Non-Clinical Hours for MD-PhD

[medicinemajor]

I'm currently an undergrad student and I'm considering going on the MD-PhD route. I'm curious as to how much MD-PhD programs care about non-clinical volunteering/activities such as volunteering at a soup kitchen or running a biking club?

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[SippyLord]

When I applied, the vast majority of my volunteering was non-clinical. I had many hours over a few years as an event organizer and snowboard instructor for a program that brought disabled and/or underprivileged kids to the mountain to learn to ski/snowboard. Several interviewers asked me about it, and since I was actually passionate about the program and enjoyed working there, I could speak about it enthusiastically and at length. I can't say that teaching kids to snowboard got me accepted, but I think it helped.

Now I occasionally interview applicants at my program and it is obvious when they volunteered to do something they enjoyed vs something they did just to check off a box on their application. Obviously, you need some clinical exposure to convey your interest in medicine to the application committee. But if you are involved as a volunteer with something that you are passionate about I think it will be a valuable addition to your application.

 

[medicinemajor]

When I applied, the vast majority of my volunteering was non-clinical. I had many hours over a few years as an event organizer and snowboard instructor for a program that brought disabled and/or underprivileged kids to the mountain to learn to ski/snowboard. Several interviewers asked me about it, and since I was actually passionate about the program and enjoyed working there, I could speak about it enthusiastically and at length. I can't say that teaching kids to snowboard got me accepted, but I think it helped.

Now I occasionally interview applicants at my program and it is obvious when they volunteered to do something they enjoyed vs something they did just to check off a box on their application. Obviously, you need some clinical exposure to convey your interest in medicine to the application committee. But if you are involved as a volunteer with something that you are passionate about I think it will be a valuable addition to your application.

I see, so having non-clinical volunteering is not a requirement per se, but it gives you something to talk about during the interviews.

 

[deleted728364]

I wouldn't even think about it from the "interview fodder" perspective. i would just do things you're interested in. it's not an "important" part of the application so just try to do something over a longer period of time/show commitment. that said, since your time will be eaten up by research i would try to have something that speaks to your empathy/wanting to help the underserved. also i didnt have many clinical hrs and while this forum says theyre not super important i would try to have at least 100 hrs just in case, i would currently prefer more lol