Is animal oriented community service appropriate?

[LieutenantDan]

I am reapplying this year and I am trying to improve my community service portion of my application.

I recently volunteered at my town's homeless shelter, but I was the only volunteer there, everyone else was court-ordered. Consequently I was treated by the managers like I had been court-ordered there, and it simply was not enjoyable.

I have always loved working with animals, and being a vet would be my second choice of career. I am looking into volunteering for the local humane society, but I am wondering if will be of much value since it would be geared toward caring for animals rather than people.

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

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[JJMrK]

You might get questions like "Why not vet school?" in your interviews.

 

[armybound]

As long as you're still getting to see what medicine is like by shadowing and such, I don't think it's a huge problem.

I volunteered at a Humane Society along with doing some hospital volunteering. Nobody asked me about either experience.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

Volunteering for the humane society is great. Just make sure you also get some human clinical experience.

 

[kia ora]

I volunteer at my city's animal shelter, I started doing it before I applied to med school. I do it because dogs are awesome and it's the highlight of my week to go play with them. never was I asked "why not vet school?" at a med school interview. if you really are interested in this volunteer position and think you would enjoy it, then do it. fyi, there are opportunities at the shelter that go beyond walking the dogs (which is really fun in and of itself!) - they have fundraising events (auctions, 5k runs, etc.) you can volunteer for...in addition to working for a good cause, you can get some administrative/organization/leadership experience in this way.

oh, I also volunteered at a homeless (people) shelter. I was not the only, but was one of the few, non court-ordered people there. I loved it. the managers were incredibly friendly and welcoming. the clients were so interesting and for the most part, also very welcoming and friendly. it was a great experience

 

[MilkmanAl]

It sounds great to me. Any form of volunteering will work, and I can't see how this is any less clinically relevant than a lot of the work hospital volunteers do. 😛

 

[SusGob711]

I actually just talked to an adviser about this today. Just remember that they are looking for compassion not necessarily area of concentration. As another poster mentioned it's just important to remember that you should demonstrate knowledge of and commitment to medicine. This can be shown through paid positions in healthcare, shadowing, or clinical volunteering. Don't worry so much about 'what will they think' but more about 'what do I think.' Best of luck to you 🙂

 

[Narmerguy]

It sounds great to me. Any form of volunteering will work, and I can't see how this is any less clinically relevant than a lot of the work hospital volunteers do. 😛

Too true 👍

 

[AlexB]

i don't think this is a good idea for the above mentioned reasons. It seems like you'd be using vet-school as a back up plan. med schools want to see 100% dedication. I wouldn't even list it, even if I had it.

 

[SusGob711]

For those of you who think it's a bad idea--would it be inappropriate for a pre-vet major to volunteer at a hospital or within a hospice? Volunteering is volutneering, period. You don't always have to have all of your eggs in a pre-med basket.

 

[MiniMoo]

I've been volunteering at the humane society regularly for the last 8 years. I've racked up thousands of hours of service and have been extremely involved -- running Dog Walk-a-Thons and other fundraisers, helping with mobile adoptions, training volunteers, and running puppy socialization classes. I was asked about my volunteering at several interviews, but it was mainly to get a better idea of what I did and why I enjoyed working with animals. More than one interviewer commented on how great it was to see true dedication to something I obviously enjoyed and didn't commit to just for the sake of my med school application. Never once was I asked, "why don't you go to vet school?"

 

[Squeal]

For those of you who think it's a bad idea--would it be inappropriate for a pre-vet major to volunteer at a hospital or within a hospice? Volunteering is volutneering, period. You don't always have to have all of your eggs in a pre-med basket.

+1. Adcoms aren't going to say "hey, this guy must want to go to vet school, because he likes animals." Heck, they may even like animals too. 🙄

 

[willen101383]

It is absolutely appropriate. You should volunteer doing things YOU CARE ABOUT AND ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT. Because when you are questioned about it in an interview they WILL be able to see that spark in your eye when you talk about it.

I worked on city park mountain bike trails....and did some dog related volunteering, because I have two dogs and I am passionate about rescuing dogs.

Just because you love animals doesnt automatically make you better suited for vet school!

 

[runawayclock]

i don't think this is a good idea for the above mentioned reasons. It seems like you'd be using vet-school as a back up plan. med schools want to see 100% dedication. I wouldn't even list it, even if I had it.

I think this is kind of bull. Just because you work with animals doesn't mean you want to be a vet - i think it shows that you're compassionate and dedicated. I had +100hrs of volunteer work as a medical assistant in a shelter and no one asked me if I wanted to be a vet.

 

[Helen Wheels]

I have been volunteering at a local Humane Society for a couple of years now. I have tons of human clinical experience through my job so I decided to volunteer at the shelter because I really wanted to help out there and I knew I should have some kind of community service on my application. I really enjoy the work I do at the shelter, it has been very worthwhile!

Since I don't have any other experiences related to animals listed on my app I really don't think adcoms will decide I am using vet school as a back up. By the way, vet school is no backup for med school - it is MUCH harder to get a spot in vet school since there are only about a dozen vet schools in the US.

I think it is fine to do animal shelter volunteer work - it shows you are well rounded and multi-dimensional. They don't expect us to be focused on medicine 100% of the time That is boring and unhealthy in the long run. Just be sure you have lots of human patient contact from other activties.

 

[Hirudo]

I volunteered at a ranch for disabled riders. Since we didn't always have guests I mostly took care of the horses, but I was able to get a lot out of the little human interaction that I did have. People really light up around animals. It's amazing how much they can improve quality of life. If you work for the humane society (which sounds fantastic), try to emphasize during your interviews the human aspect of the experience (the joy of pairing an animal with a new owner, therapeutic benefits of interacting with an animal, etc.) Better yet, how do you feel about working with therapy animals?

 

[Dianyla]

For those of you who think it's a bad idea--would it be inappropriate for a pre-vet major to volunteer at a hospital or within a hospice?

As long as you're not suggesting "it's time" to send Grandma over the Rainbow Bridge, I don't see the problem.

 

[ILikeDrugs]

You're not turning your back on humanity. Go for it. 👍