does volunteering through a club count?

[bluestrawberries]

Hi I volunteer through a club of mine at school. I was wondering if this counted?

I have a solid 80 hours so far and am hoping to get more by the time I graduate. I am curious how this would be accounted for? I do have an advisor who can confirm these hours.

I do have other volunteering I do outside of clubs.

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[jaxon]

Is it a volunteering club, or an ancillary club requirement for your school? Either way I'm sure it counts

 

[PremedSingh]

i don't see why not

 

[OnePunchBiopsy]

According to wikipedia:

"Volunteering is generally considered an altruistic activity where an individual or group provides services for no financial gain. POTATO."

 

[Catalystik]

Hi I volunteer through a club of mine at school. I was wondering if this counted?

I have a solid 80 hours so far and am hoping to get more by the time I graduate. I am curious how this would be accounted for? I do have an advisor who can confirm these hours.

I do have other volunteering I do outside of clubs.

Does your volunteer work take place at multiple sites, or at just one-two? It "counts" either way, but commitment to locations where you maintain a presence on a recurring basis might be viewed as a stronger EC in some adcomm eyes.

 

[bluestrawberries]

Does your volunteer work take place at multiple sites, or at just one-two? It "counts" either way, but commitment to locations where you maintain a presence on a recurring basis might be viewed as a stronger EC in some adcomm eyes.

The club is Habitat for Humanity and I hold a leadership role in the club this year. I have been involved as a member last year.

So since the volunteering is through Habitat for Humanity, I volunteer through their various service initiatives like local build sites, Brush with Kindness, ReStore, DIY classes, etc.

Since this is a school club and I have a leadership role, on AMCAS do I list that I was involved from 9/2014-5/2016 and then in the description write that through Habitat for Humanity I volunteered through their different initiatives for 80 (or whatever it is) hours? I would also want to highlight that I had a leadership role this year (not last year).

 

[bluestrawberries]

I was also wondering if I should give them the specific number of hours and locations? Is that expected since its through a club? The club on campus hosts various events to give information on Habitat's mission and fundraise so my total hours is much more (volunteering in addition to all the time hosting and planning events on campus).

The alternative would just be just merely mentioning I got to host events on campus, listing my duties and then adding that "I got to volunteering through Habitat for Humanity through their different service opportunities."

 

[Catalystik]

The club is Habitat for Humanity and I hold a leadership role in the club this year. I have been involved as a member last year.

So since the volunteering is through Habitat for Humanity, I volunteer through their various service initiatives like local build sites, Brush with Kindness, ReStore, DIY classes, etc.

1) Since this is a school club and I have a leadership role, on AMCAS do I list that I was involved from 9/2014-5/2016 and then in the description write that through Habitat for Humanity I volunteered through their different initiatives for 80 (or whatever it is) hours?
2) I would also want to highlight that I had a leadership role this year (not last year).

1) I suggest that you would mention H for H as the Organization, the Advisor as the Contact who can attest to your hours of involvement, and then put the various branches of service in the description.

You might consider listing the Leadership role in its own space if you have enough hours for both the volunteerism and the leadership to make substantive entries by the time you apply. That way you can put the related hours (taking care not to double count them) and dates of involvement more clearly and have more space for description. Alternatively, if the leadership role didn't take many hours, you could put it in the Volunteer/Community Service entry with the dates in the narrative and maybe add the words "Leadership Role" (or "Finance Chair" or "Shift Supervisor," or whatever is appropriate, in the title you give the space.

2) It would be important to have the precise dates of Leadership made clear so as not to oversell your leadership involvement.

 

[Catalystik]

I was also wondering if I should give them the specific number of hours and locations? Is that expected since its through a club? The club on campus hosts various events to give information on Habitat's mission and fundraise so my total hours is much more (volunteering in addition to all the time hosting and planning events on campus).

The alternative would just be just merely mentioning I got to host events on campus, listing my duties and then adding that "I got to volunteering through Habitat for Humanity through their different service opportunities."

I think you'd be fine to just mention the location of the main office and then to give a gestalt of the multiple sites with vaguer inclusive descriptions, like "on campus". You may include the time spent in planning events in addition to that of actual work shifts.

 

[bluestrawberries]

Thank you so much @Catalystik for your response. I need to clarify some things and I have some additional questions too if that's all right.

So I have been involved with my school Habitat for Humanity club since 9/2014 and will continue to be involved until May 2016.

Last year I was merely a general member and this year I have a leadership role. I was thinking about just picking the category Extracurricular Activity in AMCAS and title it "H4H General Member and Leadership Role." (I am going to leave out the specific leadership role so I can protect my anonymity as I feel I can be easily identifiable if I specify my leadership role.

I would specify that I only held this role my senior year of undergrad- 9/2015-5/2016.
I was hoping to just include the nonclinical volunteering in the description as line like "I have volunteered for 80+ hours through Habitat for Humanity through local build sites, Brush with Kindness, etc." My reason for this is that when I was a general member I really never got a chance to volunteer because the sites would fill up really fast (H4H is a huge club at my school). I only started volunteering this past month or two.

So, below are my questions-

1) would it possible to just state the total number of hours and through what locations in the description under the tag of Extracurricular Activity? (i.e., "I have volunteered for 80+ hours through Habitat for Humanity through local build sites, Brush with Kindness, etc.") I would like to leave the dates out of this and just merely mention I volunteered with H4H through my school club because I feel like it looks odd that I didn't volunteer at all my junior year.

So it would be like this:

Extracurricular Activity - H4H General Member and Leadership Role
Dates: 9/2014-5/2016

Description: I have been involved with H4H. A sentence about my duties. A sentence about my extra duties in the leadership role. A sentence about why this means a lot to me. I have spent a total of 80+ hours volunteering through Habitat for Humanity through their build sites, Brush with Kindness, etc. A sentence about why this was meaningful, etc.

Would this be ok? I don't want to specify the dates I actually started volunteering through H4H because I feel it looks bad that I didn't volunteer at all junior year as a general member.

2) This year in additional to the group volunteer activities the club hosts, I also signed up on the H4H volunteer hub page and started going individually. So the 80 hours above includes the school group activities where we go as a group to a build site as well as when I sign up myself on other weekdays and weekends. Would I need to specify this? I feel I technically am telling the truth when I say "I spent 80+ hours volunteering through Habitat for Humanity..." I keep a personal log of my hours and my advisor would be happy to attest to this as long as this is ok.

If I just mentioned the club only group volunteering I'd literally only have 60 hours total which I feel reflects poorly since I have been involved for a long time.

3) I was planning on stopping with Habitat for Humanity in May when I graduate. I am applying the 2018 cycle (so submitting applications in summer 2017 I believe) and am involved with a Food Pantry (1.75 years), Hospice (4 years) , a hospital (2.5 years) and low income clinic (2.5 years) outside of school. I plan to continue at the Food Pantry, hospice, hospital and low income clinic by the time I apply. The years I gave next to the service sites are how many years it will be by the time I apply (example: I will have 4 years at the hospice by the time I'm ready to submit May/June 2017).

Does it look bad that I am not continuing with Habitat for Humanity after I graduate? It's just I am also trying to look for research position after I graduate and will be studying for my MCAT and possibly taking a few post-back classes so I don't want to spread myself too thin. And I am volunteering at the other 4 places (low income clinic, food panty, hospital and hospice).

Is this a serious red flag and does it seem odd that I'm not continuing with one of my volunteering activities when I am continuing with the other 4?

4) In your opinion, would it be better if I did continue with Habitat even after I graduate?

I'm just not sure how I'd include it since the total volunteer hours during college includes both club group volunteering as well as my individual volunteering. Would I continue a "repeat category" and just say I am continuing as an individual volunteer only from 6/2016-5/2017 for X hours?

Sorry for all the questions and thank you in advance. I apologize if this is an overly neurotic post.

 

[Catalystik]

Thank you so much @Catalystik for your response. I need to clarify some things and I have some additional questions too if that's all right.

So I have been involved with my school Habitat for Humanity club since 9/2014 and will continue to be involved until May 2016.

Last year I was merely a general member and this year I have a leadership role. I was thinking about just picking the category Extracurricular Activity in AMCAS and title it "H4H General Member and Leadership Role." (I am going to leave out the specific leadership role so I can protect my anonymity as I feel I can be easily identifiable if I specify my leadership role.

I would specify that I only held this role my senior year of undergrad- 9/2015-5/2016.
I was hoping to just include the nonclinical volunteering in the description as line like "I have volunteered for 80+ hours through Habitat for Humanity through local build sites, Brush with Kindness, etc." My reason for this is that when I was a general member I really never got a chance to volunteer because the sites would fill up really fast (H4H is a huge club at my school). I only started volunteering this past month or two.

So, below are my questions-

1) would it possible to just state the total number of hours and through what locations in the description under the tag of Extracurricular Activity? (i.e., "I have volunteered for 80+ hours through Habitat for Humanity through local build sites, Brush with Kindness, etc.") I would like to leave the dates out of this and just merely mention I volunteered with H4H through my school club because I feel like it looks odd that I didn't volunteer at all my junior year.

So it would be like this:

Extracurricular Activity - H4H General Member and Leadership Role
Dates: 9/2014-5/2016

Description: I have been involved with H4H. A sentence about my duties. A sentence about my extra duties in the leadership role. A sentence about why this means a lot to me. I have spent a total of 80+ hours volunteering through Habitat for Humanity through their build sites, Brush with Kindness, etc. A sentence about why this was meaningful, etc.

Would this be ok? I don't want to specify the dates I actually started volunteering through H4H because I feel it looks bad that I didn't volunteer at all junior year as a general member.

2) This year in additional to the group volunteer activities the club hosts, I also signed up on the H4H volunteer hub page and started going individually. So the 80 hours above includes the school group activities where we go as a group to a build site as well as when I sign up myself on other weekdays and weekends. Would I need to specify this? I feel I technically am telling the truth when I say "I spent 80+ hours volunteering through Habitat for Humanity..." I keep a personal log of my hours and my advisor would be happy to attest to this as long as this is ok.

If I just mentioned the club only group volunteering I'd literally only have 60 hours total which I feel reflects poorly since I have been involved for a long time.

3) I was planning on stopping with Habitat for Humanity in May when I graduate. I am applying the 2018 cycle (so submitting applications in summer 2017 I believe) and am involved with a Food Pantry (1.75 years), Hospice (4 years) , a hospital (2.5 years) and low income clinic (2.5 years) outside of school. I plan to continue at the Food Pantry, hospice, hospital and low income clinic by the time I apply. The years I gave next to the service sites are how many years it will be by the time I apply (example: I will have 4 years at the hospice by the time I'm ready to submit May/June 2017).

a) Does it look bad that I am not continuing with Habitat for Humanity after I graduate? It's just I am also trying to look for research position after I graduate and will be studying for my MCAT and possibly taking a few post-back classes so I don't want to spread myself too thin. And I am volunteering at the other 4 places (low income clinic, food panty, hospital and hospice).

b) Is this a serious red flag and does it seem odd that I'm not continuing with one of my volunteering activities when I am continuing with the other 4?

4) In your opinion, would it be better if I did continue with Habitat even after I graduate?

I'm just not sure how I'd include it since the total volunteer hours during college includes both club group volunteering as well as my individual volunteering. Would I continue a "repeat category" and just say I am continuing as an individual volunteer only from 6/2016-5/2017 for X hours?

Sorry for all the questions and thank you in advance. I apologize if this is an overly neurotic post.

1) As long as you have another activity listed under Volunteer/Community-Not Medical/Clinical, then using the tag "Extracurricular" would be fine, otherwise NOT (but it sounds like you'll be fine in that regard). It's OK to list the dates the way that you have specified. Alternatively, you can use the Repeated function and fill in two date spans for the same activity box.

2) I think that's fine.

3) a) No. b) No. It's not even a tiny red flag.

4) I think you'll be perfectly fine with the plan that you have to discontinue the H4H at graduation. You will have enough on your plate.

 

[dreamadream]

So I'm guessing you don't have a leadership position in this club, am I right???

 

[bluestrawberries]

1) As long as you have another activity listed under Volunteer/Community-Not Medical/Clinical, then using the tag "Extracurricular" would be fine, otherwise NOT (but it sounds like you'll be fine in that regard). It's OK to list the dates the way that you have specified. Alternatively, you can use the Repeated function and fill in two date spans for the same activity box.

2) I think that's fine.

3) a) No. b) No. It's not even a tiny red flag.

4) I think you'll be perfectly fine with the plan that you have to discontinue the H4H at graduation. You will have enough on your plate.

Thank you for responding and clarifying! I feel a lot more at ease now. I hope in the future if I have any additional questions you won't mind me bumping this thread or tagging you if that's okay! Thank you again. I learned a lot about what's expected from reading many of your posts and I truly appreciate you taking your time out to help and guide us throughout this process. Happy Holidays!

 

[bluestrawberries]

So I'm guessing you don't have a leadership position in this club, am I right???

What? No, I just don't really want to risk my anonymity as I feel there aren't many pre-meds with my leadership positions in Habitat for Humanity. I may just be overly cautious but I just would rather not take the risk.

 

[fawkes94]

I am in a similar situation where a lot of my volunteering was through a club, but I don't think the advisor could verify it because he was not very involved, and only existed to sign off on things. Is it ok to get the president of the club (another student) to be the contact?

 

[Annabell Lee]

Yet another person with a similar question!

One of the student organizations that I am heavily involved in and have a leadership role in adopts a different cause every year to do volunteer work and fundraising for. I really enjoy this as it's helped us all learn about different issues in the world, but I worry how adcoms would view the seemingly inconsistent volunteer work.
I plan on having a more consistent volunteer commitment on my app as well, so would it be ok to list the student organization under either clubs or leadership, then under that mention the volunteer work I did each year?

 

[Catalystik]

I hope in the future if I have any additional questions you won't mind me bumping this thread or tagging you if that's okay! Thank you again. I learned a lot about what's expected from reading many of your posts and I truly appreciate you taking your time out to help and guide us throughout this process.

I've noticed that Tags don't always work, but you can generally "find me" on the current AMCAS Activities Tips thread, as I am notified of any new post. Here is the current one: AMCAS 2015-2016 EC Tips thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...ork-activities-tips-thread-2015-2016.1130356/

 

[Catalystik]

I am in a similar situation where a lot of my volunteering was through a club, but I don't think the advisor could verify it because he was not very involved, and only existed to sign off on things. Is it ok to get the president of the club (another student) to be the contact?

Yes. Be sure they are aware of a possible contact from a school.

 

[Catalystik]

One of the student organizations that I am heavily involved in and have a leadership role in adopts a different cause every year to do volunteer work and fundraising for. I really enjoy this as it's helped us all learn about different issues in the world, but
1) I worry how adcoms would view the seemingly inconsistent volunteer work.
I plan on having a more consistent volunteer commitment on my app as well, so
2) would it be ok to list the student organization under either clubs or leadership, then under that mention the volunteer work I did each year?

1) An explanation of the way the club works would solve this problem. And a year of involvement with a given cause is a goodly amount anyway.

2) I would consider that the most important category to cover would be Community Service, then Leadership, then Extracurricular. Sometimes you have a choice of category, in which case choosing strategically is important (since schools are specifically looking for them). If you pick Leadership, then the dates would have to be for the span of the leadership role only. If you pick Community Service, then you can list the entire date span and add the shorter timeframe for leadership in the description, as well as add your leadership title to the Name of the activity. Recall that the Leadership tag is for "Leadership - Not listed Elsewhere".

Another option you have is to list each year's involvement separately, which gives you more space for description, role, and impact. Alternatively, you can designate the activity "Most Meaningful"(you can use this up to three times) and get a lot more space for description.