Short-Term Volunteer Experience

[Maeby Funke]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I have a couple long-term volunteer experiences, but I've also accumulated a decent amount of hours (probably around 100) from short-term gigs. For example - volunteering at my local free health clinic 1x per month, tutoring for one term, volunteering at many one-day events...

Is it worth mentioning these experiences on an application? Is there even a place to put these down, or do they only care about long-term positions?

 

[coolingglasses]

If you got something significant out of the experience, then yes. And there's a space with every entry for you to discuss said significance.

If not, then I personally wouldn't. But it's kind of a personal preference.

 

[spleencakes]

I listed all my volunteering experiences that had a significant number of hours. For smaller things, mention them if you gained/learned something. To be honest, I did put down a 40-hour experience in a hospital doing really pointless things that didn't really change me in any way. I felt that I didn't have enough hospital exposure, so I just threw that in just in case, even if it wasn't a very significant experience. Not surprisingly, not a single one of my interviewers asked about it, but they asked about all my other volunteering activities and hobbies, including stuff that had less hours but were more meaningful. ;D So they're probably more concerned with the quality of your experience. If you really want to point out that you've volunteered in many other ways, maybe you could somehow tie it into your personal statement? (Note: I don't know if that's a good idea or not.....🙄) I mean, personally, I don't feel that numerous small, one-time volunteering events should be completely ignored, especially if they add up to a whole lot of hours. I think it says good things about someone's personality, values, etc, but that's just non-adcom me. 😀

 

[Elevencents]

If you already have some long term experiences and are not hurting for lack of volunteering in general, I would personally only add the short term ones if, as said before, you really gleaned something from them and can speak to specific positive experiences during your time there. If you just showed up and went through the motions, I'd leave them off. Just my opinion!