3

[ColumbiaOrtho]

---

Members do not see this ad.

3

 

[digzthis]

Hello, I am a bit concerned about my volunteering hours. So far, I have 60 hours of volunteer hours from health care trip in Nicaragua and I only have 20 hours in campus organization volunteer. I was wondering if doing a personal fundraiser project for a patient could be counted as volunteer hours. I have been doing this one fundraiser project for my friend who was born with cleft palate in vietnam (I decided to help her because I was also born with cleft palate and lip). She is from a very poor family and her parents could not afford the money to cover all the surgical expanses, so she had to rely on nonprofit organizations that provided free surgeries. However, the nonprofit organization did not do a good job with her cleft lip and left the country without completing her case. I got help from my club organizations, my friend's sorority and student government to run events to raise money for my friend along with gofundme page. My friend is now receiving her first treatment which is enlarging her upper palate. I was wondering if this can be counted as community service, even though I am not physically volunteering at a place to help the community?

Sounds like volunteering to me but doesnt seem like a lot of hrs or great effort. Get in to something a few hrs a week and itll add up

 

[ColumbiaOrtho]

1

 

[digzthis]

Yea man you just have to be honest with yourself and if its something that you feel is an example of your altruism then im sure that will shine through, i only addressed hours because you seemed concerned about that in your post...I think theres a consensus here that a continued display of altruism and duration of activity is more appealing than someone doing a quick hit for hours just to check a box the summer before they submit their app. I had 500 hrs when I applied over the course of 3 years. I'd consider that an above average or great effort if I were an adcom...

 

[MLC45]

I always considered volunteer hours as a form of community service, not individual service. However since I’m not involved with adcoms I could be mistaken. Just be prepared for the adcoms to want something different.