How is Long-term volunteering viewed?

[JasenClaisen]

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Hi everyone.

I'm considering taking a Gap Year after graduating to volunteer in a healthcare field with Americorps before applying to dental schools.

However, I am worried because my parents want me to use my biochem degree to work in a lab. They believe that by volunteering instead of acquiring a well-paying job, I'd appear as a less competitive individual and that I would be hurting my future career prospects. I've done a great deal of research during undergrad and I have publications. I'd like to help the underprivileged and see the nation from a different prospective but I am apprehensive that I may appear as a weaker candidate (along the lines of "No good deed goes unpunished").

There's not a lot of information pertaining to Americorps on the predents forum. Would anyone who has done Americorps care to share their experiences with me? How would doing a program such as this be viewed by adcoms?

Thank you!

 

[Impulse155]

Why not volunteer/work in a dental office?

 

[peanutb123]

Hi everyone.

I'm considering taking a Gap Year after graduating to volunteer in a healthcare field with Americorps before applying to dental schools.

However, I am worried because my parents want me to use my biochem degree to work in a lab. They believe that by volunteering instead of acquiring a well-paying job, I'd appear as a less competitive individual and that I would be hurting my future career prospects. I've done a great deal of research during undergrad and I have publications. I'd like to help the underprivileged and see the nation from a different prospective but I am apprehensive that I may appear as a weaker candidate (along the lines of "No good deed goes unpunished").

There's not a lot of information pertaining to Americorps on the predents forum. Would anyone who has done Americorps care to share their experiences with me? How would doing a program such as this be viewed by adcoms?

Thank you!

Listen to your parents... Get a paying job. If you are just volunteering to look good for dental school you dont have to sacrifice one year of your life.
If you want to help underprivileged mostly like you will get more exposure if you go outside of US.

You will only look good for ASDOH... but other than that. i would volunteer part time and work full time. Remember dont just do vol. work just for the heck of it do something meaningful. So you can explain what you did to d-schools.

 

[JasenClaisen]

I really don't want to live off my parents after all the support they're giving me while I am in College. I doubt I could do unpaid volunteering for a year. Working in a dental office is an option. However, I would really like to know how volunteering programs such as Americorps, TFA, and City Year are viewed.

 

[yappy]

I have have ameri friends and volunteer with some (i'm not in ameri though) and they pretty much RUN the clinic. They schedule docs, traige pts, hire staff, refer to other agencies, do basic social work and pt education. I'm not sure how this would look on your application though compaired to doing research. As you stated you are getting paid for ameri. also.

I just wanted to say there is Nothing wrong with going international but there is also great needs here in the US.

edit: not trying to start a flame war but this thread reminded me of my UG. In general medical students tend to be much more sensitive to humanitarian efforts than predents @ my school. Someones "waisted year" is anothers "year well spent".

 

[redchesus]

If you've got good stats and assuming you're not doing it just for the application (it doesn't sound like you are), then I say go for it. 👍

I actually think working in a dental clinic is so cliché that it doesn't help that much. I think how involved you are with the volunteerism is more important, and with these programs if you can get into a position to run operations it will look great on your application.

This is anecdotal evidence but: a girl I knew had been a dental assistant for years, but had average stats and got rejected 3 years in a row. I only volunteered (not even assist) in a dental clinic for one semester (but had years of non-dental volunteering) and got accepted into 4 schools... so interpret that how you will.

At the very least, the experience will not hurt your application. Just don't have too much of an attitude of how "charitable" you are for "helping others." You can appear very condescending and even subversive that way.

not trying to start a flame war but this thread reminded me of my UG. In general medical students tend to be much more sensitive to humanitarian efforts than predents @ my school. Someones "waisted year" is anothers "year well spent".

yappy, it's not just you, I've also gotten that vibe. It might just be the pre-dental club though... because the one at my school, A LOT of the kids were just there to get into an officer position and pad their resumes (I never bothered going after like 2 meetings). I met a lot of cooler predents at the community events.

 

[JasenClaisen]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have a high (3.9+) gpa and I've done several summers of research with publications.
I decided on dental school fairly late so I don't have a lot of health-related volunteering (about 50 hours) and I haven't done leadership roles during college yet. I think that's my primary weakness so I see Americorps as a means of taking on real-world responsibility, volunteering, and being a able to modestly support myself.

I think I would enjoy working for Americorps more than research. Furthermore, I likely would be doing medical or basic sciences research as I've no experience with dental labs.
I'm delaying my application because I don't think I'm ready to go on to professional school just yet. What do you guys think would be the most effective thing I could do at this time?

 

[7 Iron]

Do what you want to do in the gap year. Do something you'd enjoy... sounds like Americorps might be for you. You would look great to adcoms with such significant volunteering with Americorps.

 

[youknowthedrill]

Do what you want to do in the gap year. Do something you'd enjoy... sounds like Americorps might be for you. You would look great to adcoms with such significant volunteering with Americorps.

Call a couple of Dental Schools and see if they will allow you to meet with them. Ask the D-schools if this would hurt you (I think it would set you apart from the crowd). When you are 97 and on your death bed, will you regret not joining Americorps? If so, then do it now. It would be much harder to take a year off post dental school with 200K of debt hanging over your head.

 

[doc toothache]

I think I would enjoy working for Americorps more than research. Furthermore, I likely would be doing medical or basic sciences research as I've no experience with dental labs.
I'm delaying my application because I don't think I'm ready to go on to professional school just yet. What do you guys think would be the most effective thing I could do at this time?

Since Americorps is deeply etched on the cortex why not go for it? Who knows, you might even decide on it as a career option.

 

[JasenClaisen]

Thanks for the replies.

I don't know what you mean by career option doc toothache. I doubt I could do Americorps or a similar program for more than two years as I know it's difficult to support oneself while doing the program, much less a family. I definitely see myself doing service missions and charity work once I'm established as a dentist though.

So from what I've read on SDN, a good candidate should have a high GPA/DAT and a good amount of volunteering/shadowing. Is there anything else that I'm missing?

 

[redchesus]

So from what I've read on SDN, a good candidate should have a high GPA/DAT and a good amount of volunteering/shadowing. Is there anything else that I'm missing?

Not really. Most acceptances have at least those things but beyond that it's really a crapshoot at times. Some schools are more volunteerism-oriented, some schools are more research-oriented, etc. In the grand scheme of things doing AmeriCorps won't necessarily be better or worst than doing anything dental-related in your gap years and it lines up well with your personal philosophy and desire so why not just go for it?

At some point in the interview process, you'll realize that everyone around you also has high GPA/DAT and good extracurriculars and somehow you need to stand out. So... AmeriCorps or dental assistantship? Which do you think makes for a more interesting conversation with a D-school adcom?

 

[youknowthedrill]

JasenClaisen, it seems you have not yet been enlightened. The wise one, doc toothache is known for his dry wit and his sarcasm.