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I was thinking of going to Mexico in the summer of my Sophomore year and volunteering for 1 or 2 months. Will that stand out? What if I get a LOR in Spanish though? Can I submit one?
Lots of people volunteer in Latin America, so just doing it won't make you stand out. If you developed your own project or something like that, then yes, but you could have done that in the US of A. And I don't think you can submit a LOR in Spanish.I was thinking of going to Mexico in the summer of my Sophomore year and volunteering for 1 or 2 months. Will that stand out? What if I get a LOR in Spanish though? Can I submit one?
im doing something like that for spring break, 1 or 2mos is wayyyyyy to long to volunteer abroad IMO.
No. What happens if the person reading your letter was Chinese? or Italian?Well since I generally go for summer vacation there, I thought what the heck, might as well do something useful.
I've had an idea to develop a project. Hmmmmm, as for the LOR, you think no? 🙁
I was thinking of going to Mexico in the summer of my Sophomore year and volunteering for 1 or 2 months. Will that stand out? What if I get a LOR in Spanish though? Can I submit one?
im doing something like that for spring break, 1 or 2mos is wayyyyyy to long to volunteer abroad IMO.
Yeah except then it loses its legitimacy. Most schools I know/AMCAS only accept letters from the person writing them, the school or career center, etc.
it's not how long you do something, it's what you gain from the experience.......volunteering somewhere for 2 months just to put it on ur app is ridic/ threadGo for it. Honestly, if you have the opportunity and especially if you speak Spanish well, why wouldn't you??
I don't understand how you could get anything out of a volunteer abroad experience in LESS than 1 or 2 months. A week? Really? Sorry, that's a vacation.
not so calm now is right, if there is any sort of program available where you can design your own project, that would be better from a "get into med school perspective." It sounds like you might have some contacts in the area, maybe at a hotel, church or clinic? Shoot them an e-mail or letter asking them if there is anything you might be able to do for their community. You will be surprised by the responses you get, I guarantee you. This is how I organized my summer volunteer trip to Africa. You don't need to be Paul Farmer, but maybe you could teach a class on STD prevention, help build a community garden to improve nutrition, or whatever...the list goes on, and trust me, they will know better what their community needs than you will, and that is something you must never forget.
Would you be the only one applying to volunteer abroad? No. But putting in the work to do an intensive one or two month volunteer abroad program shows that service is something you are passionate about, not just a 200 hour goal you are plodding towards handing out magazines in a hospital waiting room, and on top of that, you will have TONS of material with which to confidently answer those community service/diversity experience essays on secondaries and at interviews. AND on top of everything else, you might just learn something about another culture and the world around you. It's an adventure! How is that not ten times better than anything else you could be doing with those 2 months?
PS: Disclaimer. I realize not everyone has the time/funds/time to raise funds to be able to volunteer abroad, but if you do have the opportunity, why not take it?
PPS: All LORs in English, please.
it's not how long you do something, it's what you gain from the experience.......volunteering somewhere for 2 months just to put it on ur app is ridic/ thread
And I would argue, you're not going to get 100% of an experience from just spring break's worth of time. It usually takes me > 1wk to just adjust to a culture.it's not how long you do something, it's what you gain from the experience.......volunteering somewhere for 2 months just to put it on ur app is ridic/ thread