Is it okay for the vast majority of volunteering to be with animals?

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JakAttk

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By the time I apply I'll have plenty of paid clinical hours at a hospital - so far my non-clinical volunteering, is it acceptable for it to be with animals rather than underprivileged people? I have a passion for animal wellbeing so it's something that would be meaningful to me, but I'm torn between doing what's "best" and what I think is more genuine. I could do both but I feel as if I wouldn't have the time to give either one my all.

Thanks for your thoughts.
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gyngyn said:
Caring for animals is laudable, but does not replace experience with humans.
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Of course, and I appreciate that ultimately I'm applying to work with humans. I guess my question is will ample paid clinical hours be "sufficient" for the helping humans part of my application, or will I ultimately need some volunteering hours with underserved populations?
 
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gyngyn said:
Showing that you can interact effectively with people different from yourself would add a lot to your application.
It would also quell the inevitable discussion of "why not a vet?"
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As I write this I found an organization nearby that pairs animals that need a home with kids is at-risk situations - perhaps that could be a nice way to help people and still show a unique interest of mine. Thanks for your help!
 
JakAttk said:
By the time I apply I'll have plenty of paid clinical hours at a hospital - so far my non-clinical volunteering, is it acceptable for it to be with animals rather than underprivileged people? I have a passion for animal wellbeing so it's something that would be meaningful to me, but I'm torn between doing what's "best" and what I think is more genuine. I could do both but I feel as if I wouldn't have the time to give either one my all.

Thanks for your thoughts.
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No. Why aren’t you becoming a veterinarian instead if that’s where your passion is?
 
DarkBluMage said:
No. Why aren’t you becoming a veterinarian instead if that’s where your passion is?
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eigen said:
@JakAttk: this is a question you should be prepared to have a good answer for, you may already.
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Ultimately I care a lot about both people and animals. I've spent 100s of hours working in a hospital, and some time over the summer at a free clinic helping people. I've also spent time doing research related to human health. Now I'm looking for some time to help animals too before I start med school.

At the end of the day, I'm human and I want to dedicate my life to human health. I can connect more with people and think that I'll enjoy the work more (I also couldn't handle the euthanasia of perfectly healthy animals). Surely volunteering with animals could help show who I am outside of medicine, but I'm realizing that I should find some more time to volunteer at a soup kitchen or something before I apply.
 
Sure! It's fine for it to be a passion of yours, and it's definitely something you should include. I've had students be perfectly successful with lots of hours of animal rehab work.

But it can't replace doing work serving people, since that's what you're wanting to devote your career to.

I'd consider it just like another hobby / something that shows who you are outside of medicine, just like you say, which are great things to have: just not in place of other parts of your application. They're lagniappe.
 
JakAttk said:
Ultimately I care a lot about both people and animals. I've spent 100s of hours working in a hospital, and some time over the summer at a free clinic helping people. I've also spent time doing research related to human health. Now I'm looking for some time to help animals too before I start med school.

At the end of the day, I'm human and I want to dedicate my life to human health. I can connect more with people and think that I'll enjoy the work more (I also couldn't handle the euthanasia of perfectly healthy animals). Surely volunteering with animals could help show who I am outside of medicine, but I'm realizing that I should find some more time to volunteer at a soup kitchen or something before I apply.
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This type of voluntary service with respect to animal well-being is acceptable to me for a variety of reasons.

It is common to encounter medical school applicants who are checking boxes on their applications because it's something they're encouraged and required to do. I get it, we've all been there, no worries. 🙂

However, some applicants may choose to do something else, something much different, because it's something they want to do in their spare time, and I always enjoy learning more about them.

Here is an example of an animal-related activity (and the activity is related to animal well-being and the well-being of people):

The free pet food pantry in my region is highly dependent on the time and efforts of volunteers and community partners. In addition to relying on the generosity of community partners, the pet food pantry has benefited from the time and services voluntarily provided to it by plenty of students, including pre-vet medicine students, pre-human-medicine students, nursing students, pre-dental students, and actual medical students. These student-volunteers are dedicated to helping pet owners who are less fortunate than themselves. They volunteer with the pet food pantry because they want to help pets as well as the (human) owners of the pets.

As student-volunteers, they become informed and aware of the special hardships, stressors, challenges and ordeals endured by pet owners who are confronted with pet food insecurity issues. These pet owners include geriatric populations (living on a fixed income), or families who have been left homeless due to parental lay-offs from jobs, or physically-challenged individuals, or veterans coping with post-traumatic stressors, or housing insecurity, etc. Anyway, you get the idea. For these reasons, I am inclined to appreciate voluntary service to the well-being of animals, as well as to the well-being of the people who own these pets, and I enjoy hearing about these unique volunteering experiences.

Thank you.
 
I agree with Doctor-S that one can do work with animals if you have great opportunities to see their benefits to human companions, especially with the collateral issues with SDOH. Therapeutic horse riding has benefits for those with mental health, disabilities, or other needs. Working in a vet office also gives you insights into the ways costs influence decisions and the challenge of handling euthanasia and grief given some challenging illnesses. The interprofessional connection between physicians/human health professionals and veterinary professionals is still not optimal, but it should be considered in the future, just as we have begun to incorporate food security/access into primary care considerations. The OneHealth initiative provides a framework.


You should still do your fundamental activities of working in human clinical settings, but there is a lot one can learn about surgery/anesthesia/radiology, pharmacy, and ethical decision-making working in veterinary medicine.
 
Mr.Smile12 said:
You should still do your fundamental activities of working in human clinical settings, but there is a lot one can learn about surgery/anesthesia/radiology, pharmacy, and ethical decision-making working in veterinary medicine.
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I don't volunteer in veterinary medicine - more like an animal sanctuary that cares for wounded animals or ones that were never adopted so they're not put down. All of my clinical activities are with humans, I'm just wondering if it's a red flag that I don't have much non-clinical volunteering with humans. Thanks!
 
JakAttk said:
I don't volunteer in veterinary medicine - more like an animal sanctuary that cares for wounded animals or ones that were never adopted so they're not put down. All of my clinical activities are with humans, I'm just wondering if it's a red flag that I don't have much non-clinical volunteering with humans. Thanks!
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It definitely might hurt a bit, and while it seems like you're prepared to answer the "why not be a vet?" question, you need to show your commitment to underserved (human) populations in other ways.
 
AJS59 said:
It definitely might hurt a bit, and while it seems like you're prepared to answer the "why not be a vet?" question, you need to show your commitment to underserved (human) populations in other ways.
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Got it. I'll either try to find something that helps both people and animals or just find time to do both. Thanks again.
 
Yeah - you need to have about 300 hours of nonclinical service work with people, ideally. 150 checks the boxes. It really depends on how much clinical work/experience you have...if you have 150 hours of clinical volunteering, 2,000 hours with animals, and little else that might be suspicious. If you also have been working as an EMT for two years that's very different. It's laudable and won't hurt you, but it is best not to look like a vet-school applicant! Good luck.
 
For reference for those wondering if the "why not vet med" question would be valid, from the vet med perspective, their application might not be geared towards us either. We need approximately 1500-2000 hours of in hospital work on average. Volunteering for a non-veterinary organization such as a sanctuary or foster system as their only animal based hours wouldn't even get them past the initial cut off. If they also or instead applied to vet school, admissions would see their human hospital hours and ask, "Why not human medicine if your only animal experience is with this sanctuary?"
 
Typically, I expect students to do their due diligence and have performed clinical work with patient interaction. How can you know you want to be a doctor without interacting with patients? If you have that, then additionally working with animals is great.
 
MD_Maker said:
Typically, I expect students to do their due diligence and have performed clinical work with patient interaction. How can you know you want to be a doctor without interacting with patients? If you have that, then additionally working with animals is great.
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I do have plenty of paid clinical hours as a CNA. It's just my volunteering that I'd like to do with animals.
 
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