Posted by underground629 on April 10, 2013, 12:59 am
I'm wondering how important volunteering is. Do interviewed/accepted students typically have many hrs of volunteer experience? I'm certified as an EMT but I'll likely never work/volunteer as one. Should I be especially concerned about volunteer hrs? I have 100 hrs total in a short period of time, but I won't be applying for another yr and a half. Is it still important that I volunteer more (esp. to make up for no HC exp)? Also, does the specific type of volunteer work matter as long as I'm in a hospital?
I realize there's a spectrum depending on which admissions person you talk to, but any feedback regarding volunteer work would be appreciated, even if it is an educated guess. Admissions ppl usually give me the same generic answers about liking well-rounded applicants or else they say it wouldn't hurt to do more. I guess I'm just trying to gauge the relative importance of volunteer work (although I understand it comes after obvious factors like GPA, academic rigor, GRE, rec letters, personal statement). Thanks.
I know this won't sound very helpful, but I honestly think it totally depends on your overall package as an applicant. I didn't have any hospital volunteer experience and got into both Nova programs (I didn't apply anywhere else so I can't really say for other programs). I would say if you feel that other parts of your application are weak, then putting in a lot of volunteer hours, particularly in a hospital would show that you are really interested in the field.
I'm going to second what churchie said. In my specific scenario I had no healthcare experience whatsoever, about 14 hours of shadowing, and I got into the places that I applied to. My overall application had strengths that filled in the gaps of negligible shadowing and healthcare experience. That being said, I also feel that healthcare exp. in general ranks very low on the admission committees' crucial list compared to gpa and mcat/gre scores. Good Luck!
Thanks. I think you're right about HC experience/volunteering, which bodes well for me. I've gotten the idea that the only type of experience they REALLY care much about is your educational experience. I suppose the emphasis on experience route is more for CRNA/PA applicants.
Thanks! I'm honestly looking for any type of feedback, so that helps. I realize I won't be getting any definitive answers, especially since it depends on the applicant, like you said.
I know everyone hates this question... but... can I ask what your stats were? I realize they don't mean much without knowing more specifics of your background, but I'm curious since only Emory lists avg (outdated) scores (as far as I know). I'm especially curious about your HC experience if you have any. Thanks.
I had no documented volunteer hours (the "40 hours at a soup kitchen" type). I did have a few college extracurriculars that were community-service related, but I didn't go into specifics. I also didn't have any healthcare experience, I've never pioneered anything, and I had a great, boring, middle-class childhood so my personal statement was probably pretty humdrum. I had several other varied extracurricular and leadership activities (I was "that" kid in college), I had what is probably a slightly above average GPA, awesome GRE scores, lived in a foreign country for a while, work full-time in an unrelated field where I received 2 promotions within a year and a half of working there, and I generally interview well. So I feel like I'm a combination of the "leadership" and "well-rounded" applicant with a little "academic" thrown in for good measure. I probably won't get into Harvard anytime soon, but I got into both AA schools to which I applied. Moral of the story: I don't think there's one thing that will make or break you. As long as you are relatively strong academically/GPA/GRE-wise, and the rest of your pros outweigh your cons, I think you're in a good position.
Thanks for the info. I suppose I should keep that moral of the story in mind. I'm definitely worrying too much about trying to excel in every area other than HC experience. I enjoy hearing about the variety of backgrounds people get in with.
on April 10, 2013, 12:59 am