Applicants fret over insufficient clinical hours for medical school

“I am a sophomore in college and I’ve been working as a 1:1 sitter for a bit now, and I do like it! But I was chatting with some more experienced pre-meds the other day and they made it seem like medical schools actually want to see you administering active procedures in your clinical hours, like an EMT or MA and that while being a sitter was technically clinical it wouldn’t actually do much to help my application. Most of my job consists of keeping people calm and trying to help them de-agitate”

“Well, as the title implies, as a non-trade/career changer, how are you finding your clinical hours? First, I graduated with a B.A. I was unhappy in my corporate job for 2.5 years and saved enough to cover future medical school tuition and my living expenses. To sum it up, I'm currently doing a postbacc and was wondering: for all fellows who are career changers or postbacc fellows, how did you guys find opportunities for clinical hours? It doesn’t matter whether it is paid; did you get a cert”

“URM, 3.9 cumulative 3.8 sci gpa, 1000 hours and more anticipated clinical hours (CNA+ volunteering at a clinic), 200-300 volunteer hours+ more anticipated, financial barriers and a lot to talk about in distance traveled I’m planning to apply to medical school in Spring 2028 after graduating from college in Spring 2027. My plan for my gap year is to study for the MCAT, continue working as a CNA, and volunteer. I have a strong GPA and substantial clinical and community service experience, but abso”

“"Easiest" in terms of the job market/volunteer "market". My hope is to get shifts on weekends while also working a full time office job. Has anyone in the Bay Area had a hard time getting unpaid clinical hours as an EMT? Is it easier to get them as a CNA/MA/scribe? submitted by /u/SkeleMortal [link] [comments]”

Title. submitted by /u/moe_34567 [link] [comments]

“Found this on SDN I am also a second year and I only have 30 hours shadowing for one specialty, 0 clinical hours, 0 research, 35 hours volunteering 💀 how do people accumulate so much hours in one year? Second year of college just started and I remember my first year being stuck on campus with no way of getting out to do these sort of opportunities. All the hours I have were racked during summer and even then, I couldn’t get a clinical job so I had to work as a dishwasher submitted by &#32”

“I have about 200 hours from working at a clinic in HS. I did covid tests on patients the entire time I was there. Does this even count as clinical experience? submitted by /u/Sea_Formal_7242 [link] [comments]”

“my dream is to do FM with any MD OR DO school, but I am worried I have too low of hours for applying? Will this be enough or should I quit my job to volunteer more? The following is what I have and what I am currently doing.I promise I can articulate alot more about what I did but this is just a general gist. entry 1: I have 150 hours as a Public Health advocate for my school's clinic. I am considering this non volunteering as much of what I did was just setting up booths, and getting people”

“Hi, I need some help getting some more hours (or expected hours at this point) by the time I submit my application next summer. I have about 70 hours as a hospice volunteer and about 90 shadowing. I tried to get into an EMT program to be working as an EMT by the time I submit my application to have more potential hours, but that doesn’t seem to be working out. I will be finishing up my last semester of college next spring and I’m feeling very lost with how to get more hours. I could really step”

“Have about 900 hours Started in august 2025, so worked for around 1 yr and 2 months. I am planning on applying in the 2027 cycle, and studying for the mcat next semester (for 4-5 months) while taking 12-13 credit hours. Should I quit while studying for the mcat? I was thinking of quitting around December. So I’d work for 1yr and around 4-5 months Or is the continuity of work important leading up to the application I can work PRN but I dislike this job for a multitude of reasons i wont go into (n”

“I am a non traditional applicant, going back to med school recently recently caught my internet again. I worked as a research tech in for the past 3 years post undergrad with no clinical hours on my resume. Do I have a chance of getting an MA position at a hospital? I applied to all the open MA positions where I am at, I am based in Jacksonville Florida. Anyone knows other jobs that can count for clinical hours that are easy to obtain? If not, is volunteering my only option? submitted by &”

“Generally, when people share sankeys or like full application overviews, are they counting anticipated hours? Because I feel like there is a large difference between someone having "2000 clinical hours" and 500 completed, 1500 anticipated. I guess it's not the same for everyone but I'm asking about how it generally is. Especially if its in a gap year, do medical schools really care how much you're increasing your hours? submitted by /u/ZenDarKritic55 [link] &#32”

“Hello! I volunteer at a local clinic for underserved communities as a medical scribe and I work with doctors of different specialties . Can i include that in both volunteer experience and shadowing hours? For example I have worked with a cardiologist for 3 shifts (16 hours) so does that count as shadowing?? Outside of this i don't have stand-alone shadowing hours yet, of course i am in the process of getting those as well but I was wondering if I can count these. submitted by /u/”

“I know this sub isnt representative of the population but I feel like everybody casually has thousands of clinical hours. It would make sense if thats the norm since so many EMTs are applying to medical school, both trad and non trad. Idk I'm feeling insecure about my chud ahh sub-500 clinical hours now submitted by /u/ZenDarKritic55 [link] [comments]”

“I’m a sophomore and I haven’t done any hours yet and I don’t even know where to start for research. What’s considered too late to start? As in med schools will look down on you for not being invested early enough submitted by /u/ThisActuator1316 [link] [comments]”

“I have about 200 hours from mixed activities, mostly clinical volunteering, but I’ve been trying to find a secure and consistent part time job walking distance from my campus because I don’t have a car. Scribeamerica has no placements, a lot of these positions require in state residency, and I’m looking for an opportunity specifically in peds/OB I literally spend so much time searching for something everyday and am genuinely not getting anywhere. Would appreciate any tips at all for finding high”

“For clinical volunteering hours, is EMT volunteering enough, or do I also need to do hospital volunteering? My premed advisor told me that EMT work alone isnt enough clinical experience for medical school, and that I need to also do hospital volunteering. From what I have heard, hospital volunteering tends to be much less clinical and more cleaning/stocking. Any insight would be very appreciated 🙏 submitted by /u/gamshaa [link] [comments]”

“I would like to add more target/baseline schools, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what schools would be target/baseline. CT Resident, Female, ORM 526, 3.99 Clinical Volunteering: 200 hrs (Help in PACU) + 300 hrs (collegiate EMS) Non-clinical Volunteering: Not much... Clinical Paid: None right now, but I'm taking the gap year to work as EMT/MA starting in January. Research: 1500 hrs; 1 middle-author pub, 2 first-author abstracts, 1 poster presentation Shadow: 30 hrs (Anesthesiolog”

“How many hours of job shadowing should I do at a clinic? submitted by /u/Affectionate-Buy8972 [link] [comments]”

“Year : beginning of 3rd GPA : 3.9+ MCAT : not taken yet (but got a 1520 on SAT if that means anything?) Research : 200 hours (electrochemistry) Volunteering : 300 hours Clinical work: 25 (yikes - getting credentialed & planning on either working for hours or volunteering in a hospital) Shadowing : none yet, shouldn’t be too hard to get though Leadership : president (branch of medical charity), treasurer (medical interest group), peer leader & consultant (environmental organization) Colle”

“Hello everyone! I applied this cycle and am currently waiting to hear back on interviews. I have been working as a medical assistant and have accumulated nearly 2500 paid clinical hours. My current work environment sucks (and the pay) and honestly makes me lose hope in the American healthcare system. I used to be pre-PA and switched to med after I graduated, so I wanted to log more clinical hours to "make up" for a lower GPA (~3.5) and lack of pre-med extracurriculars during my undergr”

“Hi, I'm applying next cycle and I was wondering if there would be any concerns with my clinical hours. By time of application, I will have ~170 hours of scribing, ~150 hours as an Ophthalmic Tech, ~150 hours hospice/memory care volunteer. So total would be 480 hours. During my gap year, I'll be also working in a clinical setting (ideally as an MA) but those would just be projected hours (~1500). Are there any red flags with this? It's been hard to get clinical experiences while in co”

“im a bioengineering undergrad at UCLA contemplating what to do with my life and considering applying to med school. i think the main thing i need for my application is clinical/volunteer experience, but i honestly don’t know what would be valuable and easily accessible (i live on campus without a car...) anyone have any advice for getting clinical or volunteering experience, or trying to find opportunities at/near UCLA/UCLA Health? submitted by /u/nicolas9653 [link] [comments]”

“So I have a job as an ER scribe right now and I already have 928 hours. I’m thinking of resigning in around 4 months, which should give me well over 1000 hours before I apply to med school next cycle. I’m just concerned that I will look like I lack commitment since I’ve only had this job for one year at this point. My reasoning for resigning is that it would give me much more time to focus on a weak point of my application, which is non clinical and clinical volunteering. Plus I could get a part”

“Hi yall, For context, I’m in my junior year currently and have just taken my MCAT (not planning on a gap year). Since I was 16, I’ve been a volunteer EMT in my hometown, and have since racked up 1500+ hrs, and am also an active member of two committees there (tech and vehicles) in which I have put in probably ~500 hrs of non-clinical time. Our town is unique in that it’s entirely volunteer, but we have a relatively heavy call volume for a volunteer service (~4000 calls a year) so every shift oft”

“i’m a freshman and I’m really struggling to find any paid clinical hours but interviewing with the hospital soon for volunteering positions, I thought clinical hours could be unpaid is that correct? And in that case, I’m assuming I would still need to find other volunteering hours that are non-clinical? So could I just use volunteering hours I get from being apart of a club? Sorry lol! submitted by /u/taylorswiftskneecap [link] [comments]”

“Does a lot of clinical volunteering offset the need for non clinical volunteering. I don’t have a lot of non clinical volunteer hours aside from a few hours of soup kitchen volunteering, but I have lots of hours in the hospital volunteering in the ED. submitted by /u/Angel1275 [link] [comments]”

“Preface: I know I'm lucky to have easy access to clinical hours, I know there are many people out there who are facing significant struggles in finding clinical volunteering/jobs. I hope to become a physician who can help out other premeds who don't have these connections in the future! A few years ago, I was originally going to get an EMT license and work as an EMT in college. However, my family member's clinic needed MAs, as they were currently short, so I ended up working there du”

“Hi, During the school year I work 2 volunteer EMT shifts a month. That counts as "clinical" hours, not volunteer hours or can you count it under both? Also, we have 4 hours of training a month, in addition to two 12 hour shifts on the truck a month. Do I count those 4 monthly training hours? submitted by /u/Purple-Command-9879 [link] [comments]”

“I’m debating whether or not I should apply June of next year/this cycle or take a gap year to get more clinical hours. Also something I’m worried about is that almost all my hours (paid clinical, clinical volunteering, internship, officer) have only just now started so by the time i apply, they will all be within 10 months preceding my application, which I fear will be a red flag to adcoms. But some of my hours (working as a restaurant manager, shadowing, some nonclinical volunteering, and resea”

“Hi :) I am a non-trad planning to apply next year. I’m very content with my app in its current state, except for shadowing hours. While I’ve got plenty of paid and volunteer clinical time and countless interactions with doctors and nurses and patients, I’ve done very little formal shadowing (we’re talking <15 hrs). I have the opportunity to do a shadowing program abroad at the beginning of next year, and it would be at nearly no cost to me. It’s in the country both of my parents are from, and”

“I recently switched to pre-med as a junior, and am planning to take two gap years (probably spent as a clinical research coordinator or another clinical role). I will have about 2,000 research hours when I graduate, but only about 180 clinical hours (peds ER volunteer for 3 hr/wk). I will potentially try to up to 6hr/wk next year. How can I be most competitive in my gap year and this summer? I don't think I'll have the time to get any kind of certification (CNA, MA, etc.) How many clinic”

“Hi all, desperately need advice. I have been looking for a clinical job for a few months now and have gotten rejection after rejection. Couple promising interviews but they always go with someone who has experience (can't blame them). A pediatrician in my network offered me a clinical research position involving direct patient contact through "consent, enrollment, education, follow-up, facilitating focus group discussions" and working directly with providers, clinical pharmacists,”

“Hi guys. I am trying to add 10-20 more schools to my school list, if anyone has any recommendations? Stats: 3.8 cGPA/3.75 sGPA, 524, 300 clinical hours volunteering as an MA (LOR), 130 non-clinical volunteering hours in homeless care + giving people food after they donate blood. 2 leadership positions (1 club board position, 1 job at my university’s community center (LOR)), and 1 regular on campus desk job in IT. 900 research hours in an animal lab, 400 hours in a chemistry lab, and 900 hours in”

“Hello, Just wondering what the deal is with distinguishing volunteer hours as clinical and nonclinical. I have a very service oriented application, I started as a volunteer EMT in high school and got ~1000 hours by doing 12-24 hours of shifts every week. When I went to college, I joined another rescue squad and went on to become and AEMT and now a Paramedic and have 3000+ hours as a volunteer EMS provider after over 6 years. This is also a reason I am interested in medicine. I just don't see”

“Title pretty much, I’m debating between applying straight through or taking a gap year purely for EC hours. Here’s what I’ve got so far: Clinical- Volunteer Dental Assistant (freshman summer, was originally pre dent) - 170 hours Volunteer MA (sophomore summer, was doing this on the weekends while I had a 40 hr/week tech internship which is why it’s lower) - 120 hours Hospice volunteer (started very recently) - ~40 hours Nonclinical- Various volunteering through pre med org - 50 hours Crisis Text”

“I read in the AAMC survey for admitted students that like 90% had clinical volunteering. I project 800-1000+ hours of scribing and ~200 hours of non-clinical volunteering. Am I at a disadvantage if I don’t make some of my volunteering hours clinical? I’m trying to do all of the above, a few classes, and MCAT studying in the span of a year, so I’m a bit hard-pressed for time. submitted by /u/Dazzling_Rabbit8155 [link] [comments]”

“im a respiratory therapist of about 3.5 years looking at making a career change and interested in pursuing medicine. I am currently taking pre reqs and studying for the MCAT while doing other things to formulate my application. just looking at examples from online of successful applications they all have a couple things in common including a certain number of hours shadowing various physicians. when it comes to patient hours and healthcare experience hours i obviously have that at about nearly 9”

“I volunteered 100+ hours at a rural underserved clinic over a break visiting my hometown (not in the US), is that significant enough to show on college apps? Will be combined with my camp volunteer hours (camp for disabled individuals)- pre med applicant submitted by /u/Cheap_Lake_2273 [link] [comments]”

“Currently: 4000 clinical paid hrs as an endoscopy tech 2000+ nonclinical paid work (clinical lab) 50 hrs clinical volunteering in radonc clinic 7hrs shadowing IR dr 400 hrs research (no pubs) 3.65gpa I currently work full time tues-sat 11am-7pm in a clinical lab and volunteer mondays 9-12. Im going to take my final prereq this fall and am also in the process of doing some dry lab research for an old professor of mine(crunching data and help format/present it). Im one year post undergrad now. Mon”

“I’m a traditional applicant applying this cycle with around 200 hours of solid clinical experience including shadowing. I have great stats, research, and ecs otherwise. I also felt like I did a good job writing about and reflecting on them. Seeing everyone with so many hours is a little intimidating. Could anyone share their experiences applying with low clinical experience or any insight to calm my nerves? Thanks yall submitted by /u/hybrid_58 [link] [comments]”

“I’m applying next cycle, and by then will have around 1500 paid clinical hours. Right now I only have 50 clinical volunteer hours, and I don’t have that position anymore. I will have about 350 nonclinical volunteering hours. Will that be alright, or should I aim to get more clinical volunteering? I work full time and am studying for the mcat, so I’m trying to not burn out by adding more volunteering. submitted by /u/Professional-Tip9224 [link] [comments]”

“so pretty much i’m a full time student and trying to get more clinical hours bc im applying in spring— issue is, now that im back in school i can’t find a job that works with my schedule. over the summer i worked as a cna at a ltc facility which i loved bc it was so flexible, but now that im back in my college town, the only ltc facilities are in 12 hour shifts, so i could only commit to one day/week and not even every week because its a saturday and a lot of my extracurriculars meet on certain”

“Is it worth it to apply to Rush with lower service hours? 694 research hours 420 hours of MA work 110 hospital volunteer hrs I put 400 hrs of caregiving for my grandma as I did that throughout college. 600 hrs of being president of a club, but it was cultural, although we did do a lot of service work for it, and raised a lot of money. Non clinical volunteer, technically i only put 60 hours on my primary, but I have always volunteered here and there just not super consistently. Also for clubs, I”

“Hello all, I'm entering my Junior year of undergrad, and I'm concerned I waited too long to start my hours. Currently, I only have 200 hours of volunteering. By the end of September, I expect to have 90 shadowing hours, with another 50ish planned for October. Then I plan to shift towards Clinical and Research hours. I'm worried that im not going to have a good length of time, and it's going to seem like im checking boxes. Also, any suggestions on how to get clinical hours that do”

“Now a little context, I do have clinical volunteering experience. I have around 250 hours of volunteering at a clinic that is for under served people who are poor and do not have insurance. I am also currently volunteering as a 1 on 1 tutor with elementary students to help them with math, English, reading, etc. I am also volunteering at a Catholic charity in which I serve food to homeless and poor people, organize food bank, etc. My question is, would volunteering at an animal shelter look good”

“Clinical, research, other work, clubs, volunteering, etc. Just started my sophomore year and I’m already feeling burnt out submitted by /u/Holiday_Giraffe3657 [link] [comments]”

“I am applying this cycle (pretty much all secondaries submitted) but am worried about reporting only 50 nonclinical hours on AMCAS. I have more but space was limited on my primary and I thought other experiences were more important to add (but now regret some of it). I know nonclinical hours are generally more important with underserved communities and I have an additional 100 hours working with underserved but labeled them as clinical bc they are actual patient care. I do have 450 clinical hour”

“My current nonclinical volunteering is at a food pantry and a health disparities outreach program volunteer. For med school is it more about quality over quantity where I should just focus on these two activities or should I start hunting for other activities as well? submitted by /u/TomorrowExtension345 [link] [comments]”

“I am on my gap year right now and have plans to apply next cycle. I currently have 1.5k+ clinical hours, 2k+ research hours and pretty good stats (520/3.85), but only 250 non-clinical hours volunteering at a soup kitchen over the span of 1.5 years. Reading through this sub, it looks like some people are saying that 250 means you are barely scraping by from getting screened? Is this true? I’m worried it looks like I don’t have a commitment to service, especially at top schools, because the # of h”

“One of my activities I have estimated about 60 hours in, but when I filled out and submitted AMCAS, the volunteer coordinator was on medical leave and said she did not have access to the exact hours I volunteered. I let her know I put 60 hours (this activity was bi-weekly over a year). I’m worried that if schools reach out to verify hours, the hours I volunteered will be much lower than 60. Am I just being neurotic? submitted by /u/Fun_Force2460 [link] [comments]”

“It is possible to be accepted to a med school if your only clinical hours is just volunteering as a hospital volunteer (interacting with patients by giving them activities, etc)? I already plan on taking a gap year to do a actual job, like a MA, etc, but if I can be accepted with just hospital volunteering, i think i might just apply for fun to see what happens? submitted by /u/Current_Command_4289 [link] [comments]”

“Currently applying this cycle and working part-time (~20 hrs/week) as a medical technologist in a hospital lab. I’ve been doing it for ~1.5 years and have gotten great clinical experience, but I’m ready to move on from second shift. I just interviewed for a full-time Clinical Research Assistant position at a large academic cancer center and feel pretty confident I’ll get an offer. It’s M-F, no weekends/holidays, hybrid (3 days onsite/2 WFH), but about an $8/hr pay cut from my MT job. My hesitati”

“Not to keep asking the same questions but how is everyone getting research hours? I am a nontrad student, i work as a nurse at the moment and finishing up my bachelors online. How can I reach out to people to join their research team? And who am i reaching out to? Thank you so much for any feedback!! submitted by /u/Familiar-lover-14 [link] [comments]”

“I have around 350 clinical hours right now but about 210 of them are from an unpaid externship I did one summer as an opthalmic tech, 70 of them are from hospice volunteering over the last year and a half (with more projected), and another 50 or so ish (as of right now) are from clinical research where I administered treatments for patients for the last year. I plan on continuing to volunteer in hospice and I like my research position, though I don't anticipate getting more than 100 hours by”

“Hellooooo I am starting my second year in a 3 year undergrad program, so I plan on applying this upcoming cycle. I started a per diem phlebotomy job last May and have only accumulated 175 hours so far (took orgo over the summer, went a medical brigades trip— didn’t work so much :/). How many hours should I aim for when I am starting to apply? Thanks in advance! submitted by /u/Conscious_Middle4071 [link] [comments]”