A Perfect Formula?

I heard a few stories and advice about applying to Medicine. I thought about them for a while, and I disagree with what they said. I hope you will agree with me.

Stupid Story/Advice #1

"My friend had about 3000 volunteers hours. But I think 2000 is a good number. He got admission into the University of ______."

Let's do some math. Let's say say you volunteer 4 hours per week, for three years of undergraduate. There are about 48 weeks in a year, and 144 in three years, so your total volunteer hours is 576. We'll round that 600 to make calculations easier.

You may also count high school hours. You volunteered 3 hours per week, for grades 11 and 12. Again, you have about 400 hours.

For one summer, you're rich and decide to volunteer overseas for two weeks. Let's say during a day, you volunteer from 8am to 10pm. That's 14 hours per day for 14 days. That's about 200 hours.

The next summer, you do the same, so you gain another 200 hours.

Right now, you have a total of 1400 hours. Where did the other 1600 hours come from? 

Either the person is a really hard worker, or they BS their story. I don't think 3000 is the right number. I believe in quality over quantity. You don't know if this "3000 Hour Genius" is telling you everything he or she did to gain admission. 

Stupid Story/Advice #2

"I need some volunteer experience at the hospital. When the file reviewers see your file, they'll see that everyone has had volunteer experience. They'll question why you don't have it since everyone else had it."

So, I guess the underlying conclusion is that we no longer have any individuality? This story is plain stupid. Having no hospital volunteering experience might not be what kills you, but it may be the thing that makes you UNIQUE!!! 

Look, imagine a file reviewer, and he's read 100 applications that all said "Hospital Volunteering." He's holds a knife to his neck. If he reads another "Hospital Volunteering," he'll slit his throat. He sees your file next. He reads "Hospital Volunteering."

Basically, all I want to say is that you could have saved his life if you put something as silly as "Taking a dump in different types of toilets around the world."

The conclusion of this post is to never take people's words seriously. Think about what they said. Often times, what they say are plain stupid.