I hear that medical schools want to see long term commitment to certain clubs/organizations, places where I volunteer, etc. Im just curious as to how many clubs/organizations, places I volunteer the admissions commitee want to see. Do they want to see commitment to a lot of clubs and extracurricular activities that interest you? What if there are too many or too little things that you want to do? I have a lot of clubs that I am interested in, but I think it will be hard to commit to all of them. Should I just pick a few that I will commit to four years or is it ok for me to join a club for one year or two years and quit the next year? Also, will volunteering my time at too many places look bad in my application (I volunteer at a hospital now but there are some places that I am interested in working as well)?
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First of all, no. They don't need to see big committments to several clubs, just that you can commit. Now that said, you should recognize that a long commitment logically leads to eventual leadership in those same organizations. So part of what they're looking for is whether or not you have leadership qualities.
As to the issue of quitting clubs... Quitting any organization suggests that you weren't committed to it. So I would avoid dropping out completely, but you can always do a lot and then scale back your activities. You don't want to draw your sincerity into question, however, by simply ending your involvement in the Biology Club or whatever.
Work is not particularly important in terms of your med school apps. It's not irrelevant either, but unless it's related to medicine or is amazing and unusual (e.g., you were a corporate takeover consultant for a major law firm), no one cares about what you did to earn money to buy clothes and/or food. For most students, working is a choice, not a necessity (though sometimes your parents make the choice for you!!!). So when a student chooses to work and that becomes an excuse for not doing something to gain experience, then that says something pretty explicit about your level of interest and willingness to sacrifice. That said, they do understand that choices aren't always yours.
Last, volunteering always looks good, and the only way you can volunteer "too much" is if it interferes with your school work. Physicians need to have a **passion** for helping others. If you don't, you won't make it through, or will at least have a lot of difficulties. Ultimately, money doesn't motivate people strongly enough for them to succeed in med school. It's too much work. You have to **LOVE** it! So your volunteer work is a means by which they can gauge your love for helping others.
Good luck!
There is no formula for what admission committees like to see. The general rule of thumb is that they prefer applicants who have demonstrated the intellectual capacity to handle the massive amount of information (prior GPA/coursework), the sincere interest in medicine (volunteer/work experience in a health care setting) and the perserverance (a history of staying the course with your pursuits).
Jumping around to different activities isn't going to be viewed as an asset. Doing an activity that genuinely interests you will, especially when it comes time to write your essay--you will be more passionate about an area of interest.
One or two clubs is okay. Participating in 79 different clubs in four years isn't.
The bottom line is that you need to demonstrate a sincere interest as opposed to "resume building".
It is definitely a good idea to list anything you were involved with and passionate about. A lot of times you will be asked about these activities during interviews with the admissions committees. This stuff helps set you apart from the thousands of other applicants and can also demonstrate that you are a "well-rounded" person to the committee (lol, whatever that means).