Extra-curricular! (Voluntary, etc)

[wannabemedic321]

I have:

1.5 hours voluntary work with disabled people every week
Going to get some voluntary work @ Hospital

work xp later (1 week)

I am not in any clubs or play any instruments, but I enjoy badminton, cycling
How much work XP should I do at hospital, is like a couple of weeks enough, or should it be regular?

I don't feel like I have or will have done a lot because I am not particularly sporty, etc.

I am currently in Edinburgh, and will probabaly get AAAAA, or, AAAAB in highers.

So, what do you think. Any suggestions?

[DLS]

Its not really the amount of experience, its what YOU learn from the experience.

What did you learn about a medical career?
What skills have you developed?

On the experience side, most people only get a week in a hospital if that, its one of the most valuable experiences in learning about the actual career, and is quite a good way to see if its really for you. Its good that you've got your long term voluntary experience, shows a good commitment. Have you maybe considered somewhere like a hospice? These can often portrait the more emotional/palliative side of medicine, and I think Universities look on places like this quite fondly.

On the extra-curricular front, it is good to have a few which help you to 'relax' but you should maybe have some which you can tie back to medicine (ie. say it has developed a skill such as teamwork). The problem with cycling and walking is its kind of difficult to show this, as they are more solitary 'sports'.

Is their no clubs you want to join at school? Or is their nothing that really interests you?
You want to stand out on paper, and with three rather solitary 'sports' you may not achieve the complete desired effect.

[zhangyuzhi]

there is really no "enough" for work experience, it's the matter how you have prepared yourself as a potential medical student (by exposing yourself to a clinical environment) and as a person (by doing various types of work, experience to the society and other humans etc.).

To my understanding, many schools would prefer you to have some hospital/GP-based experience. On top of it, community service. As mentioned by other users here, what you learned from those is critical. To be frank it is getting more difficult to land a hospital-based exercise, so your 1-week attachment is good enough as long as you learned something out of it.

What also important is how you would present your past experience on the paper, and during the interviews. If you don't describe it well, the admission people won't probably read through every bit you wrote/said and then search for the finest details- they would ignore it, and you are gameover. Some questions you might think about during writing your PS, and probably be asked in interviews:

What are the core activities of your attachment? Any particular case which interested you? What kinds of people have you met? Did any event changed your impression about clinical medicine?

If you can't describe and deliver what you did/learn from your placements to the admission panel, then you are as good as not doing it at all. Apologies if I sounded a bit rough, but given competition for medical schools is extremely fierce these days, you have to stand out of the crowd, or simply be ignored alongside thousands of other applicants.

You might also wish to talk about your experience as an employee, i.e. employment history. Teamwork and leadership, as well as interpersonal skills are also looked at by the schools.

hope this helps.

[wannabemedic321]

there is really no "enough" for work experience, it's the matter how you have prepared yourself as a potential medical student (by exposing yourself to a clinical environment) and as a person (by doing various types of work, experience to the society and other humans etc.).

To my understanding, many schools would prefer you to have some hospital/GP-based experience. On top of it, community service. As mentioned by other users here, what you learned from those is critical. To be frank it is getting more difficult to land a hospital-based exercise, so your 1-week attachment is good enough as long as you learned something out of it.

What also important is how you would present your past experience on the paper, and during the interviews. If you don't describe it well, the admission people won't probably read through every bit you wrote/said and then search for the finest details- they would ignore it, and you are gameover. Some questions you might think about during writing your PS, and probably be asked in interviews:

What are the core activities of your attachment? Any particular case which interested you? What kinds of people have you met? Did any event changed your impression about clinical medicine?

If you can't describe and deliver what you did/learn from your placements to the admission panel, then you are as good as not doing it at all. Apologies if I sounded a bit rough, but given competition for medical schools is extremely fierce these days, you have to stand out of the crowd, or simply be ignored alongside thousands of other applicants.

You might also wish to talk about your experience as an employee, i.e. employment history. Teamwork and leadership, as well as interpersonal skills are also looked at by the schools.

hope this helps.

Although I am not in any sports clubs, I regularly play football with friends, and go to the gym.

And to be honest, I genuinely believe my voluntary work and work experience will help me greatly, I learnt a lot on the first day of volunteering with people with learning disabilities and I am sure I will continue to learn a great deal more.

I am not ABSOLUTELY amazing at any particular thing. I am good with computers, and have taught myself a lot about them by myself without taking IT at school, and am regularly asked by friends/family to sort out their computer problems although I sound a bit nerdy actually.

It is difficult for me to join a club now as I am dependant on my parents to drop me off and pick me up, and, well it's complicated. (part of it is do with family problems). I am not trying to make an excuse, I used to get involved in every opportunity that came my way in primary school (hockey, netball, judo, badminton, boy's brigade) but it's just really difficult now.

I am genuinely interested in human biology & chemistry, and enjoy working with people.


As for relaxing, and winding down, I don't do anything extraordinary, I read a book/watch tv/go out with friends, family/go to the cinema, etc.

I also do a part-time job at the weekends. This have helped me to become more organised, and manage my time better.

[MonkeywithaMachete]

As mentioned, quality over quantity. All the work experience I had was done within one summer holiday - shadowing a professor in a hospital and going over to Sichuan, China to help out with the earthquake back in 2008. The former is just your standard, typical work experience, and when asked about my experience I focused on the latter. I think your work experience should be enough, as DLS says, your long term experience shows commitment and dedication, which is crucial. If possible, I would now focus on something that's not related to medicine as much, to show that you have a broader horizon.

As for your activities, I personally was a sprinter and swimmer for my school, both of which are, as described above, solitary sports. In fact, all there was to them was training in solitude. But I don't think it affected me at all. All they're looking for is interest and a life outside medicine. Although, having said that, they could potentially put you in a tight spot in an interview if they ask you to relate your sporting experience with, well, any other experience.

You don't have to be absolutely brilliant at anything, in my opinion. Key thing is you enjoy them, and that you reflect and learn from them.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

[zhangyuzhi]

Although I am not in any sports clubs, I regularly play football with friends, and go to the gym.

And to be honest, I genuinely believe my voluntary work and work experience will help me greatly, I learnt a lot on the first day of volunteering with people with learning disabilities and I am sure I will continue to learn a great deal more.

I am not ABSOLUTELY amazing at any particular thing. I am good with computers, and have taught myself a lot about them by myself without taking IT at school, and am regularly asked by friends/family to sort out their computer problems although I sound a bit nerdy actually.

It is difficult for me to join a club now as I am dependant on my parents to drop me off and pick me up, and, well it's complicated. (part of it is do with family problems). I am not trying to make an excuse, I used to get involved in every opportunity that came my way in primary school (hockey, netball, judo, badminton, boy's brigade) but it's just really difficult now.

I am genuinely interested in human biology & chemistry, and enjoy working with people.

Hopefully I get the Nuffield Bursary and that will help me to stand out along with my voluntary work and work XP, and I will be doing Medicinsight (free programme) for a week

As for relaxing, and winding down, I don't do anything extraordinary, I read a book/watch tv/go out with friends, family/go to the cinema, etc.

I also do a part-time job at the weekends. This have helped me to become more organised, and manage my time better.

it's good to have something which distracts you from work. They do look for this. I go to gym too lol.

during the interviews they might want to you describe certain qualities you possess and how you acquired them. Your experience is pretty diverse, which is very good. I am sure they will help a lot in your application.

and the Nuffield Bursary is brilliant. I applied to it once (years ago) and got rejected. It is always good to do some research, even if you want to become a patient-centred clinician in the future.

[minnako]

Although it's what you see (and learn) that counts, I find that regular volunteering over a prolonged time period has the added advantage of showing dedication and is more likely to demonstrate to unis that you know at least a bit of what working in a hospital is like.

At every interview I had the fact that I had done volunteering for a long time was remarked on specifically and favourably. I'm sure you can get in with less, but it doesn't hurt to get as much experience as possible, particularly if you lack extracurriculars in other respects or can't find work experience. Just as long as you have lots to say about what you've learned, that's what matters.

Hobbies don't need to be clubs: it's about finding something which gives you a break. Personal statement wise, it's about explaining in your PS what skills you've learned (eg teamwork, commitment, resolving conflict, organisation, manual dexterity, etc) through these activities.

I hope you'll get the Nuffield Bursary; the people I know (meds and non-meds) who did it loved it, it's a little chance to get to know what research is like without doing a BSc year or more...

Also, don't be afraid of mentioning your computer literacy. This is a BIG thing these days: I think that to be computer iliterate in this age is almost as difficult as to be literally iliterate. Using new technology is something doctors have to deal with, too, and if it's your hobby, bringing up how you like the challenge of working with technology is not a bad thing. Nothing wrong with that

Part time jobs are also great: they show you are organised, can apply yourself and have a level of independence. It's all valuable experience, you've as much right to apply and hope to get in as anyone else. Honestly, none of us at medical school are truly exceptional. Sure, many of us were a bit mollycoddled by being top in the class at secondary school, but when you reach uni, where EVERYONE is quite smart and willing to work, you realise that there are a lot of talented people out there, and none of them are perfect.

Wish you all the best

[Rippy]

Your work exp and volunteering etc sounds fine. But you should try to join a couple of clubs at school. MAybe you should get one more week of work exp, 2 weeks should be fine for work exp I think.

[conorcd]

I am a St John ambulance volunteer and help every week in a local care home, Beaver Scouts group and a Hospice. they were all really happy to get the help as lots of people just go for gp/hospital experience. I enjoy it all, have learnt a hell of a lot, made great friends and have 3 med offers. I work in a pizza shop and the care home have offered me a job.It all helps show you are good at time management and are reliable/can work in a team
I have friends who help in hospital shops, local schools etc and all that is useful too.I know some unis give points for community/ social experiences and medicine knowledge.
all the interviews asked about relaxing. I don't play instruments and am only on one school team but i go to a wrestling club and I draw cartoons. It doesn't all have to be amazing-just show you can handle stress