Volunteering Question

[urnextshrink]

I have a super extensive work history in direct care and I'm wondering if I really need to be volunteering anywhere?

I've worked part-time, but a lot of hours, in direct care with developmentally disabled adults since 2001.

I've worked full-time as a case manager for severely mentally ill adults since Spring of 2009.

I've had disabled foster siblings and mentally ill foster siblings since I was 7, and now my wife and I do foster care for a handicapped adult.

Direct care/being around medically and psychiatrically fragile people is part of who I am at the deepest level so volunteering a few hours a month somewhere when I'm insanely busy helping people just seems artificial.

Nevertheless, I really want to get into medical school so if that's what I have to do then I'll do it. Can anyone offer some guidance?

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[hopefuldoc97239]

I don't think you need volunteer work, but if you really want to cover all your bases I'd suggest you do one of the following:

1. Try volunteering in a medical setting that doesn't deal with psych or development patients. Show how well rounded you are.

2. Try volunteering in a completely non-medical setting.

 

[urnextshrink]

That makes sense.

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

How does work replace volunteering? I think you're all missing the point of volunteering. You volunteer time as a selfless act, to do something without compensation, to do it just because you want to help others. Work is work, you get paid to be there, it's in no way selfless. Fostering a person is also paid, again, you receive monetary compensation for doing it. I'm not saying it isn't because you're a good person, but when you receive money for something, it can be obscured.

Volunteering at a soup kitchen or food shelf is probably more helpful to your app than volunteering at a hospital where likely you have the same level of 'clinical' exposure. Volunteering in general is a good idea because it shows you are well rounded, it shows you take the time to help others when there is nothing to gain....

 

[LegendaryPunk]

why?

Among other things, it seems that a good application should include:

• Volunteering
• Clinical experience
• Non-clinical experience

You don't want your application to be 100% medically related. Sounds slightly counter-intuitive, but the general consensus seems to be that admissions committees want to see that you have a life outside of medicine as well.

SBB2016 did a nice job of summarizing volunteering vs. working in one of those settings.

 

[hopefuldoc97239]

Work is work, you get paid to be there, it's in no way selfless.

I personally agree with you, but I'm not sure that admissions people always do.

When I contacted one school to ask why I wasn't asked to submit a secondary application, the lady told me that they don't take hardly anyone from out of state. She told me that the few OOS students whom they asked to fill out secondaries had done programs like Teach for America--that was her example of an amazing experience, compared to my lowly volunteer work at a local free clinic. It didn't matter to her that Teach for America actually has a pretty great compensation package (salaries as high as $50,000 per year, plus a ton of extra benefits).

Hopefully this was just a bad example on her part, but I share it just to show that there are sometimes exceptions, and that admissions committees can have wacky views...

 

[anon747]

.

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

If you get paid to be there, you're getting a benefit. If you volunteer, the benefit you get is the warm fuzzy feeling you get, that's all... If your work gives you a warm fuzzy feeling and you get paid, great, but it doesn't make it a truly selfless act.

 

[Torr]

I believe SBB is right here. You should get some non-profit work in because it does speak to your dedication and willingness to work without monetary compensation.

It may be artificial to you because you're only doing it to check that box off BUT you can find something that is meaningful to you....and is also un-paid work.

I'd recommend you do a search on the forum because I know this question has been asked many many times. I didn't realize volunteer work was important but I did lots of it cause I had no choice. Your EC's sound awesome IMO so don't hinder your chances by not including some volunteer work in there. Any kind of community service where you're helping others will satisfy this.

Here is a post I found that might be helpful from LizzyM:

The reason for having some exposure to sick people (in a hospital or other setting) is so that you know what you are getting into. That you are aware of the sights, smells and aggravations that go with the territory. If you still want to go into medicine after that, then good for you. It may also give you something to strive for through all the b.s that goes before the clinical years.

As for the volunteer work. In part it is about self-sacrifice. The life of a physician is one of self-sacrifice so giving up tennis & golf to serve others is part of the point. If you aren't willing to do that, go into something easier and more lucrative, like real estate or pharmaceuticals.

The trick is to find something you love and find a way to use that to help others. You like to cook? -- volunteer to prepare food for a soup kitchen. Like to read? -- can you tutor young readers and discuss books with them?
Chess? maybe there is an inner city school or boys & girls club that needs a chess coach.

...and just found this one from Q. Hope she doesn't mind me quoting this since it's a slightly older post but I think its validity still holds.

I think that volunteer experience (non-medical AND medical) is very important to most medical schools. I got asked about it quite a bit at my interviews. There were several where the interviewer flat-out said to me, "Tell me about your volunteering activities." I basically had four major ones: volunteering as a co-investigator and project manager of a clinical trial, three years as a Big Sister for BBBS, a year in the surgery waiting room at a hospital (the least important to me personally, but surprisingly important to several of the med schools), and doing the SDN MCAT subforum. Like efex said, you don't have to volunteer for several hours per day or week. I spend one hour per week as a Big, and did two hours per week at the hospital. I had to go from 6-8AM to fit it in, and that sucked majorly, but in retrospect I am very glad that I did it. Time spent for the other two activities varied; sometimes I spent lots of time on them (like right before each MCAT!), and sometimes I would go days or weeks without doing them at all.

I do think that blee is probably right that volunteering is not *required* for anyone. However, don't ever forget that you are competing against thousands of applicants at most medical schools, many of whom have done some incredible volunteering and other activities. How do you think you are going to stack up to them in the interviewer's or adcom's mind when they ask you about your volunteering activities and you say, "I don't have any, because I was too busy to even give one hour per week?" If getting into medical school is your priority, then volunteering is something you should seriously consider making the time to do. (The irony that I'm suggesting volunteering for self-serving purposes is not lost on me here. )

 

[urnextshrink]

I'm totally sold on the need for volunteer work after this thread.

One thing I hadn't thought of is that I'm in the process of joining the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization. I'm just doing this because I want to be more involved in my community/church, not to check off a box, but a lot of it is volunteer work.

Like a lot of the vets around here say, part of this is recognizing the strengths you already have as opposed to going out and doing more/new things, I need to get better at that aspect of the "application mentality."

 

[QofQuimica]

...and just found this one from Q. Hope she doesn't mind me quoting this since it's a slightly older post but I think its validity still holds.

Dang, that Q girl is just brilliant. I would have said the exact same thing myself!

All kidding aside, OP, volunteering should be fun. You should do it because you want to give back to the community, but you should also enjoy doing it because it's something you're passionate about and want to share with others. For me, volunteering for SDN is still a great example of that (although fortunately, not in the MCAT forum anymore!). Also, I served on the adcom at my med school for four years. This kind of premed mentoring is something I'm really passionate about, and it's a great feeling when people I've mentored get that first thick envelope.

Besides continuing to mod this forum, I just realized that there is a kids' science museum near where I live here, and I'm going to go see if they can use me as a volunteer. They undoubtedly don't really *need* an MD/PhD volunteer, but I love doing science demos for kids, so maybe I can help with activity development. Or maybe I can help with their K-12 science teacher development program. Or maybe I can help set up a new exhibit. I'm sure we'll come up with some way I can be useful.

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

Imagine that Q!!! Anyway, I just don't buy the "I can't make time" I have worked 60 hours a week and found time to volunteer, I have ~5000+ hours of volunteering all while being in school, working, working two jobs, etc... My food shelf requirement is 2 hours every other Saturday, 9-11 am... There are ways to do what you want when you really want to get something done... you just have to want it...

 

[felixthekat]

I have a super extensive work history in direct care and I'm wondering if I really need to be volunteering anywhere?

I've worked part-time, but a lot of hours, in direct care with developmentally disabled adults since 2001.

I've worked full-time as a case manager for severely mentally ill adults since Spring of 2009.

I've had disabled foster siblings and mentally ill foster siblings since I was 7, and now my wife and I do foster care for a handicapped adult.

Direct care/being around medically and psychiatrically fragile people is part of who I am at the deepest level so volunteering a few hours a month somewhere when I'm insanely busy helping people just seems artificial.

Nevertheless, I really want to get into medical school so if that's what I have to do then I'll do it. Can anyone offer some guidance?

I love volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. I have done it since I was 18 years old. I love building things and digging in the dirt, ect...and I hope to one day be a homeowner myself, and I think the skills I have learned there will be helpful. I did this way before I started thinking about medical school, and I will probably do it way after. That is my main volunteer activity.

Someone told me I need to have clinical volunteer experience. I work in a hospital with a very odd and unpredictable schedule. Some days I don't even want to drive down the street that the hospital is on, but what I do is volunteer at annual things--like my town has a few festivals each year that needs volunteers to staff the first aid tent, or the hospital has programs for children to introduce them to the hospital, or I volunteer at summer camp for children with certain medical problems. Is it a weekly thing? NO monthly-- NO, but my hope is that is matters for something, but even if it didn't, I would still be doing these things because I enjoy them. The same cannot be said for my time spent as a hospital volunteer (except as a baby snuggler--that was pretty cool).

 

[CaptainObvious]

How about peer tutoring at the college? I've got a solid A in Bio and can surely get a recommendation from my Prof. I've been considering signing up to spend some time tutoring some students that would like help.

Not that it will make a difference because I will likely do it regardless, but will this "count" among my others when it comes time to list my volunteering activities?

 

[QofQuimica]

How about peer tutoring at the college? I've got a solid A in Bio and can surely get a recommendation from my Prof. I've been considering signing up to spend some time tutoring some students that would like help.

Not that it will make a difference because I will likely do it regardless, but will this "count" among my others when it comes time to list my volunteering activities?

(Cue annoying late-nite infomercial announcer's voice)

Are you helping other people while participating in this activity? Are you doing it without being recompensed? If you answered yes to the above two questions, then congratulations, you are eligible to claim this activity as one of your volunteering activities on AMCAS!

 

[n3xa]

I started volunteering with a nonprofit organization that hosts after-school fitness/activity events in an effort to get kids moving+eating healthy. I've always been interested in type-2 diabetes/obesity from a research standpoint, so it's a great way for me to get involved from the prevention standpoint.

The kids are awesome and I get a solid workout trying to hop around in a burlap sack.

 

[turkeybean]

Please let me 'borrow' this thread and ask a volunteer related question.

My father works at a non-profit and throughout the years, whenever they have had functions or events and short on help, I would offer my assistance -- ranging from preparing food to paper work to transport. I actually never thought about putting this down on my app until my father alerted me to it. I mean, I never really thought about this as formal "volunteer" work, certainly not for med school app, although I enjoyed doing some of that work, and never received pay for it. I don't believe my helping has benefited my father in anyway professionally -- it was just work relief. Would it be OK to list this as a 'volunteer' activity?

 

[QofQuimica]

Please let me 'borrow' this thread and ask a volunteer related question.

My father works at a non-profit and throughout the years, whenever they have had functions or events and short on help, I would offer my assistance -- ranging from preparing food to paper work to transport. I actually never thought about putting this down on my app until my father alerted me to it. I mean, I never really thought about this as formal "volunteer" work, certainly not for med school app, although I enjoyed doing some of that work, and never received pay for it. I don't believe my helping has benefited my father in anyway professionally -- it was just work relief. Would it be OK to list this as a 'volunteer' activity?

See my post two posts above yours.

 

[turkeybean]

OK - got it! Sounds reasonable. Thanks!

 

[anon747]

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