Do 1,250 volunteer hours look good on a transcript when applying to medical school?

Question

Please answer the following, if they apply to you.

1) How many hours did you volunteer?

2) Where did you volunteer?

3) What other credentials did you have that made you stand out?

Answer 1

You're making a bad mistake in your attitude towards volunteering and it might result in you not getting accepted into a medical school.  Volunteering is not a requirement to get into medical school.  I know several people who never did a l**k of volunteer work.  Admission committees like to see volunteer experience for two reasons:  it exposes an individual to the reality of the health care community versus the Hollywood version and it demonstrates a sincere compassion for mankind.  That sincerity sort of gets tossed out the window when you recount the number of hours and it makes you look disingenuous.  It's like saying that you've said 117 Hail Marys and alleging you're religious.  It's far better to state that you worked after school and on weekends at XYZ place.  If this experience had a significant impact on you, by all means relate that in your personal statement.  But if it didn't, don't do anything beyond simply documenting it.  If the person doing your interview is interested, this will give him/her an opportunity to question you about it.  If that sort of detail doesn't really interest them, you aren't hitting them between the eyes with something you think is important but they don't.

People often think that admission committees are looking for the next Dr. Livingston and that they have to do something that makes them 'stand out'.  The reality is that primary care oriented medical schools are looking for normal people that have demonstrated the scholastic capability to manage the academics and the passion/compassion to become a good doctor.  You don't have to travel to a foreign country, deliver 6 babies while fighting off scavenger dogs or build suspension bridges in your spare time.  They'd rather hear that you did Meals on Wheels during your lunch time or that you drove the nursing home van on shopping trips to the grocery store.  It doesn't have to be s**y...just genuine.