Extracurricular duration in regards to meaningfulness

[PriamTRH]

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I have an internship with my university's medical school that works with underserved communities. I do things ranging from assisting with public health research, help collect food and supplies from donators to distribute to the needy, and and generic stuff like organizing papers. I've also met many faculty members of the medical school through this internship. I believe I've had a meaningful experience, and was wondering if you guys think it would still seem like a meaningful experience despite the fact that my commitment was only for one year.

 

[Pagan FutureDoc]

The way you feel and talk about it really is what matters. Sounds like it had an impact on you. Why only one year though?

 

[PriamTRH]

The way you feel and talk about it really is what matters. Sounds like it had an impact on you. Why only one year though?

It's time consuming enough to prevent me from pursuing many other volunteering opportunities. I just got an offer to start at a new biochemistry lab and it requires 20hrs/week. I would like to start volunteering in a hospital again.

 

[w0rldw3y3d]

I have an internship with my university's medical school that works with underserved communities. I do things ranging from assisting with public health research, help collect food and supplies from donators to distribute to the needy, and and generic stuff like organizing papers. I've also met many faculty members of the medical school through this internship. I believe I've had a meaningful experience, and was wondering if you guys think it would still seem like a meaningful experience despite the fact that my commitment was only for one year.

I opened this thread just to stare at your avatar.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

One year is a solid time commitment. If you can speak well about it and the impact it had on you, it'll be plenty meaningful.

I feel like you see a ton of "I've been working in the same free clinic for 7 years and have 1,000,000 hours" on SDN, but that isn't the norm in real life lol

 

[MaxPlancker]

Stick with what is meaningful. You only need one solid experience really for each category; no need to spread yourself thin trying to do tons of other volunteer work. The person who spends multiple years and grows a lot from an experience like yours is far stronger than someone who does 100 hours in 10 volunteer activities. Also, research doesn't count as volunteer even if you're not paid.

 

[Cookiess]

One year is fine as long as the experience has impacted you and you can talk about the internship in your application/during interviews. As others have mentioned, it's quality over quantity and it's better to commit to less activities than to spread yourself thin. Do you already have research experience besides the new biochem lab position you would start? If so then you might consider continuing the internship to show depth in this particular activity.

How meaningful the internship is ultimately depends on how your articulate your points about this experience.

 

[PriamTRH]

Thanks peeps

 

[ifnotnowwren]

I opened this thread just to stare at your avatar.

For anyone who hasn't seen the wonderful video it hails from...