Please help!

[chreesteene]

Hi!
I tried to ask this question in the Work/Activities thread, but it seems to be quite dead at the moment. So, I thought I'd try my luck here.

I volunteered for two years at center for children with visual impairments. My responsibilities involved mostly taking care of the kids, playing with them, reading to/with them, and working as a vision screener, which involved going to local preschools to provide vision tests that can identify potential vision problems in young children. I also participated in the organization's other fundraising work (for example, volunteering at the organization's Christmas tree lot during the holidays). My questions regarding this experience are:

1. Since I did all this with my sorority's philanthropy/outreach program, the only contact person that I can provide is a past or current president of the sorority chapter. Will this seem suspicious or silly? I didn't organize the events, so I never got in contact with any of the staff who actually worked at the center. Should I just leave the contact person's name blank?

2. This should count as volunteer experience, but is it clinical or non-clinical? The children i worked with weren't patients at a hospital... but I feel like the vision screening at least counts as clinical? I'm not sure, though. Do you think that's stretching it?


Also, I will be volunteering at a hospice this year (my gap year), but my actual volunteering/doing useful stuff doesn't start until the middle of this month. I have already started their intensive training program, though. Should I include this on my primary app. (and explain the current situation) and then elaborate on my actual useful experiences in the secondary app.? On the one hand, I don't want schools to dismiss me because I don't have enough clinical experience but on the other hand, I don't want them to think I'm padding my application.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

 

[TopSecret]

Hi!
I tried to ask this question in the Work/Activities thread, but it seems to be quite dead at the moment. So, I thought I'd try my luck here.

I volunteered for two years at center for children with visual impairments. My responsibilities involved mostly taking care of the kids, playing with them, reading to/with them, and working as a vision screener, which involved going to local preschools to provide vision tests that can identify potential vision problems in young children. I also participated in the organization's other fundraising work (for example, volunteering at the organization's Christmas tree lot during the holidays). My questions regarding this experience are:

1. Since I did all this with my sorority's philanthropy/outreach program, the only contact person that I can provide is a past or current president of the sorority chapter. Will this seem suspicious or silly? I didn't organize the events, so I never got in contact with any of the staff who actually worked at the center. Should I just leave the contact person's name blank?

2. This should count as volunteer experience, but is it clinical or non-clinical? The children i worked with weren't patients at a hospital... but I feel like the vision screening at least counts as clinical? I'm not sure, though. Do you think that's stretching it?


Also, I will be volunteering at a hospice this year (my gap year), but my actual volunteering/doing useful stuff doesn't start until the middle of this month. I have already started their intensive training program, though. Should I include this on my primary app. (and explain the current situation) and then elaborate on my actual useful experiences in the secondary app.? On the one hand, I don't want schools to dismiss me because I don't have enough clinical experience but on the other hand, I don't want them to think I'm padding my application.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

1. Use the sorority president's contact info.
2. It's a clinical experience if there were licensed clinicians present. Otherwise, it's non-clinical.

Also, I think it's a good idea to include the hospice training in the primary. You're already volunteering your time.

 

[chreesteene]

Thanks for your help, TopSecret! :]

 

[Sangria]

maybe they changed the primary app this year, but when I applied last cycle you never had to provide any contact information for activities.
Personally, I wouldn't put the hospice on my application if you haven't started it, since the application requires you to put down the dates of the activity. However, after submitting my primary and beginning to volunteer at the hospice, I would send an update to all of the schools in order to let them know about the activity and to remind them of your existence

 

[TopSecret]

maybe they changed the primary app this year, but when I applied last cycle you never had to provide any contact information for activities.
Personally, I wouldn't put the hospice on my application if you haven't started it, since the application requires you to put down the dates of the activity. However, after submitting my primary and beginning to volunteer at the hospice, I would send an update to all of the schools in order to let them know about the activity and to remind them of your existence

You want to load the primary application as much you can to get past the initial screen. Otherwise, instead of an opportunity to update you could get a rejection letter.

 

[Sangria]

You want to load the primary application as much you can to get past the initial screen. Otherwise, instead of an opportunity to update you could get a rejection letter.

i agree with that, and after rereading this post I see that her app will probably get verified around the time she actually starts the volunteering so I guess that's ok. But, if she was starting her volunteering later, I think it might look weird if her application was received 8/09 and said that she was going to begin volunteering 9/09; at least I doubt that this activity would improve her application

 

[chreesteene]

Thanks for your help, Sangria!

I'm a little confused, though, about your last comment. Are you saying that medical schools can see which day I submitted the AMCAS or do they only know when I am verified? If my application is verified around mid-August (although, let's be honest, it'll probably be verified much later) right when I start volunteering, do you think that would look weird to adcomms? It's nothing that a thorough and thoughtful secondary essay couldn't alleviate, right?

 

[Sangria]

Thanks for your help, Sangria!

I'm a little confused, though, about your last comment. Are you saying that medical schools can see which day I submitted the AMCAS or do they only know when I am verified? If my application is verified around mid-August (although, let's be honest, it'll probably be verified much later) right when I start volunteering, do you think that would look weird to adcomms? It's nothing that a thorough and thoughtful secondary essay couldn't alleviate, right?

I don't know if they know or care when you submitted your AMCAS, since I'm not even sure if they know you've applied to their school until after you get verified.
I guess you can put it down, I don't see how it could hurt you. You might want to mention something about it in your secondaries or in an update e-mail though. good luck!