Volunteer Experience

[Dwade06]

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I have spent 160 hours volunteering in the ER and 225 hours volunteering at a rehab center. I want to stop volunteering. Is my number of hours spent volunteering sufficient or should i continue?

 

[WhyDoWeFall]

It is my firm opinion that you should volunteer on things you like to do, not just for the application. Also, I would assume medical schools like to see consistency.

However, as a direct answer I would say just keep volunteering. You can never have too many hours

 

[chizledfrmstone]

Volunteer at a place you like. I had a few volunteering positions on my application that were over 8 years old. Even after being accepted I'm volunteering.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[DoctorKrieger]

Quit volunteering at those places and find one you enjoy. Don't be fake and volunteer just because you think it looks good, that's a total pre-allo move.

 

[68quebec]

actual reason of doing volunteer is to serve other people but not to build your resume (or application). find what you like to do first

 

[SnakeOilForSale]

+1 to everyone

If you volunteer for the sake of "hours" and you're asked about it during your interview, they're going to see right through your act and know it wasn't sincere. You know you've found something you enjoy doing when you stop counting hours.

 

[SopChoppy]

Think of where and how much you volunteer as evidence for what you write in your PS/essays. Given that, are you done?

 

[ph7]

Yeah, just stop. It gets a bit much once you start to reach a certain couple hundred hours in one volunteering location. What you will see is that after a lil vacation you will be drawn back into volunteering, if of course, as everyone has said, its not for the resume but for the pure sake of helping another.

 

[Donkk]

Or go to the volunteering department at your county hospital and ask where people are most needed, if your still looking for the medical area your most passionate about.Like everyone else I knew, I desperately tried to get into the emergency room for my volunteering opportunity and made it my first choice on my volunteer application. A few days later I received a call from the lady in volunteer services asking if I would be interested with working in the playroom of the pediatric burn center and shadowing the child welfare director/medical staff, because no one listed it as a volunteer possibility. I had never even considered working in the pediatric burn center and after a few seconds passed on the phone, I accepted. On the drive in I was anxious because I had never worked with children that had been badly burned before. What I did not know at the time is that this volunteering experience was going to be one of the most rewarding moments in my life. It was greatly satisfying to work with the children in the pediatric burn center and to give them distraction from their medical procedures. It also allowed me to view the way various doctors worked and talked to these patient's and gave me a good understanding of the way I would treat these children if I ever worked in this department. I was not a premedical student/volunteer to these children; I was a driver's education tutor, a friend, a playmate, a listener, a homework tutor and various other things.

Sometimes the unexpected volunteering spots turn into much more and it made for a sincere and memorable experience I could relate and convey on various interviews. I will never forget the names of many of these children and parents and when I talk/type about some of the events here, it still triggers quite the emotional response that I have no control over.

 

[CircadianRhythm]

I will echo what the others have stated. Find your niche for volunteering, something you would want to do even if you were not a pre-med. For me I like volunteer fire departments. In my state it is required to be an EMT which despite what many posters of SDN say I think is a worthwhile experience.

 

[Ximedus]

Oh please. Everybody on here is soooooooooo altruistic that no one has ever thought about adding volunteer gigs on med applications solely because it looks good. Plenty of people do it to play the admissions game and they have no problems sounding "passionate" about it during interviews.

Gimme a f-cking break.

Long live Mother Theresa!!!

 

[chizledfrmstone]

Oh please. Everybody on here is soooooooooo altruistic that no one has ever thought about adding volunteer gigs on med applications solely because it looks good. Plenty of people do it to play the admissions game and they have no problems sounding "passionate" about it during interviews.

Gimme a f-cking break.

Long live Mother Theresa!!!

Such rebel. Much anger. Very Ximedus.

 

[Dreamstoo]

I have spent 160 hours volunteering in the ER and 225 hours volunteering at a rehab center. I want to stop volunteering. Is my number of hours spent volunteering sufficient or should i continue?

Yeah, OP if you want to go ahead. For me I've volunteered at 3 clinical positions for about 350-400 hours. I might do about another 100 until I graduate if I can find a position I like. Out of all the clinical positions I worked in, I was happy with it especially when I worked with emergency services at one hospital.

 

[iTcanBdone]

Quit volunteering at those places and find one you enjoy. Don't be fake and volunteer just because you think it looks good, that's a total pre-allo move.

Totally just read that response in Dr. Kriegers voice lol

 

[Goro]

100% agree

actual reason of doing volunteer is to serve other people but not to build your resume (or application). find what you like to do first

 

[68quebec]

To be more honest on this part, volunteer at the hospital is to expose yourself into healthcare career too. it's not about admission. the admission is just part of your life lol. "Why did you volunteer at this hospital?" "because I want to make my application looking good"

C'mn gimme a freaking break. You can say better than that.

Oh please. Everybody on here is soooooooooo altruistic that no one has ever thought about adding volunteer gigs on med applications solely because it looks good. Plenty of people do it to play the admissions game and they have no problems sounding "passionate" about it during interviews.

Gimme a f-cking break.

Long live Mother Theresa!!!

 

[Dreamstoo]

To be more honest on this part, volunteer at the hospital is to expose yourself into healthcare career too. it's not about admission. the admission is just part of your life lol. "Why did you volunteer at this hospital?" "because I want to make my application looking good"

C'mn gimme a freaking break. You can say better than that.

I think it is just important you chose the volunteer position you like. At one of my volunteer positions, we were assigned a lot of quick jobs but I was able to become a department aid for most of my 7 hour shifts and for the remaining 2 hour shifts, I usually just helped with paperwork around the volunteer office. I was able to chose my jobs mostly cause the director has known me for over 6 years and gave me a lot more freedom than high school volunteers.