volunteering

[traveljunky]

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hey everyone,

Just wanted an opinion about how future admission commities will view my application:
have a 3.5 science gpa. I will be begining my third year of undergrad in the fall.

So far ive shadowed 4 optometrists each for about a day(plan to do more shadowing over the summer) , volunteered to tutor high school students and prepare them for standerdized tests, recived an honors in a bio class, and wrote a reivew paper that was published in my schools Health and Science magazine.

During junior year i have several projects in mind such as volunteering for the American red cross and at a hospital (already underway), Join unite for sight, as well as take part in student government.

Im a little worried that these 4 projects that I have planned for junior year will be looked down at and viewed as just a way to boost my application.

any thoughts are well appreciated,
Thanks in advance🙂

 

[jymezg]

Its good to be well rounded and have lots of experience. I'd suggest finding an OD that you like and shadow for a longer period of time so you can really get a feel for whats going on.

As for the boosting your application comment. If your actually doing these tasks good for you. It looks great on your app as long as your participating to a good extent. Let me throw an example out. I have this undergrad volunteer that has been "involved" in research for the past almost 2 years now. Yet, he has accomplished nothing. He will leave to volunteer at the hospital for a few hours, help the homeless, fight world hunger, ect ect. So his app must look amazing on paper...in fact im sure his CV would be a few pages. He wants to go to med school, the problem is when he gets to his interviews he is going to look like a bumbling ignorant fool talking about his research because he does the BARE MINIMUM and knows absoluting nothing about what he is actually doing.

Cutting the end to the example, do as much as you want to boost your app but make sure its actually meaningful and you can talk about it during your interview, otherwise its just pointless.