Volunteering Abroad

[cometstarg]

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I'm going to Nigeria this December and while I'm there will be volunteering at a nonprofit that helps educate the poor about HIV and AIDS. I'm not applying this year but when I do I want to tie this in to my PS. Do medical schools actually verify that you did these kinds of things? Do I need to bring back some kind of proof that I actually did it?

 

[pennstate4life]

You mean like a certificate? You can always adopt a baby there and it will be used as proof😱

 

[cometstarg]

Nah already got one in the family. But for real, it's not like they would google the organization or anything to see if it was real right

 

[Gnocchi Monster]

If it is important to you, be able to talk about it during the interview. Most people can see through a lie. No one expects you to bring direct proof of something like that to the interview -- if adcoms want to know more I'm sure you could steer them to the nonprofit's office/website/etc where they can get more details.

Have fun! Sounds like it will be a great experience.

 

[pmc2025]

I'm going to Nigeria this December and while I'm there will be volunteering at a nonprofit that helps educate the poor about HIV and AIDS. I'm not applying this year but when I do I want to tie this in to my PS. Do medical schools actually verify that you did these kinds of things? Do I need to bring back some kind of proof that I actually did it?

Dude, you probably don't mean it, but the language you're using is a bit fishy. If I were an ADCOM and someone made a claim about working in Nigeria, I'd probably google the organization if I were to offer you an interview. 1) to make sure you know your stuff during the interview 2) to make sure you're aren't pulling the full Adam Wheeler and trying to lie your way into med school.

While it's highly unlikely that a legitimate organization wouldn't have some sort of website (if not simply for fundraising), I'd be willing to bet some sort of mention of them would easily be found by Google. Just in case, be sure to bring a brochure/pics from the org and your time in Nigeria to any interviews you get.

 

[teenmachinery1]

if you really do something you can't help but have proof: e-mail from and to the organization/online bank transactions showing airplane ticket or whatever/etc. etc.

I made sure that I could back up everything I said on my application just in case anyone had any questions.

 

[cometstarg]

Thanks for the responses guys. It's not work work, I go around with some of their people to talk to villagers. It's actually a friend of the family's gig, and he invited me to go while I'm there with my family to visit family there.

 

[pennstate4life]

Be careful Nigeria is known for kidnapping tourists and harvesting their lungs.

 

[cometstarg]

Thanks 🙂 my family and I will be staying in our city house there though and should be fine. It's kind of in a little community with other family members' houses. The real danger is in the rural areas, especially when it's dark.

 

[pennstate4life]

I would keep an eye on the so called "families"

 

[Cayucos]

I'm going to Thailand in November with Habitat for Humanity. I'm mostly afraid of catching some disease from the food.

 

[Janieve]

I did some volunteering and shadowing while I was studying abroad in Japan. Instead of using one of my "activities" slots, I'm going to wait until secondaries and/or interviews to bring it up, mostly because I don't know how to verify it either. My supervisors didn't speak English. 🙁

My vote would be: talk about it in your PS if it's valuable to you. Otherwise, unless you have someone you know can verify it, don't list it.