Volunteering - Which method is better?

[ManlyMan246]

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Which method of clinical volunteering do y'all think is better and looks better to admissions committees? I understand that conventional wisdom states that it looks better to do something consistently over a long period of time to show commitment, but I was thinking about things and feel that volunteering 40-60 hours a week for about a month or so (4-5 weeks) also shows commitment and dedication, and would allow the individual to experience many things in the volunteer environment that a 3-4 hr/wk/yr volunteer may not be able to.

I'd love to hear everybody's opinions on this. I personally feel that if a student does 40-60 hours a week of volunteering over the summer, s/he has demonstrated a commitment to the patients and to medicine at the level of an individual who volunteers every week for 3-4 hours (what it seems like many of our peers and colleagues do) or perhaps even above that level. I think that it's definitely going to leave a different impression on the student because they will be there day-in-day-out and see everything there is to see unfolding before them, and not through brief weekly snapshots.

I've done a bit of both, so this really is just a general poll. I'm not looking to validate my personal decisions 🙂

 

[ld9]

Which method of clinical volunteering do y'all think is better and looks better to admissions committees? I understand that conventional wisdom states that it looks better to do something consistently over a long period of time to show commitment, but I was thinking about things and feel that volunteering 40-60 hours a week for about a month or so (4-5 weeks) also shows commitment and dedication, and would allow the individual to experience many things in the volunteer environment that a 3-4 hr/wk/yr volunteer may not be able to.

I'd love to hear everybody's opinions on this. I personally feel that if a student does 40-60 hours a week of volunteering over the summer, s/he has demonstrated a commitment to the patients and to medicine at the level of an individual who volunteers every week for 3-4 hours (what it seems like many of our peers and colleagues do) or perhaps even above that level. I think that it's definitely going to leave a different impression on the student because they will be there day-in-day-out and see everything there is to see unfolding before them, and not through brief weekly snapshots.

I've done a bit of both, so this really is just a general poll. I'm not looking to validate my personal decisions 🙂

40-60 hrs a week?? I don't think there are many places that will let you do that much.

 

[cpants]

It really depends what the activities are I think. If you are talking about basic hospital volunteering in both cases, I would go 3-5 hrs/week. If you are talking about working on a really cool project for 4-5 weeks, say building a school in a disaster area, then go with that. It doesn't have to be either or though. You could still keep up some modest volunteer effort even if you do a marathon over the summer.

 

[Xcited392]

No brainer: long-term commitment is best.

It looks really bad if you cram in hundreds of hours in a few weeks or a few short months, especially if it's right before submitting your application.

 

[ThaliaNox]

Honestly, the short term stuff, no matter how intense, looks desperate, like you're trying to make up for something. This effect is lessened or eliminated if you also have long term volunteering as well. Then a really cool short term thing like a children's camp or disaster relief can make a good stand out feature for your application. A short term thing along, though... Not going to cut it for most applicants.

 

[MugenTsukiyomi]

Long term is better because if you choice short term is like you just want it to be over with. I think people like to know that you are dedicated.

 

[LetsGo352]

Can a semester be considered "long term"? I have 3 semesters of volunteering @4 hrs / week and 3 semesters of shadowing along with 3 years of paid research at about 15 hours / week. Would ADCOMs consider this a weakness?

 

[GoRiceOwls]

I have a question to follow up:

Y'all say that long term shows more dedication, but how is it that volunteering 40-60 hours a week for a month or so does not show dedication? Especially, if you are NOT doing this right before you apply. Also, 3-4 hours a week doesn't seem like you'd learn as much or develop as godo patient relations as if you were there for 8-10 hours a day. From my experience, being there all day means you get more responsibility and the volunteer opp almost becomes an internship. What do y'all think?

 

[cpants]

I have a question to follow up:

Y'all say that long term shows more dedication, but how is it that volunteering 40-60 hours a week for a month or so does not show dedication? Especially, if you are NOT doing this right before you apply. Also, 3-4 hours a week doesn't seem like you'd learn as much or develop as godo patient relations as if you were there for 8-10 hours a day. From my experience, being there all day means you get more responsibility and the volunteer opp almost becomes an internship. What do y'all think?

Volunteering 40-60 hours a week for a month will only help you, provided that it's not your only volunteer experience. However, it won't be that impressive unless it is a specific project requiring you to work in that condensed time period. What is the project? Why can't you do some light volunteering during the rest of your year? There is plenty of opportunity to do so.