Would this count as volunteering?

[kirvoyant]

I “volunteer” at a digital library initiative where I help curate resources and develop metadata aimed towards underserved medical communities in Africa. Our team looks at gaps that said communities might have and create resources to address those gaps.

At first, I was getting credit for this through a program at my school for a semester but continued with the program after that semester as a volunteer. If this counts as volunteering, should I count my internship semester as another category (and which one) or just list my experience altogether? Also volunteers are still called “interns” in the organization regardless of whether you earn credit for it or not.

Any help would be appreciated!

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[PolarIceLongLastingFlavor]

Lots of people put crisis hot line as their volunteering, so this should count too, especially if you're not getting credit for it anymore. with that being said its never a bad idea to diversify your volunteering and maybe do an in-person gig whenever you have the time.

 

[kirvoyant]

For sure! I have other volunteering activities lined up I just wasn’t sure if this particular one counted

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I “volunteer” at a digital library initiative where I help curate resources and develop metadata aimed towards underserved medical communities in Africa. Our team looks at gaps that said communities might have and create resources to address those gaps.

At first, I was getting credit for this through a program at my school for a semester but continued with the program after that semester as a volunteer. If this counts as volunteering, should I count my internship semester as another category (and which one) or just list my experience altogether? Also volunteers are still called “interns” in the organization regardless of whether you earn credit for it or not.

Any help would be appreciated!

YOU can count it as volunteering, but library work is similar to research or data management. It's not service orientation and will not help you in the screening process.

 

[chilly_md]

For sure! I have other volunteering activities lined up I just wasn’t sure if this particular one counted

There have been some issues with the SDN app causing many weird emoji's to be included.

Try deleting the app and then installing the Tapatalk app.
If this doesn't work, try replying to posts without quoting the previous poster. Replying using a computer also seems to work fine.

 

[polymerization]

While it isn't going to replace working in a soup kitchen, I do think that there is room for you to massage this experience. If you're not getting paid for it and it doesn't benefit you, it's volunteering. But like Mr.Smile12 has noted, it's not going to help you "contribute" to the service orientation aspect of your application.

That said, I don't think it necessarily means you can't take credit for what you did, because we're not checking boxes, right? After the internship was over, why did you continue? Did you get to meet anyone that benefitted? If so, what was their experience? How can you bridge this experience to what you anticipate you'll need to do as a physician?

Personally, it helps me to think about what about the experience made me uncomfortable, because it's in that space that I'm growing.

For example, I volunteered with my school's disability services office to mentor their students. At first, I felt uncomfortable because I didn't know what to expect—everyone had a different disability, and I wasn't sure how to modulate my communication to fit their cognitive needs. But after meeting "Bob" .... [a story follows about how this mentee graduated with honors, but in reality I felt his presence in my life was more didactic than the other way around... I learned that even people with profound disabilities struggle with the same intellectual and affective concerns we do, etc etc etc and that's why I'm ready for medical school now.]

Because you continued on your own accord, I don't see the point of listing it as an internship or discussing the formal structure of the internship, it's just wasted characters and I don't think anyone will care. It's always better to use every opportunity you have to talk not so much about the day-to-day, but how that experience transformed you.

 

[Goro]

No, it's not volunteering. Or at least not the type of volunteering we're looking for.

 

[LizzyM]

List it as "other" if you want to include it and bundle the "for course credit" portion with the voluntary participation. Describe what you do and why you do it (impact it has on communities, etc). If you work as part of a team, describe that as teamwork is valued.