Question about "Mandatory Volunteering" (at certain schools)

[ahmedqman]

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Question:

At my school, they have a "mandatory volunteering" requirement where they require 40 hours per year for the first two years, and if you do them you get a special line in your dean's letter saying that you contributed to the community and so on. If you don't do it, you don't get that benefit, which is why it's a "requirement".

However, during my first year I pretty much did things to try and stay afloat and maintain my sanity (study, exercise, etc.) and didn't volunteer, and during the summer I've been taking time off just to relax, while doing some minor volunteering, but not nearly enough. Now, I have three weeks left to meet the requirement.

Should I stress about it? Or enjoy my summer? If most of my classmates are doing it to buff up their dean's letter, is it worth that extra line?

I'm not shooting for the most competitive residencies (as I don't even know what the heck I wanna do yet), but I'm just curious...

I want to volunteer just because it's something I enjoy, not to meet some arbitrary requirement, but at the same time, I'm a little worried if it will make me less competitive because the majority of other students in my class are doing it.

 

[deuce924]

By your explanation of the "mandatory volunteering", it sounds more like an elective than a requirement considering you don't have to do it. I wouldn't stress about it but if the majority of your classmates have it than I might think about doing it. If you don't do it, I would at least be able to explain why you are missing it such as research, work, etc. and not just say I relaxed and didn't care about volunteering.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Question:

At my school, they have a "mandatory volunteering" requirement where they require 40 hours per year for the first two years, and if you do them you get a special line in your dean's letter saying that you contributed to the community and so on. If you don't do it, you don't get that benefit, which is why it's a "requirement".

(a) that doesn't sound required to me.

(b) residency programs won't care.

 

[Mr hawkings]

By your explanation of the "mandatory volunteering", it sounds more like an elective than a requirement considering you don't have to do it. I wouldn't stress about it but if the majority of your classmates have it than I might think about doing it. If you don't do it, I would at least be able to explain why you are missing it such as research, work, etc. and not just say I relaxed and didn't care about volunteering.

What if you really dont care though.

To the OP,
The way i see it, if this is something that is unique to your school, then its not that big of a disadvantage if you dont do it. Think about it. If you dont have that letter and no one else in your residency application group has it either then no harm done. You're not competing with your just people from your class for residency spots. Its against ALL applicants. If no one else has it other than people from your school, then its not a big deal.

The question then is how much of an advantage would such a letter really be if you had it? Would it hold as much weight as an excellent recomendation from a dept chair of the specialty you want to go into? Thats the real question. Personally i dont think its enough to do something you dont care about.

 

[ahmedqman]

If they ask me about it, I'll say I did volunteer, but just not enough to get it mentioned in a letter. I did volunteer at a health fair this summer as well as help teach some kids, but that was my decision irrespective of some letter.

Anyway, what are these letters based on? Does the dean normally keep a close eye on students in order to write an individualized letter that doesn't sound cookie cutter?

If you took the time to learn the material and do your best in the coursework but didn't research or volunteer, does that lend towards a negative letter?

They just don't tell me these things. Heck, I only found out about the 'requirement' through classmates, I don't even remember them explicitly stating it during orientation.