What did you do for volunteering?

[Rosemerge]

Hello anyone!
I'm just curious what others have done for volunteering to make them "stand out" from the rest. I have done volunteering with Disney and have a trip plan to go to Thailand and do some stuff there, but that's doesn't seem good enough.

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[LizzyM]

Disney? Isn't that a for-profit company??

Foreign trips are not a way to "stand out".

There is nothing glamorous about it. Find people in your community who need help and roll up your sleeves. I've seen applicants who organized blood drives and bone marrow registration on campus, served as mentors to kids who lacked role models at home, socialize with and teach skills to disabled people living in a group home, volunteer in a soup kitchen, food pantry or homeless shelter, be a friendly visitor to a home-bound person or offer respite care to the family of a person who needs 24-hour supervision. The point is to see a need and help fill it, not because you want to check a box but because you want to help people in your community who cannot help themselves.

 

[tessellations]

I volunteer at a community "store" (people get a bag for free per day and they can take items that people have donated such as clothes, kids toys, and household items) and at a soup kitchen. I'm also in the process of applying to volunteer at a hospital to continue to beef up my clinical experience, but to be honest, my most valuable clinical experience has come from working as a CNA.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Do what you enjoy. There isn't anything specifically that will make you stand out. If there was, so many pre-meds would end up doing it, that it would no longer look good anymore.

Your best bet is to just do what you enjoy (or dislike the least), so you can at least speak about it in interviews and sound sincere. Hospital volunteering is the way to go, since it gives you both clinical exposure and volunteerism all in one experience.

 

[marcelo12]

I agree with the previous post, do what you enjoy. I love soccer, so I volunteered as a soccer coach. I also love mentoring, so I joined a mentor program to help underprivileged kids graduate from high school.

 

[tessellations]

Definitely do what you love. One of the reasons that volunteering at the soup kitchen has been so fun and rewarding is because I love to cook and bake, especially for other people. I get to work with ingredients I'd never buy for myself, like rhubarb!

 

[GCS-15]

I work with kids in low income areas and teach them about eating healthy!


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[Murrrr]

Ever heard of the term "voluntourism"? You should volunteer your time towards things that are meaningful or that YOU find fulfilling. It's not about checking boxes, which is what your tone suggests. I've never heard someone describing a volunteering opportunity as a "trip", nor their responsibilities as "stuff to do". Sounds a little dispassionate, if you ask me. I'm not saying this to shame the idea of travelling in order to help others. I have peers who have traveled to third world countries to help build schools, care for children, etc. I commend them for not only doing it, but being passionate about it.

All this to say: just make sure your volunteer work represents your values and interests in life. Volunteer because you want to. Volunteer in something you're sooo passionate about that it doesn't feel like work. Adcoms will see right through this when you discuss these experiences in your application. And if not in your application, then perhaps in an interview.

 

[anyusernamenottaken]

I coached (and still coaching) freshman football at the high school I went to. Albeit it's not the super duper premed type gig, I do rather enjoy it!

 

[LizzyM]

Hospital volunteering is the way to go, since it gives you both clinical exposure and volunteerism all in one experience.

Some adcoms discount hospital volunteering because of the two birds with one stone aspect. They want to see non-clinical service to the needy as indicating that you want to use the skills you have now to help people in need, not just getting to be involved in clinical settings that will help you in your career.

 

[Nietzsche's Barber]

On top of hospital volunteering, I cut homeless people's hair while occasionally drinking beer and listening to rap music. Good times.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

One easy thing to do is volunteer with a group that offers after school care for low income kids who's parents are still at work. I found one specifically for kids from hispanic families where they taught english to the kids too. Its a great opportunity that is flexible, fun, requires no training, and looks good on apps. If you can hand out juice boxes and pretend to get shot with a laser gun, you're basically a pro.

The group I was with was called LaAmistad, they're in a few cities around the southeast if you're interested.

 

[Goro]

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". 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. And get off campus and out of your comfort zone!

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 ESL to adults at a community center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, or Meals on Wheels.....in addition to some of the excellent examples given above this post.

Hello anyone!
I'm just curious what others have done for volunteering to make them "stand out" from the rest. I have done volunteering with Disney and have a trip plan to go to Thailand and do some stuff there, but that's doesn't seem good enough.

 

[Vrachika]

I volunteered with a hospice organization and taught free swim lessons to kids whose parents couldn't afford them. I also teach swim lessons in a paid position and worked with my boss to make this happen because I was horrified by the drowning statistics for children, particularly for minority/low income children.

The first one I looked into for the clinical experience "checkbox", but I truly enjoy it, and have stuck with it for a couple years. I volunteered at a hospital for a short time, but I hated it. Maybe I could "smell" the patients but it didn't feel very clinical to me. The swim lessons are something I was simply passionate about...nothing super special, but at my interviews some adcoms seemed more interested in that than my hospice experiences.

I think the important takeaway here from myself and others is, do some volunteering with stuff YOU are interested in (though do make sure it is helping a population in NEED). Your interest and passion for your volunteer position will shine through in your secondaries and interviews.

Also, I would personally suggest looking into hospice organizations if you are looking for clinical volunteer positions. If you can get over the initial anxiety caused by the very sick, dying, and mostly elderly patients, it will likely feel very rewarding. I am very glad I did it, not just because I made an impact, but because it truly helped me grow as a person. I think I am more ready to become a physician because of it.

If you need non clinical volunteering, the sky is the limit. There are so many things out there. Come up with your own if you want. Just look for a need that you feel passionate about, and do you best to meet that need.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I volunteered with my church for a couple years. Every Sunday we set up kind of a breakfast bar for the local homeless people (the church was in the heart of the homeless area of the city).

One of my favorites has been volunteering with Meals on Wheels. It's a great organization. I organized an adopt a route with my current command so that I'm coordinating like 26 volunteers plus driving myself. The clients are all awesome people. It's very fulfilling not only to volunteer myself, but to see how the other volunteers react to doing it for the first time.

Not sure if it's volunteering or not, but I tutor Sailors who are taking NCPACE courses or studying for the ASVAB/SAT/ACT. I mostly tutor math, but sometimes I'll do some English.

I've also done some fundraising, but I'm probably not going to list that. I also have no clinical volunteering because I have several thousand hours of paid clinical experience. There are a few jobs you can get certified for with minimal training that offer awesome experience.

 

[Turkishking]

Hello anyone!
I'm just curious what others have done for volunteering to make them "stand out" from the rest. I have done volunteering with Disney and have a trip plan to go to Thailand and do some stuff there, but that's doesn't seem good enough.

I volunteered with big brothers/sisters for a year.

 

[WedgeDawg]

I volunteered in an emergency department and I tutored high school kids. Both I think are pretty common activities.

 

[RTC19]

I volunteer at a rape crisis center and a domestic violence shelter.

 

[21Rush12]

Fire, EMS, tutoring high school and middle school students, fostering cats for an animal shelter, and some one off things here and there for fun or to help out friends.


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[Optimist Prime]

I volunteer at a Hospice, and homeless shelter. Both of which I would highly recommend if you like to talk to people and get to know them. Honestly a lot of the people that come into the hospice and homeless shelter aren't only looking for help or care, but they are also looking for a friend to keep them company. I also get paid to work with mentally disabled people of all ages.

 

[Doctor-S]

Potential volunteering list (although a detailed list of volunteering opportunities can be endless):

1. Meals on Wheels (days, evenings, weekends). Community volunteers deliver meals to homes of seniors and individuals with disabilities; and provide social connections to help these individuals continue to live independently in their own homes.

2. Homeless Shelters or Soup Kitchens in your community (days, evenings, weekends).

3. County and City Parks and Local Recreation Areas (days and weekends). Community volunteers provide services to local parks, recreational areas and local wilderness areas. Some of the volunteer activities include conservation and management, building trails, leading interpretative hikes, patroling park trails, facility maintenance, etc.

4. If you like kittens, cats, puppies and dogs, many Animal Rescue Groups offer weekend (and occasionally evening) volunteer opportunities. The volunteers schedule their own flexible hours. My local animal rescue group has 2 volunteers who are EM physicians: both of them live in the area and enjoy spending about 5 hours per month with the cats and dogs. They schedule their own volunteer hours, based on their respective EM schedules and availability.

5. If you live near a Wilderness Area, Wilderness Sanctuary, Marine Habitat or a National Park, you can apply for volunteer positions at these venues. Many wilderness areas or coastal habitats welcome student volunteers, on days, weekends, and in the summertime. Some students become voluntary student rangers and spend a lot of time outdoors, or giving tours to kids, or checking hiking trails, or whatever.

6. Habitat for Humanity (days and weekends). Help build homes and become a weekend crew leader.

7. Food Banks/Pantries (days and weekends).

8. Animal Shelters/Humane Society (days and weekends) also welcome part-time volunteers. If you live in a city or a town, an animal shelter is probably located near you that would welcome you as a daytime or weekend volunteer.

9. Youth Team Sports or Youth Team Coaching (days and weekends). Community volunteers provide team sports coaching, leadership and mentoring in a variety of youth sports, such as basketball, soccer, swimming, tennis, baseball, etc.

10. Half-Marathon/5K races (weekends). Many race events advertise for community volunteers to help at first aid stations throughout the course of the race (e.g., to assist dehydrated runners, under the supervision of licensed medical personnel, or to help with sprains, etc.).