Community Service Is Essential in Med School Applications

Volunteer work is essential to gaining admissions to medical school, admissions staff from several well-regarded U.S. medical schools told a student reporter recently.

Stony Brook University student Erica Smith interviewed the assistant deans for admission at Michigan State, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Virginia, and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York by phone. They all confirmed that community service is an important part of an application package.

"It’s a very negative flag" when an otherwise promising applicant shows no history of community involvement, University of Virginia assistant dean of admission Beth Bailey said.

Bailey said that pre-meds benefit most from volunteer service that puts them in contact with patients and caregivers. Clinics, nursing homes, and hospices are good places to look for volunteer activities that will make a medical school applicant stand out. Experience working behind-the-scenes, in pharmacies or in hospital administrative or support offices, is not as helpful.

Noreen Kerrigan, assistant dean of admisisons for Albert Einstein College, noted that students who must work to support themselves are judged by somewhat different standards. Fewer hours of community service are expected of working students, she said, although admissions committees still want to see evidence of service to others. "We just look for feeling, not hours."

Source: "Volunteering a Must for Med School," by Erica Smith - the Stony Brook Independent, May 1, 2006