Volunteering experience as a nontrad?

[crazyotter]

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As a non-traditional premed, how did you obtain volunteering experience?

What kind of volunteering did you do to demonstrate your decision to pivot into medicine?

Is volunteering 100% necessary to prove your decision (to admissions) to pivot into medicine after having an unrelated career?

 

[M&L]

i volunteered in a homeless shelter.
From what i understand, volunteering itself is not to demonstrate the decision to pivot into medicine as much as it is to demonstrate your commitment to service. thats why you see people have 1)non-medical volunteering, 2) medical volunteering, 3) clinical experience.

but you definitely should show a significant amount of hours of exposure to medicine, - otherwise, how do you show them that you know what you are talking about, you know? They would look at your application and be like "well, you have only 20 hours of clinical experience. How do you even know you want to be a doctor? How do you even know you will like working with patients?"

 

[CougarMD]

As a non-traditional premed, how did you obtain volunteering experience?

What kind of volunteering did you do to demonstrate your decision to pivot into medicine?

Is volunteering 100% necessary to prove your decision (to admissions) to pivot into medicine after having an unrelated career?

Like M&L said, it’s not proof of your decision to pivot to medicine, it’s proof that you are committed to service. Medicine is a life of service, and if service is something that doesn’t fulfill you, you may want to reconsider medicine. There are other ways to get a paycheck🙂

Prior to Med school, I volunteered at a library bookstore for 8 years, and volunteered as a doula for 3.5 years. I also did some shorter stints (9-12 months) in an ED doing intake for studies and with an inpatient PT rehab team. During med school I volunteered a lot at races (as a medical volunteer and a lifeguard in triathlons or even just packet pickup) because it was something I loved.

Volunteer opportunities are everywhere. Think of an organization that does something interesting, and ask them how you can help. You’d be surprised who would be happy to use your brain for free. Clinical volunteering may be a little more difficult in the time of COVID but you can find many ways to give your time.

The purpose is to show that you enjoy community service, because at its core, medicine is customer and community service on top of your scientific and clinical expertise.

 

[crazyotter]

i volunteered in a homeless shelter.
From what i understand, volunteering itself is not to demonstrate the decision to pivot into medicine as much as it is to demonstrate your commitment to service. thats why you see people have 1)non-medical volunteering, 2) medical volunteering, 3) clinical experience.

but you definitely should show a significant amount of hours of exposure to medicine, - otherwise, how do you show them that you know what you are talking about, you know? They would look at your application and be like "well, you have only 20 hours of clinical experience. How do you even know you want to be a doctor? How do you even know you will like working with patients?"

Is there a hierarchy of ideal volunteering experience or will any amount that shows service be ideal for an application?

I did some googling and some med students even went so far as to work as paid scribes at hospitals. Is that overkill?

 

[M&L]

Like M&L said, it’s not proof of your decision to pivot to medicine, it’s proof that you are committed to service. Medicine is a life of service, and if service is something that doesn’t fulfill you, you may want to reconsider medicine. There are other ways to get a paycheck🙂

Prior to Med school, I volunteered at a library bookstore for 8 years, and volunteered as a doula for 3.5 years. I also did some shorter stints (9-12 months) in an ED doing intake for studies and with an inpatient PT rehab team. During med school I volunteered a lot at races (as a medical volunteer and a lifeguard in triathlons or even just packet pickup) because it was something I loved.

Volunteer opportunities are everywhere. Think of an organization that does something interesting, and ask them how you can help. You’d be surprised who would be happy to use your brain for free. Clinical volunteering may be a little more difficult in the time of COVID but you can find many ways to give your time.

The purpose is to show that you enjoy community service, because at its core, medicine is customer and community service on top of your scientific and clinical expertise.

what kind of doula? birth or death?

 

[CougarMD]

what kind of doula? birth or death?

I actually did both. I was a birth doula for 3.5 years. For about a year I did volunteer trauma response where sometimes I ended up doing “No One Dies Alone” duties when the family couldn’t handle being there.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

Is there a hierarchy of ideal volunteering experience or will any amount that shows service be ideal for an application?

volunteering is volunteering. working is working. if you have other stuff that shows your commitment to health care, volunteer doing whatever you want. if you don't try to volunteer in healthcare. when I was premed, a part time job that I had was patient transport at the hospital. because I had this, all of my volunteering was at my kids' school in various aspects, but definitely not related to heath care.

 

[M&L]

Is there a hierarchy of ideal volunteering experience or will any amount that shows service be ideal for an application?

I did some googling and some med students even went so far as to work as paid scribes at hospitals. Is that overkill?

paid scribes is good because 1) it is a paid position, 2) it gives a lot of exposure to patients (so, NO ONE will ask you if you are sure you want to pursue medicine, because after working for several months as a scribe in ER you will see so much, anyone who is not really committed to this would have run away a while ago), 3) give you a good understanding of how medicine really is.
This is the thing,, - i grew up watching different medical shows. I LOVE them. Greys Anatomy, House, ER - you name it. But the real life is not really that fabulous. way more paperwork, way less "stuff", way less glamorous. So i feel like right now a lot of people have a very wrong idea of what medicine is like. Then they get into medical school, spend first two years studying, and then they get to the 3rd year, (120,000 dollars in debt by then), and during their psych or OB/GYN rotation realize they hate medicine. Or during their first ER rotation, where they have to take care of a homeless person, for example. And usually those people are so smart, - they definitely could have applied themselves somewhere else, vs wasting 2 years and 120K on something they dont even like. It is seriously an illusion that medicine is "the only way". Some people think that medicine is the only "right way". Sort of a bit of a halo vibe from doctors. The truth is (my truth, anyway), - it is a job, it pays way. It is a lifestyle. But is it the only one way that will make you successful? absolutely not! is it the only way to help people? definitely not. I chose medicine because it is seriously the only thing i want to do. I did other things before (career changer, non traditional), and i switched to medicine because that was all i wanted. I would be a doctor if i got paid 60K a year (if someone erased student loans 🙂). BUT: to KNOW if you really love it that much, - you need to be exposed to it. A lot. This is why clinical volunteering is good. This is why scribing is better (because you engage in actual pt treatment vs just doing random things as a volunteer.). Before starting this career you need to be sure.

 

[M&L]

I actually did both. I was a birth doula for 3.5 years. For about a year I did volunteer trauma response where sometimes I ended up doing “No One Dies Alone” duties when the family couldn’t handle being there.

i would love to do "no one dies alone" thing. How do i get into that?

 

[Goro]

As a non-traditional premed, how did you obtain volunteering experience?

What kind of volunteering did you do to demonstrate your decision to pivot into medicine?

Is volunteering 100% necessary to prove your decision (to admissions) to pivot into medicine after having an unrelated career?

Medicine is a service profession, so yes, you need volunteering to show off your altruism.

 

[CougarMD]

i would love to do "no one dies alone" thing. How do i get into that?

Shoot me a message and if you’re in an area that has the trauma program I did, I can give you some info. They require a 1 year commitment (or at least they did) so take that into account.

The short answer for “No One Dies Alone” is that it isn’t a national program but there are lots of individual versions of it in cities or at specific hospitals. You have to search to see if something like it exists near you.

It’s very helpful for being a resident and physician in general. No matter what specialty you do, you will do some ICU time and you will see patients die. Knowing how to have conversations around that, or even more difficult, staying quiet, is an excellent skill. The skills I learned around holding space for people and their feelings and being ok with people crying, getting angry, or their outright anguish are worth more than most of the things I learned in med school.

I remember during my interviews that these were the experiences people seemed the most interested in and these are the skills I still use daily.

 

[esob]

Hospice was great for my schedule as a non-trad because it allowed me schedule flexibility. I'm also a talker, so that fit in well with my personality, though I did a lot of memory care where there wasn't much talking as well. I'm also a musician and so I used to learn a lot of old WWII era songs for some of the veteran patients I had and they really enjoyed it. The point of all that is, find a volunteer gig that fits you, because if you don't like what you're doing it will feel like you are just grinding it out and it will show on interview day when you try to talk about it.

 

[Goro]

As a non-traditional premed, how did you obtain volunteering experience?

What kind of volunteering did you do to demonstrate your decision to pivot into medicine?

Is volunteering 100% necessary to prove your decision (to admissions) to pivot into medicine after having an unrelated career?

Some suggestions:
Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.

Some types of volunteer activities are more appealing than others. Volunteering in a nice suburban hospital is all very well and good and all, but doesn't show that you're willing to dig in and get your hands dirty in the same way that working with the developmentally disabled (or homeless, the dying, or Alzheimers or mentally ill or elderly or ESL or domestic, rural impoverished) does. The uncomfortable situations are the ones that really demonstrate your altruism and get you 'brownie points'. Plus, they frankly teach you more -- they develop your compassion and humanity in ways comfortable situations can't.

Service need not be "unique"; it can be anything that helps people unable to help themselves and that is outside of a patient-care setting.If you can alleviate suffering in your community through service to the poor, homeless, illiterate, fatherless, etc, you are meeting an otherwise unmet need and learning more about the lives of the people (or types of people) who will someday be your patients.

Check out your local houses of worship for volunteer opportunities. The key thing is service to others less fortunate than you.

Examples include: Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, Humane Society, crisis hotlines, soup kitchen, food pantry, homeless or women’s shelter, after-school tutoring for students or coaching a sport in a poor school district, teaching literacy or ESL to adults at a community center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Meals on Wheels, mentoring immigrant/refugee adults, being a friendly visitor to shut-ins, adaptive sports program coach or Special Olympics.

 

[esob]

Some suggestions:
Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.

Some types of volunteer activities are more appealing than others. Volunteering in a nice suburban hospital is all very well and good and all, but doesn't show that you're willing to dig in and get your hands dirty in the same way that working with the developmentally disabled (or homeless, the dying, or Alzheimers or mentally ill or elderly or ESL or domestic, rural impoverished) does. The uncomfortable situations are the ones that really demonstrate your altruism and get you 'brownie points'. Plus, they frankly teach you more -- they develop your compassion and humanity in ways comfortable situations can't.

Service need not be "unique"; it can be anything that helps people unable to help themselves and that is outside of a patient-care setting.If you can alleviate suffering in your community through service to the poor, homeless, illiterate, fatherless, etc, you are meeting an otherwise unmet need and learning more about the lives of the people (or types of people) who will someday be your patients.

Check out your local houses of worship for volunteer opportunities. The key thing is service to others less fortunate than you.

Examples include: Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, Humane Society, crisis hotlines, soup kitchen, food pantry, homeless or women’s shelter, after-school tutoring for students or coaching a sport in a poor school district, teaching literacy or ESL to adults at a community center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Meals on Wheels, mentoring immigrant/refugee adults, being a friendly visitor to shut-ins, adaptive sports program coach or Special Olympics.

Also, when I asked this same question (like a thousand years ago, lol), Goro made this same post and I followed the advice. I tried out a bunch of these, found a couple that I liked, and the rest was history. I ended up having quality conversations about my volunteering during all of my interviews, so definitely give the items on this list a try.

 

[crazyotter]

Some suggestions:
Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.

Some types of volunteer activities are more appealing than others. Volunteering in a nice suburban hospital is all very well and good and all, but doesn't show that you're willing to dig in and get your hands dirty in the same way that working with the developmentally disabled (or homeless, the dying, or Alzheimers or mentally ill or elderly or ESL or domestic, rural impoverished) does. The uncomfortable situations are the ones that really demonstrate your altruism and get you 'brownie points'. Plus, they frankly teach you more -- they develop your compassion and humanity in ways comfortable situations can't.

Service need not be "unique"; it can be anything that helps people unable to help themselves and that is outside of a patient-care setting.If you can alleviate suffering in your community through service to the poor, homeless, illiterate, fatherless, etc, you are meeting an otherwise unmet need and learning more about the lives of the people (or types of people) who will someday be your patients.

Check out your local houses of worship for volunteer opportunities. The key thing is service to others less fortunate than you.

Examples include: Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, Humane Society, crisis hotlines, soup kitchen, food pantry, homeless or women’s shelter, after-school tutoring for students or coaching a sport in a poor school district, teaching literacy or ESL to adults at a community center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Meals on Wheels, mentoring immigrant/refugee adults, being a friendly visitor to shut-ins, adaptive sports program coach or Special Olympics.

Thanks for these really great suggestions. I will try all of them out. To clarify, I volunteer through my church and we run food programs from time to time in poor areas in our city. I didn't know med schools qualified non-hospital or non-medical related volunteering for applications, so that's encouraging to know!

Regardless, as a non-trad with a low gpa, my application is weak in general so I'll try to put my shoes on the ground at a clinic or a hospital. Thanks again!