Community Service

[coolslugs]

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What kinds of community service/ volunteer work would adcoms like to see, 50-100 hours at one local organization, or 10 different activities for 5 hours each?

Also, does volunteering/ unpaid internship at a community dental clinic count as real community service? I don't really feel I am directly helping the poor when I do this.

Any input greatly appreciated!

 

[polarnut]

What kinds of community service/ volunteer work would adcoms like to see, 50-100 hours at one local organization, or 10 different activities for 5 hours each?

Also, does volunteering/ unpaid internship at a community dental clinic count as real community service? I don't really feel I am directly helping the poor when I do this.

Any input greatly appreciated!

devote yourself to one place and stick with it.

 

[maksidaa]

What kinds of community service/ volunteer work would adcoms like to see, 50-100 hours at one local organization, or 10 different activities for 5 hours each?

Also, does volunteering/ unpaid internship at a community dental clinic count as real community service? I don't really feel I am directly helping the poor when I do this.

Any input greatly appreciated!

first of all, pick one thing and do it well and show that you really were sincere about it. secondly, if you are a volunteer at a "community" clinic, that by definition is "community service". there is nothing that says community service must directly help poor people. if you want to directly help poor people then go out on the streets and hand out sandwiches. also, ask the people that you work with at the clinic if they feel you are giving community service despite the fact that you are not directly helping the poor. if they say "no" then move on. if they say "yes" then keep it up. even if you're just sanitizing stuff for the dental staff i'm pretty sure the doctors and patients both are happy you're there helping out.

 

[beannaithe]

Doing one thing and sticking to it shows that you are dedicated. BUt they also like to see a diverse range of activities, I think. When I volunteered, I found a program where we would go to who needed the most help that week. Homeless shelters, foodbanks, etc. Most of the adcoms (5/6) asked about how the diversity of places I helped out at affected my view.

So really, either one I think is a good idea. Just as long as you are doing some sort of community service, I think it's a huge application plus. 🙂