What if you just DON'T want to volunteer?

[AllDaWEI]

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I've seen my share of volunteer threads, showing both sides since my time lurking and being member on SDN. Typically, when you have someone that hates pre-med volunteering, the members for it will always suggest that they volunteer at a free clinic or place that interests them.

But, what if the pre-med has absolutely no desire to volunteer? 😕

This question never gets asked. Apparently, it is considered crime when a pre-med does something they want to in their free time. Pre-meds are definitely held to a double-standard. If they say they do not want to volunteer, then they will get lots of flak. Often you see SDNers asking if they can take time off, and then are told to do "productive" things. Clearly, having fun doing things you want to do is just not right, and can only hurt you in long run.

With all the **** pre-meds get on here for not wanting to volunteer, have you ever thought about your family and friends that have never volunteered before? Do you judge them or think they are bad people? Would they all make horrible doctors? I thought volunteering was supposed to be something that someone wants to do WILLINGLY. Why should it hurt them if they decide not to do it?

There is nothing more frustrating than seeing threads with people asking if they have enough volunteer hours or if they should still apply this year given a late volunteer start date? All of a sudden, SDN members say that this will give a bad impression to ADCOMs. SERIOUSLY? WHEN DOES DOING A "GOOD" THING HURT YOU?

Am I the only one who thinks this is $%&*#$ up? Does it not bother you that a "good deed" can work in so many ways to either hurt or help you? Since when should "volunteering" be forced? Is it so bad if you want some time to yourself working so hard to be a doctor? 👎

 

[romanjetfighter]

ppl volunteer to boost their app. period.

if volunteering was not helpful for med school applications, people wouldn't volunteer most of the time, especially when they could be studying for the mcat or studying extra hard for school or working at a rewarding job like scribing or tutoring or whatever. after all, any time not spent boosting your app is time wasted (unless you enjoy it intrinsically like playng video games or whatever).

i like volunteering (like most people) but wouldn't do it for 500+ hours over two years if it wasn't beneficial to my app.

 

[kanakari]

But, what if the pre-med has absolutely no desire to volunteer? 😕

Perhaps this pre-med also then has no desire to get into med school.

 

[aranza]

I've never really understood the relation between bagging x amount of volunteer hours and being a quality doctor. If a doctor cannot diagnose their patient properly then what good is a trillion, sometimes "forced", volunteer hours :S

 

[AllDaWEI]

Perhaps this pre-med also then has no desire to get into med school.

And that's the problem. A lack of volunteering should not hurt your chances of getting in based on the theory of volunteering.

 

[Hotshy]

I agree that some volunteering positions can be tedious. But I think aspiring physicians should have some drive to serve others. I've already been accepted and am continuing my volunteer work regardless. I think volunteering should be a requirement, if you don't want to volunteer how altruistic are you really?

 

[SpecterGT260]

But it does. And that won't change.

 

[Stumpyman]

The only thing I've done/will do for med schools is shadowing (and I completely understand why they want this-- despite how much I'm sure I want to be a doctor and know enough about the medical field, adcoms still don't know that, and they must see something to prove it).

I volunteer at places where I would actually volunteer if i wasn't a pre med (i.e.-not hospitals). For clinical exposure (which is another thing adcoms want to see, I work in the Emergency Department.

Bottom line is, it's not a perfect process, and people will do what they can to get into medical school.

 

[deleted197541]

I thought volunteering in the ER was fun. If you don't want to volunteer then I think you at least need to make a concerted effort to shadow physicians.

 

[ppfizenm]

And that's the problem. A lack of volunteering should not hurt your chances of getting in based on the theory of volunteering.

You're right. Unfortunately it isn't going to change with the competition we put each other through.

 

[whoMD]

no volunteering at all may suggest a selfish nature. they may think youd put yourself before your patients. shrug

 

[AllDaWEI]

I don't mind volunteering (within reason) if their is a legit benefit to be gained by the institution that I am giving my time to...

For example, volunteering at the ED is largely a waste of time (at least in my neck of the woods): there are tons of us, our activities range from doing scut work for nurses while they play on their iPhones - to just being a fly on the wall. Essentially, after a week or so of doing this it becomes a waste.

On the other hand, there was hardly anyone volunteering at the community shelter and frankly the place is disgusting and the children are lonely. Time spent cleaning and providing company for the residents was time well spent. As it directly improved the QOL in an understaffed shelter.

With all that said, you will still be shooting yourself in the foot if you don't get in BOTH clinical and nonclinical volunteering and present the endeavors as life-changing experiences on AMCAS while subsequently wearing such a degree of a ****-eating grin at your interviews that it would make the ladies from 2-girls-1-cup blush.

What you mentioned is true. I'm getting the impression that this is trending back to the "yes, some clinical volunteering is pointless, but non-clinical is great." Yes, indeed this is true. BUT, would you still judge someone if they didn't want to volunteer in that shelter you mentioned because they don't want to spend their time volunteering?

 

[Slack3r]

Then they suck it up and do it anyway, everyone else does.

FWIW, I hated volunteering. Boring and tedious. But it's a hoop, so bring it on.

 

[BirdIsTheWord]

Seriously, find someplace where it would be so enjoyable to volunteer, you don't count it as volunteering. My EMT and the Science museum that I volunteer at are what I count as these enjoyable things

 

[AllDaWEI]

Seriously, find someplace where it would be so enjoyable to volunteer, you don't count it as volunteering. My EMT and the Science museum that I volunteer at are what I count as these enjoyable things

You just fell into the trap. You suggested volunteering somewhere enjoyable.

 

[artsciencelove]

I think it's all about finding the volunteer opportunity that you LIKE. I hated working in the ER of my local hospital -- boring. Like most of the people reading this, I could handle a lot more responsibility. I did my 100 hrs of cleaning rooms and stocking shelves and quit. Yeah, I saw the inside of a hospital, BFD.

On the other hand, I really like going to the homeless shelter and tutoring the kids there. I am doing some small thing to help these young kids not fall into the problems of drugs, crime, whatever. They have grown to trust me over the past year, and I'll be really sad when I have to leave for med school.

Don't volunteer just to help your app. Find something you will enjoy. When someone asks about it, the feelings you have about your volunteering will really shine through.

 

[AllDaWEI]

I personally don't think there is a damn thing wrong with not wanting to volunteer. HOWEVER, I am not on an adcom. I have a feeling that you would be judged negatively by the majority of the adcoms because there are thousands and thousands of applicants that swear the act of working for free is orgasmic to them (despite the fact that prob for 99% of 'em it will be a lie).

LOLZ I agree!!! The recent "open letter to ER volunteers thread" shows just how much pre-meds care about the experience. So many have a piss poor attitude to volunteering, yet write how amazing it was on their PS, and say same **** at interviews. What's sad about what you wrote is that ADCOMs will not only negatively judge you not volunteering, but they can also negatively judge you based on the TIMING of your volunteer (started too late, too few hours, quit before filling AMCAS, etc).

 

[MT Headed]

It's funny how on this forum the desire to be a doctor leads to volunteering. In my case the opposite was true.

I moved back to my mountain village several years ago, and some significant portions of the community (fire, ambulance, arts council, search/rescue, utilities) are run largely through volunteer efforts. It's a social activity, but also it's what folks in a small town do to keep their community from falling apart.

In my case it was a desire to volunteer (especially as an EMT) that eventually led me to apply to medical school. Without volunteering, the thought probably would have never crossed my mind.

If you don't want to volunteer, don't. A quick glance through my MSAR shows that schools average about 2/3 with volunteer experience. Look to your left. Look to your right. Look at yourself. One of you didn't volunteer at all and is doing just fine. I didn't do any research, and the percentage of students with research experience is much higher.

 

[AllDaWEI]

I think it's all about finding the volunteer opportunity that you LIKE. I hated working in the ER of my local hospital -- boring. Like most of the people reading this, I could handle a lot more responsibility. I did my 100 hrs of cleaning rooms and stocking shelves and quit. Yeah, I saw the inside of a hospital, BFD.

On the other hand, I really like going to the homeless shelter and tutoring the kids there. I am doing some small thing to help these young kids not fall into the problems of drugs, crime, whatever. They have grown to trust me over the past year, and I'll be really sad when I have to leave for med school.

Don't volunteer just to help your app. Find something you will enjoy. When someone asks about it, the feelings you have about your volunteering will really shine through.

See that's the problem right here. Falling into the same trap. SDNers proposing better volunteer alternatives. Once again, how would you feel about people turning down these experiences because they don't want to do them?

 

[AllDaWEI]

It's funny how on this forum the desire to be a doctor leads to volunteering. In my case the opposite was true.

I moved back to my mountain village several years ago, and some significant portions of the community (fire, ambulance, arts council, search/rescue, utilities) are run largely through volunteer efforts. It's a social activity, but also it's what folks in a small town do to keep their community from falling apart.

In my case it was a desire to volunteer (especially as an EMT) that eventually led me to apply to medical school. Without volunteering, the thought probably would have never crossed my mind.

If you don't want to volunteer, don't. A quick glance through my MSAR shows that schools average about 2/3 with volunteer experience. Look to your left. Look to your right. Look at yourself. One of you didn't volunteer at all and is doing just fine. I didn't do any research, and the percentage of students with research experience is much higher.

I am sure that a good number of those non-volunteers either had very high stats with extensive research, or I wonder if this counts the guaranteed acceptance students who I doubt are required to take part in the standard ECs.

 

[link2swim06]

It's funny how on this forum the desire to be a doctor leads to volunteering. In my case the opposite was true.

I moved back to my mountain village several years ago, and some significant portions of the community (fire, ambulance, arts council, search/rescue, utilities) are run largely through volunteer efforts. It's a social activity, but also it's what folks in a small town do to keep their community from falling apart.

In my case it was a desire to volunteer (especially as an EMT) that eventually led me to apply to medical school. Without volunteering, the thought probably would have never crossed my mind.

If you don't want to volunteer, don't. A quick glance through my MSAR shows that schools average about 2/3 with volunteer experience. Look to your left. Look to your right. Look at yourself. One of you didn't volunteer at all and is doing just fine. I didn't do any research, and the percentage of students with research experience is much higher.

Most hospital volunteering is doing crap nobody wants to do. I'd say maybe 10% of premed volunteering involves patients whatsoever. I could see how being an EMT or something that involves patients could interest you in medicine. But how does answering the phone at a hospital lobby desk do anything to make you want to go into medicine?

 

[Hotshy]

AllDaWEI, you make so many posts and now this thread about nature of pre-med volunteering. Was your volunteering experience that bad as undergrad? Yes, part of my motivation for volunteering was improving my application. But more than improving my application, I found it rewarding. I volunteered in the ED like many people have, but I genuinely enjoyed my experience and was allowed to do more than just stand around. It really wasn't that bad, I would do it all over again.

 

[sector9]

If you don't want to volunteer, don't. A quick glance through my MSAR shows that schools average about 2/3 with volunteer experience. Look to your left. Look to your right. Look at yourself. One of you didn't volunteer at all and is doing just fine. I didn't do any research, and the percentage of students with research experience is much higher.

This isn't true.

For accepted students matriculating in 2010, 82% of them had clinical volunteer experience, 77% of them had research, and 68% of them had nonclinical volunteer experience.

The stats don't tell you the number of people who had either clinical or nonclinical volunteering since they are broken down. I would guess that the number would be really high (like 95% or higher) and I would recommend that all applicants should have some sort of volunteering if they want a good chance at getting in.

 

[CeeEstee0]

I don't like getting up early. I don't like the cold walk from volunteer parking to the hospital doors. I dont like the glut of people jamming up the elevators. (Stairways are my best friends).

BUT. I like watching procedures. I like shadowing doctors. I like seeing them as real people. I like the caring nurses who treat their patients like family.

I wouldn't have started volunteering unless it was an unwritten pre-req, but I wouldn't stop now for anyone.

 

[drizzt3117]

It's not absolutely necessary to volunteer to go to med school. People with clinical work experience (i.e. PA/nurses) certainly don't need clinical volunteering to be accepted. There are many other examples of people with no volunteering.

 

[AllDaWEI]

AllDaWEI, you make so many posts and now this thread about nature of pre-med volunteering. Was your volunteering experience that bad as undergrad? Yes, part of my motivation for volunteering was improving my application. But more than improving my application, I found it rewarding. I volunteered in the ED like many people have, but I genuinely enjoyed my experience and was allowed to do more than just stand around. It really wasn't that bad, I would do it all over again.

Yeah I didn't like it. I did a whole lot of scut work while techs and nurses messed around. It didn't feel good. I also hate the fact this is one big charade for so many people.

It's good you had a rewarding experience, as have many others. But for the few that have great experiences, many just do crappy work and grin while doing it. Sometimes I think we forget SDN has pre-meds that are very involved in the process. They are the ones who go and find good experiences. What about the rest of the population? We hear stories about the "others" who show poor attitude to volunteering.

 

[TwinsFan]

It's funny how on this forum the desire to be a doctor leads to volunteering. In my case the opposite was true....

In my case it was a desire to volunteer (especially as an EMT) that eventually led me to apply to medical school. Without volunteering, the thought probably would have never crossed my mind.

Same here MT Headed.

However, what makes zero sense to me is why premeds who can't stand to volunteer and see no value in it, actually think they'll enjoy the lifestyle of being a physician, where you are often putting the needs of other before your own. Why would you want a life like this if it is pulling teeth to do it now under much simpler low stress circumstances?

The old saying is to do whatever job that you would want to do if you didn't get paid or "do what you love and never work a day in your life."

Happiness does have some correlation to picking a profession that your personality is compatible with.

 

[JoshuaGuit]

I actually had this exact question and made a thread about it a few minutes ago, didn't read this thread.

Basically I have absolutely no time to volunteer and I haven't since freshman year and sophomore year. Now that I'm seriously close to applying, I realize that I don't have any extra time due to research, classes, and MCAT studying. I have absolutely no idea if I'll still be competitive or not because of this.

 

[LizzyM]

Keep in mind, grasshoppers, that only 45% of applicants are admitted. If you don't wish to engage in an activity that adcoms seem to treat as an unwritten requirement for admission, don't be surprised if you are among the 55% of applicants who go away empty handed.

As a trainee, you will be asked to do many things that are boring or below your skill level. Can you deal with that and take it for the team? As a physician, society hopes that you will serve as a community leader as well as a provider of clinical care. Are you willing to dedicate some of your time and expertise to the betterment of your community? Just as students who engage in reserach before medical school are more likely than other med students to engage in research during med school and residency, students who engage in community service before medical school may be more likely than other students to do so in medical school and for decades into the future.

No one is going to make you volunteer but you also can't make the adcom accept you if they feel as if there are better prepared applicants to chose from.

 

[SpecterGT260]

Keep in mind, grasshoppers, that only 45% of applicants are admitted. If you don't wish to engage in an activity that adcoms seem to treat as an unwritten requirement for admission, don't be surprised if you are among the 55% of applicants who go away empty handed.

As a trainee, you will be asked to do many things that are boring or below your skill level. Can you deal with that and take it for the team? As a physician, society hopes that you will serve as a community leader as well as a provider of clinical care. Are you willing to dedicate some of your time and expertise to the betterment of your community? Just as students who engage in reserach before medical school are more likely than other med students to engage in research during med school and residency, students who engage in community service before medical school may be more likely than other students to do so in medical school and for decades into the future.

No one is going to make you volunteer but you also can't make the adcom accept you if they feel as if there are better prepared applicants to chose from.

is there a good place where stats like this are published? individual school acceptance rates are usually pretty low, and I havent seen global stats in many places.

 

[sliceofbread136]

You really hate volunteering, don't you OP? It's just another hoop to jump through. There will be many more that are much worse in all of our futures.

 

[TingTingCrazy]

Just putting it out there, if you really dislike volunteering, then don't do it. Because if you do it without genuine interest, during interviews theyll see right thru you. There ARE other options. You can WORK. some people don't have the luxury of having time to volunteer, such as paying their way thru school! Another thing is that it DOESNT 100% need to be medically related. I worked in a childrens day care. It was great! i really enjoyed it, got paid, and it showed adcoms that i'm a human being! (also i able to be given responsibility!)

Other suggested things you can do (an not hate it) is:
TA-ing (at school, you can get paid or credit)
EMT (you can also get paid if your licensed)

just my 2cents here

 

[AllDaWEI]

You really hate volunteering, don't you OP? It's just another hoop to jump through. There will be many more that are much worse in all of our futures.

I don't hate volunteering, I just hated my "pre-med volunteer experience." I was in the ER where I was bossed around like their b*tch, doing menial tasks while tech and nurses were hanging out. I have done a few volunteer gigs, none long-term commitments. Some were just one time things, but I had fun. There was a big difference between these and the hospital. With these gigs, I had a lot of fun and never watched the clock. It was the opposite at the hospital.

In theory, volunteering is supposed to be fun and make you feel good. If that is case, then why do so many pre-meds show such a crappy attitude toward something they are doing out of the goodness of their hearts because they want to?

 

[AllDaWEI]

Just putting it out there, if you really dislike volunteering, then don't do it. Because if you do it without genuine interest, during interviews theyll see right thru you. There ARE other options. You can WORK. some people don't have the luxury of having time to volunteer, such as paying their way thru school! Another thing is that it DOESNT 100% need to be medically related. I worked in a childrens day care. It was great! i really enjoyed it, got paid, and it showed adcoms that i'm a human being! (also i able to be given responsibility!)

Other suggested things you can do (an not hate it) is:
TA-ing (at school, you can get paid or credit)
EMT (you can also get paid if your licensed)

just my 2cents here

You should see some of the responses to this. You get people saying they were non-trads as pre-meds, with a full-time job, family, and course load, and they managed to do it. Good for them. I guess you're prick if you don't find the time to volunteer with such a heavy load! 🙄

 

[Ellie Arroway]

The process is there to weed out the kind of people they'd rather not have in medical schools, and of you have no interest in clinical stuff, learning about research, or helping other people, that probably means you. Have you thought about investment banking?

 

[Ellie Arroway]

I'd normally say that it sounds like you had a bad experience and that there is a lot of great stuff out there, but you've made it clear that you're unequivocally opposed to volunteering even if it is an enriching, mutually beneficial situation.

 

[AllDaWEI]

The process is there to weed out the kind of people they'd rather not have in medical schools, and of you have no interest in clinical stuff, learning about research, or helping other people, that probably means you. Have you thought about investment banking?

I never said I didn't like the clinical aspect. I saw patients and enjoyed seeing them, but this happened rarely. Doing b*tch work was not really fun or worthwhile. Cleaning beds and filing papers has nothing to do with being a physician.

If your closest non-pre-med friends don't volunteer, would you also say they have no desire to help people? It is possible to be a good person and help others without doing volunteer commitment, or in this case, doing scut work for free.

Before insulting me, be sure to save some for all the other people in your life who never had a volunteer commitment. They sound pretty horrible.

 

[V5RED]

Medical school is a woman, and you are just one of thousands of guys trying to get with her.(Yes, I know women go to medical school too. This is just a metaphor.)

If you want some of that sweet medical school booty, you will have to make yourself attractive to her.

There is no reason to consider guys that aren't her type when she has a sea of attractive, charismatic, loyal guys to choose from.

 

[sliceofbread136]

I don't hate volunteering, I just hated my "pre-med volunteer experience." I was in the ER where I was bossed around like their b*tch, doing menial tasks while tech and nurses were hanging out. I have done a few volunteer gigs, none long-term commitments. Some were just one time things, but I had fun. There was a big difference between these and the hospital. With these gigs, I had a lot of fun and never watched the clock. It was the opposite at the hospital.

In theory, volunteering is supposed to be fun and make you feel good. If that is case, then why do so many pre-meds show such a crappy attitude toward something they are doing out of the goodness of their hearts because they want to?

Who said hoops had to be fun or even make sense? A hoop is a hoop, and you had to jump through it just like everyone else.

 

[AllDaWEI]

I'd normally say that it sounds like you had a bad experience and that there is a lot of great stuff out there, but you've made it clear that you're unequivocally opposed to volunteering even if it is an enriching, mutually beneficial situation.

Once again I didn't say volunteering itself was bad. I just said that there are a lot of pre-med experiences that suck, with many stories to go around. I have volunteered in the non-clinical setting for things that had nothing to do with admissions, and even after I started my first year. These experiences alone would not have gotten me into medical school unless I had my horrible long-term commitment.

So point I make is that volunteering isn't bad, but when people on here start bashing others for their unwillingness to volunteer, it sets double standard. Why do pre-meds get bashed, but not your friends who may not have done official volunteering for minute of their lives? Why? 😕

 

[AllDaWEI]

Who said hoops had to be fun or even make sense? A hoop is a hoop, and you had to jump through it just like everyone else.

True. A hoop is a hoop. It also sucks that in the personal statement and at interviews, the applicant must bullsh*t how amazing the experience was to them. This is sickening, but expected since its a requirement. No one is expecting an applicant to go on about how meaningful the MCAT exam was to them. In this case, the better bullsh*tters will do better.

It's also disheartening that something like "volunteering," (which is supposed to be a good deed people want to do) becomes double-edged sword. It can help or hurt you, and can hurt you even if you do it!!! 😡

 

[AllDaWEI]

Medical school is a woman, and you are just one of thousands of guys trying to get with her.(Yes, I know women go to medical school too. This is just a metaphor.)

If you want some of that sweet medical school booty, you will have to make yourself attractive to her.

There is no reason to consider guys that aren't her type when she has a sea of attractive, charismatic, loyal guys to choose from.

This is true in any competitive arena. Pre-meds just keep trying to one up each other. Embellishing hours is another problem, but whole other issue!

 

[45408]

ppl volunteer to boost their app. period.

Speak for yourself. I did do some volunteering just to boost my app, and I promptly quit that gig when I got a paying job.

But I also found some non-medical stuff that I actually liked doing and would have done even if I couldn't have put it on my app. A lot of the "clinical volunteering" is neither clinical nor volunteering...folding blankets in the ED is such a useless thing to do, IMO.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Speak for yourself. I did do some volunteering just to boost my app, and I promptly quit that gig when I got a paying job.

But I also found some non-medical stuff that I actually liked doing and would have done even if I couldn't have put it on my app. A lot of the "clinical volunteering" is neither clinical nor volunteering...folding blankets in the ED is such a useless thing to do, IMO.

Someone's gotta do it though. Whether that's the volunteer or someone much more overqualified.

 

[Eloheim]

I am actually fairly glad I found this thread because I am a sophomore at the moment and I am extremely confused on how to find a place to volunteer. I feel that my lack of volunteering up to this moment is a giant cloud hanging over my head that will make my chances of getting into a med school drop like a rock. I must admit I live to serve others (yes I know this will make other people vomit in their mouths out of annoyance and cliche). I enjoy every moment when I am helping a friend and even someone I don't know this is what lead me to want to go into the pre-med route. However, now that it seems I must have volunteering I have no idea where to start.

 

[mauberley]

OP: You really have an axe to grind, yeah? Well, nothing wrong with that. Except that no amount of discussion really seems to alter your opinion. Why keep it up? What are you trying to accomplish with your repeated comments on the subject?

To discuss the matter a bit more seriously, volunteering done by pre-meds at this point is certainly a "cart before the horse" sort of thing. I imagine somewhere in the beginning, people who naturally sought out volunteer opportunities rose to the top of the pile in admissions and thus the "unwritten requirement" was born. The problem is that any sort of "I did <x> and got accepted," when it happens in sufficient numbers and gets passed as conventional wisdom, now becomes one of the "unwritten requirements" and now becomes done because it's seen as necessary rather than doing it because you want to. That is, actions that were interpreted as being a reflection of one's character can no longer be interpreted that way. But simply doing <x> isn't taken at face value by admissions committees, of course. That's where the interview comes in, that's where letters of recommendation play a part, that's where your personal statement contributes. The application, in its entirety, not as isolated parts, are responsible for creating the picture of the applicant for the reviewers.

Unfortunately, there's no real way to prevent this for any sort of subjective criteria of admission (i.e. character), assuming that the criteria as currently used are in fact desirable. If you disagree that philanthropy (which is what I feel volunteering is a tangible demonstration of, and why it's so highly desired in an applicant) should be a consideration for admission, then this discussion is moot and we're wasting each other's time.

 

[Stumpyman]

I am actually fairly glad I found this thread because I am a sophomore at the moment and I am extremely confused on how to find a place to volunteer. I feel that my lack of volunteering up to this moment is a giant cloud hanging over my head that will make my chances of getting into a med school drop like a rock. I must admit I live to serve others (yes I know this will make other people vomit in their mouths out of annoyance and cliche). I enjoy every moment when I am helping a friend and even someone I don't know this is what lead me to want to go into the pre-med route. However, now that it seems I must have volunteering I have no idea where to start.

It's second year, lots of people start way later than you-- and others, as you can see from this and other threads, hardly do any volunteering.

 

[Ellie Arroway]

I honestly am not sure I have any friends who haven't done something in their lives that constituted giving away their time in order to improve the community around them, whether it is "official" volunteering or not. I figured out that I wanted to do medicine because of the activist & volunteer work I was already doing, not the other way around. My EC stuff is what sustains me through the long slog of prereq classes and reminds me why I'm doing this.

If you are doing scut work and getting nothing out of it, then try to be strategic about getting what you need. Find something you actually find interesting and chase it. Sometimes a little scut work is involved, but you're giving up your time and it should be mutually beneficial. Volunteer positions, even if you don't find them super rewarding in and of themselves, are usually "ins" to shadowing, possible job opportunities, and a deeper understanding of the $200k+ investment you are thinking of making. And if nothing that interests you is tangentially related to medicine, you should probably think about that.

 

[Eloheim]

It's second year, lots of people start way later than you-- and others, as you can see from this and other threads, hardly do any volunteering.

Thanks for putting my brain at ease a bit. I just want to have the best possible chance at this and maybe I am psyching myself out a bit 😕

 

[Ansar]

As FGMs, my parents never volunteered.
They are the doctors that patients always come to in the places they work.

They think volunteering is BS as well, but it's a requirement.

I don't mind the shadowing, but hospital volunteering really is a drag if you don't find something fun/engaging. I help out senior citizens in Spanish.