bad to talk about new volunteering in secondary

[friendly_premed]

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hello - i just started my first non-clinical volunteering in june. i am doing secondaries now and cant tell if it will look bad if i mention this activity.

i dont want it to look like a last ditch effort (it actually wasnt, actually just took it on because i enjoy it and didnt have time before)

 

[trobinsonmd]

I don't want to say it is bad... it just does not carry as much weight as if you had been doing the same activity for a year or longer... it is taken more lightly because you have not had much experience in that activity...

 

[friendly_premed]

You applied without any nonclinical community service? And now you want to talk about it, something that isnt on your primary, that you just started, with just a few weeks of experience, and you dont to want it to look like the last ditch effort it is? You didnt have time before you applied? You chose to apply now, you chose not to take the time to do community service and apply next cycle or at the very least start date on your primary and projected hours. Did you do that because you thought it was so much more important to be early over the importance and actually show a committment to service?

i started the activity before my primary actually but didnt list it because it had just been a month

 

[friendly_premed]

so now i just want to make sure it doesnt do more hard than good 🙂 i have service (350 hours) in something else so hopefully they can see commitment regardless of this activity 🙂

 

[friendly_premed]

@gonnif, so do you think its best i dont mention it?

 

[Catalystik]

so now i just want to make sure it doesnt do more hard than good 🙂 i have service (350 hours) in something else so hopefully they can see commitment regardless of this activity 🙂

Having 350 hours of community service of any sort is good. It wouldn't have helped you to mention a newly started opportunity on Primaries and it would have been difficult to be accurate in projecting future hours when you scarcely knew if you'd enjoy it, if you'd get past the probationary period, and if it will continue to mesh with your schedule. It won't harm you to mention it on Secondaries. But listing it somewhere does let adcomms know what you're planning to do over the next year.

Be sure to bring it up in future update letters (where allowed) so it's known that you stuck with it.