How much weight does volunteering abroad have on ECs?

[reese07]

I plan on volunteering in this village in the People's Republic in China during spring break. Is it worth to pay the $1,800 to have this experience and on my EC?

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[JaggerPlate]

I plan on volunteering in this village in the People's Republic in China during spring break. Is it worth to pay the $1,800 to have this experience and on my EC?

If you are passionate about it, definitely. If you aren't ... it may come through in an interview because interviewers will be interested and they will want you to talk about it. It is a solid EC though.

 

[rawman]

Go for it! Volunteering abroad was the main focus of my PS, and it definitely didn't keep me out of getting into med school.

 

[cuhubris]

I only volunteered in two places, one was a nursing home where I worked in an unrelated position, but would come in to help off-shift.

The other was a couple of months I spent in Nigeria volunteering in a rural area. There was a lot of refugees and it was tough, and I don't talk about it much, so I only mentioned it briefly in my PS. On my interview at PCOM they were very interested in talking about that, and that was the bulk of my interview.

So yes, I think it would be very worthwhile, as long as you're not doing it JUST to add another bullet point on your application.

 

[AMEHigh]

I think $1800 is worth your experience, but not necessarily to add to your resume.

All I mean is that if you and another student have the same stats, but he/she hasn't studied abroad then I don't think you'd necessarily be a definite acceptance over them.

There are so many variables to getting accepted, but I've heard it's good to be well rounded and come across as genuine during your interview.

 

[DOalchemist]

Don't do it just for your resume...but if you have sincere interest in serving underserved people, then do it.
I spent a summer in Thailand as an ESL math teacher, and spent some time in a med clinic and AIDS orphanges and my interviewers really liked seeing my international serivce interest.

The experience will look great on a resume and can be life changing (worth $1,800), but if you get into interviews and aren't passionate during questions about the experience, it doesn't help you at all.

personally, I think you should go for it!

 

[Cheshyre]

Don't do it just for your resume...but if you have sincere interest in serving underserved people, then do it.
I spent a summer in Thailand as an ESL math teacher, and spent some time in a med clinic and AIDS orphanges and my interviewers really liked seeing my international serivce interest.

The experience will look great on a resume and can be life changing (worth $1,800), but if you get into interviews and aren't passionate during questions about the experience, it doesn't help you at all.

personally, I think you should go for it!

For a cheaper and also nice experience - perhaps take an EMT-B course. I thought the clinical experience portion of the course was INCREDIBLE. Loved every moment of it - 80 hours of hanging around ERs and riding with paramedics at 4am. Courses are around $1000 over 4 months.