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freshprinceMD
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It is a lovely thing to do and people may enjoy hearing you play. That said, as a non-clinical activity, it isn't really getting in there and getting your hands dirty helping the most needy in society and learning about people whose circumstances are different from your own. That's why soup kitchens, food pantries, being a friendly visitor to elderly shut-ins, volunteering in a homeless shelter or building houses along side poor folks is a little higher on the volunteer scale.
That said, if you have the time and enjoy using your musical talents to bring a smile to people's faces, go for it.
That said, if you have the time and enjoy using your musical talents to bring a smile to people's faces, go for it.
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freshprinceMD
Thank you so much for you're response. I know having non-clinical volunteering is definitely a plus and in some cases expected, but I just couldn't really dedicate time because of my other involvements (work, hospital volunteer, leadership position, shadowing, and research)
I want to apply this cycle, and that's the only thing that's missing from my app. How detrimental would it be?
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I guess it depends how much the application reviewers value community service and if your reason for medicine is not heavy on the "I want to help people" rationale and maybe more focused on using science to fight disease and save lives.
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I have a question about this, I volunteer at a large food bank in a city thats probably the size of two Costcos combined. I help pack food which gets shipped to smaller food pantries in the region. For example, one day I packed 4500lbs of food onto a crate by myself, so its very labor intensive, but I realize Im not actually interacting with the people in need of this food. I know I'm obviously helping them by helping pack/ship the food, but is this viewed as "not getting my hands dirty" since I'm not directly interacting with this population per se, but only indirectly?
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You are helping people but not face-to-face. It is almost like the hospital volunteering that involves physical labor like carrying samples to the lab and stocking shelves in a storage room but never seeing hospital patients. It helps the hospital to help the sick and injured but it doesn't give you any insights into the lives of the people you help. Sometimes it is difficult to help people, they are not grateful, they complain or are demanding or greedy. It is an experience that helps you grow in ways that you don't experience if you are removed from the people you help. That said, if you don't have access to an opportunity to help people face-to-face you have to do what is possible with the knowledge that you are giving your time to help others.
