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Are you doing this to check a box? Thinking adcoms will see a wall of different types of volunteering and believe that this person really cares about the underserved?

Showing a solid commitment to one or two volunteering organizations will look better. My opinion (take it with a grain of salt) is to focus on the ones you feel have meaning and are more enriching experiences for you, and stick to them and build up hours in them. I advocate hospice volunteering; adcoms here say they love it, but I found it an incredibly impactful experience.
 
AvsPearTree said:
Are you doing this to check a box? Thinking adcoms will see a wall of different types of volunteering and believe that this person really cares about the underserved?

Showing a solid commitment to one or two volunteering organizations will look better. My opinion (take it with a grain of salt) is to focus on the ones you feel have meaning and are more enriching experiences for you, and stick to them and build up hours in them. I advocate hospice volunteering; adcoms here say they love it, but I found it an incredibly impactful experience.
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Djax99 said:
I picked volunteering experiences that I was passionate about, but when I asked for advice, people said I didn’t have enough of a commitment to underserved communities (I thought I did and I’ve worked with underserved communities) so now I’m worried there’s a gap in my applications and I’m trying to address that
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should've included that bit of info to begin with, and to be frank, your original post just made you sound a little neurotic, but it makes more sense why you'd ask now.

Is the hospital and nursing home you volunteer at in affluent neighborhoods or something? Your two nonclinicals sound just by the titles that they involve underserved communities. Maybe you need to build up hours and better articulate how they affect the underserved.

You said how you started a nonprofit to address disparities in education, so it makes zero sense how that doesn't show a commitment to the underserved.
 
Another way to shine: Go for a leadership position in the organizations you listed.
The easiest way to do this is to start a club/organization/company (as you did).
So you are well on your way! 😀
 
Djax99 said:
Currently, for volunteering I have been involved in:
  • Volunteering at a hospital (clinical)
  • Volunteering at a nursing home (not sure if its clinical or nonclinical; I worked with elderly people who had Alzheimer's and helped out with comfort, medication, dining, ambulation, typical things)
  • Started and involved in nonprofit involved in addressing disparities in education
  • Tutoring for ethnic culture and language; also involved in logistics for the organization
Do I need more nonclinical or clinical volunteering? If its nonclinical volunteering, would volunteering at say the Ronald McDonald House be effective in terms of working with underserved communities?
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Just out of curiosity, are volunteers permitted to handle medications in a nursing home? This surprises me.

Call the nursing home "non-clinical".

Are you "hands-on" with the poor through your work in the non-profit or is it more "boardroom" management? The last 2 bullets are volunteering but not necessarily the direct service to people in need and don't sound as if they get you face-to-face with people unlike yourself whose point of view you way need to understand when you are their physician.
 
We really don’t know how many hours you have put into these organizations and over what time period. So explain that if you can. It might look to some reviewers and ADCOMS that you are jumping from activity to activity with no vision to your approach.
What is your nonprofit doing to address disparities in Education? That’s a pretty big undertaking and I’m not sure how impactful you have been. And did you ever see a child or visit a school?
And be careful about saying you did something that a volunteer maybe shouldn’t be doing. For instance handing out medication at a nursing home as a volunteer caused me to pause. I’m surprised about that responsibility.,
 
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