A
Assemblerct
Guest
Hi Everyone,
I have a few questions about the level of extracurriculars a person needs to get into medical
school; it's kind of getting me worried or curious, I suppose. How much volunteering experience is
necessary? I've heard that the estimates are somewhere between 100 and 200 hours. Is it even
possible to get in without having any clinical experience? I was recently looking at a website of
accepted applications across the nation, and most of their profiles listed 3.6 GPA, 30+ MCAT, and a
whole bunch of stuff across the board about 500+ hrs of volunteering experience, or being an EMT,
responder for AIDS/Drugs hotlines, etc. I mean, there is just so much fierce competition out there.
I transferred from a local college last summer into a university this year. I had a GPA of about 4.0
at my previous institution, but now that I've transferred, my grades aren't so stellar anymore. I'm
currently doing at about a 3.35 GPA for university credits only, or about 3.6 cumulative of 3.5
years work. Now that I'm here, it's gotten pretty stressful. I'm majoring in "Microbiology,
Immunology, and Molecular Genetics," which at my school is considered to be the hardest major across
the campus with the lowest GPA of an average 2.6 for lower-division and 2.8 for upper-division.
Anyway, so now that school is basically hogging up all my time, I have no idea what to do about my
extracurriculars, and in particular about hospital volunteering experience. I just can't seem to
find the time. Do they take into account the stress of the major, the average departmental GPA, or
even the university attended (all I've heard is "no" so far)?
I'm not sure if I'm overstressing it, because I do have a load of extracurriculars up till the time
I transferred here; just not anymore. I do have about 103 hrs clinical experience at a hospital that
I did during my last year of HS, but I'm not sure if that counts since AMCAS says to list "post-
secondary experiences." Somehow, I think it should still be valid.
The other stuff I have down is well, an organic chemistry fellowship for the summer (w/ poster-
presentation, but no authored publications) and a chemistry dept. scholarship. I also was the former
president of an american chemical society student affiliates chapter for 2 years (the only one at a
community college in So Cal), and I worked with the accreditation committee at my school for approx
5-6 months in order to expedite the process of having our accreditation reconfirmed by the Western
Association of Schools and Colleges (happens every 6 years). Some other junk I have are CPR Red-
Cross certified, Dean's List awards, and a whole bunch of network security/computer
administration/information technology nationally-recognized certifications.
Do I seriously have to pack on more of those volunteering hours? I mean, I would love to, but I
think most of you understand that we all have other obligations as well to attend to. Thanks a lot
for any info you might be able to give me!
I have a few questions about the level of extracurriculars a person needs to get into medical
school; it's kind of getting me worried or curious, I suppose. How much volunteering experience is
necessary? I've heard that the estimates are somewhere between 100 and 200 hours. Is it even
possible to get in without having any clinical experience? I was recently looking at a website of
accepted applications across the nation, and most of their profiles listed 3.6 GPA, 30+ MCAT, and a
whole bunch of stuff across the board about 500+ hrs of volunteering experience, or being an EMT,
responder for AIDS/Drugs hotlines, etc. I mean, there is just so much fierce competition out there.
I transferred from a local college last summer into a university this year. I had a GPA of about 4.0
at my previous institution, but now that I've transferred, my grades aren't so stellar anymore. I'm
currently doing at about a 3.35 GPA for university credits only, or about 3.6 cumulative of 3.5
years work. Now that I'm here, it's gotten pretty stressful. I'm majoring in "Microbiology,
Immunology, and Molecular Genetics," which at my school is considered to be the hardest major across
the campus with the lowest GPA of an average 2.6 for lower-division and 2.8 for upper-division.
Anyway, so now that school is basically hogging up all my time, I have no idea what to do about my
extracurriculars, and in particular about hospital volunteering experience. I just can't seem to
find the time. Do they take into account the stress of the major, the average departmental GPA, or
even the university attended (all I've heard is "no" so far)?
I'm not sure if I'm overstressing it, because I do have a load of extracurriculars up till the time
I transferred here; just not anymore. I do have about 103 hrs clinical experience at a hospital that
I did during my last year of HS, but I'm not sure if that counts since AMCAS says to list "post-
secondary experiences." Somehow, I think it should still be valid.
The other stuff I have down is well, an organic chemistry fellowship for the summer (w/ poster-
presentation, but no authored publications) and a chemistry dept. scholarship. I also was the former
president of an american chemical society student affiliates chapter for 2 years (the only one at a
community college in So Cal), and I worked with the accreditation committee at my school for approx
5-6 months in order to expedite the process of having our accreditation reconfirmed by the Western
Association of Schools and Colleges (happens every 6 years). Some other junk I have are CPR Red-
Cross certified, Dean's List awards, and a whole bunch of network security/computer
administration/information technology nationally-recognized certifications.
Do I seriously have to pack on more of those volunteering hours? I mean, I would love to, but I
think most of you understand that we all have other obligations as well to attend to. Thanks a lot
for any info you might be able to give me!