Research = volunteering ?

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aspiringdentistplshelp

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So I'm about to start doing research and my job title is research volunteer. Does this mean that the hours could go towards my volunteering hours? I'm not getting paid so would it count?

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AADSAS has the following definitions: https://www.adea.org/uploadedFiles/...ol_ADEA_AADSAS/2018ADEAAADSASInstructions.pdf
Research: Research projects done in addition to classroom work; research should NOT appear as credit on a school transcript.
Volunteer: Volunteer work done outside of the health care field; for example, working for Habitat for Humanity

I'd probably list it under the Research section on AADSAS since that'd be the most accurate. Within that section, you'll be able to designate that it was a volunteer position as opposed to compensated.

Schools will also look at what specifically your volunteer hours were and would rather see community service involvement for volunteer experience than hours in a research lab. In AADSAS (to my knowledge and looking over the compiled application generated) school don't get totals of each section. Each experience is listed with how many hours went to each experience. If schools want to add up how many volunteer hours you got, they'd need to total them up individually.

If you're looking to up your volunteer hours, I'd try to find an organization or two that you really like and try to get some hours in either consistently throughout the semester or frequently over the summer. The quality of the volunteer (community service) experience and how it impacted you matters more than the number of hours you completed. A lot of dental schools seem to have a focus on community service so they like applicants that have experiences volunteering in the community and giving back, which research wouldn't really fit.

TLDR: Categorize the hours as research. Within each experience, you classify it as compensated or volunteer so schools will know that your research position was volunteer. The volunteer section is more for community service experiences.
 
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