Introduction/Volunteering Question

[tessellations]

Hi all! I'm a new member here, though I've been lurking for about a year. I'm still fresh into my premed journey (I just finished my freshman year of undergrad), but so far I really appreciate the SDN community so I have a feeling I'll be popping in and out for some time.

I just had a question about volunteering. I know a lot of people volunteer in hospitals and such, but I was curious about the necessity of it. I'm currently working as a CNA at a nursing home, and am hoping to use that experience to get some sort of hospital job next summer, whether it's as a patient care technician or maybe an emergency department technician if I can find a hospital that hires CNAs for that position. If things go as planned, I'm going to be spending time in a hospital working an entry level job. I want to do volunteer work and see the importance of it, but I feel like if I'm already in a hospital, I'd rather be volunteering somewhere else, mainly just to have broader experiences. Is that ok? Will future med schools really look down at me in scorn if I choose to volunteer at a homeless shelter and not at a hospital? I'm not adverse to hospital volunteering, but I like the idea of variety and I'm just curious to see others' thoughts on this. I'm already getting quite a lot of patient interaction as a CNA, so maybe that's why I'm not all that in a hurry to volunteer at a hospital. I'm very much up and close with people already.

Anyway, I'm excited to finally have an account here. Looking forward to the next few years, and hopefully SDN will continue to be a nice community for me!

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[nwts]

Hospital volunteering is not a requirement for getting into medical school. Volunteer service is and clinical experience is, but hospital volunteering is not required. The reason so many people do it is because it accomplishes both volunteer service and clinical experience. If you get your clinical experience through your CNA job and then do your volunteering elsewhere, you'll still be meeting both requirements.

 

[tessellations]

Thanks for the helpful response nwts! I've been looking for volunteer opportunities for this upcoming semester and I'm definitely more drawn to something like tutoring or volunteering at a local survival center. I feel like I'll get more out of one of those experiences, so I'm glad to hear that hospital volunteering isn't a necessity for me.

On a side note, does anyone have any non-clinical suggestions in terms of volunteering? I'm curious to hear what's out there in terms of options, other than my ideas of tutoring or working at the survival center. I go to school in Western Massachusetts, and most of the communities that I'd be willing to travel to are fairly suburban/rural, btw. My interests are pretty much all over the place, and I like working with basically any population. I'm really not picky.

 

[nwts]

You can do all manner of things. I have done everything from volunteering as a scorekeeper for youth basketball games to volunteering as a childcare assistant at a domestic violence shelter to volunteering as a tutor. That being said, I would volunteer in a capacity that helps disadvantaged people (homeless, abused, addicted, ill, etc.) since this is most appealing to medical schools. You can normally check your local newspaper for volunteer opportunities. Additionally, if you are in college, your college may be able to help you find service opportunities.