</p>

<p>MD/PhD programs are, afterall, training doctors who are supposed to show compassion and agape (from the Greek ag</p>

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<p>Took the words out of my mouth. This is what it comes down to. What is “enough” and what will “make you competitive” are two very different things. It takes very little to do enough but no matter how much you do, there will ALWAYS be someone who has done more. The kids who do all these things so well do them because they’re motivated by more than doing enough to get into an MD/PhD program.</p>

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<p>The reason you feel that you don’t have enough time to do everything is because you’re trying to complete undergrad and apply to medical school by time you’re 19. Everyone else has 2-4 years of volunteering because they attended 4 years of college and many took an additional year after college before starting an MSTP program. </p>

<p>As we have addressed in your other threads, your current plan isn’t going to get you into medical school anyway. Volunteer positions are of least concern when you’re doing poorly in your pre-med courses and setting yourself up to tank the MCAT.</p>