EC Question

[kopftonmd]

Hi everyone,

I have a brief question that I've been trying to figure out but would like your knowledgeable help with.

For med school applications, it's good to have non-clinical volunteering (so I've read). I've been singing in the church choir for years now, and it's panned out into a real job/ leadership gig (somewhere else). But people have always tended to say singing in the choir isn't really volunteering/ community service. I very strongly think it is (and would designate it a Most Valuable Experience), but want to know what all of you think. Thank you!

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[kopftonmd]

@gonnif , thank you!

 

[iris11]

I could be wrong, but i think i would characterize singing in a church choir as an extracurricular activity (hobby). If your choir was performing in homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and/or senior homes, then, imo, it would be community service. I think there's a difference between community service, and volunteering. Volunteering is giving your time without payment to do something. Community service is actually helping people or making a significant difference in someone's life without payment. To me, community service is an extra step past volunteering. But do whatever feels right to you.

 

[LizzyM]

"volunteer, non-clinical" is the category but I think you'd be safer listing this as "hobby/advocation" or "artistic..." Adcoms can be rather narrow in their interpretation of "volunteer" and what they are really looking for is "community service" meaning helping people who can't help themselves because they are too young, too frail, too poor, too uneducated, etc.