What do you do for EC? I feel like finding meaningful EC is specially hard when you are out of school.

[neurologist19]

I have completed my degrees (undergraduate an masters) in a foreign country, and although I did some volunteering in those days (teaching refugee's children, helping out in a rehabilitation clinic as a secretary, being elected by the popular vote as a member of school council in high school, etc.) I probably cannot verify it as my home country is a developing country, and they probably will not understand an email sent to them in English, let alone responding to it (also there have been huge turnovers since then). Now I recently finished my Master's at a top university in Canada and started thinking about the medical school. My GPAs are alright and I am on the path to studying MCAT but my Issue is the EC part. I don't mind spending the next year or two (if needed) doing volunteering but I find it really hard to find meaningful EC. I found a few volunteering positions like working in homeless shelter prepping breakfast, etc. but there are not good places to showcase more high-level skills like leadership, communication, etc. I think given my education I probably am qualified for more skill-based volunteering activities, but I don't know what those activities would be, if it makes sense. My search online didn't get me far, as most advertised opportunities are stuff that can be done by a highschooler  or something and involves more "labor-intensive" tasks. Not that anything is wrong with those jobs but you get my point.  So I would appreciate your input or personal experience. What do you do for volunteering and where did you start. My background is in Computer science btw.

 

[frenchpress]

Look for organizations that work in areas you’re interested in and try to get involved. In my experience, organizations more geared towards activism have tended to have more space for people to move up and contribute in leadership roles. But I think you also shouldn’t underestimate the difference that volunteering your time can have, even if the role is something ‘a high schooler’ can do. Find areas you’re passionate about where you’re excited to spend your time and see where that takes you - I.e. things you’d want to do even if you weren’t trying to get into medical school. 

Various things I’ve done include: mentoring undergraduate students, non-profit volunteer (initially grunt work, eventual board member), outdoor education programs with school groups, programming workshops for teens, working on a farm, volunteering for a political campaign, a couple other various groups related to activism / event planning, fostering animals, time spent on my own hobbies and skill building /certifications, etc. 

[Médicomage]

Your local Red Cross is probably looking for volunteers right now to help with the pandemic. Look with your local Public health organization if they are looking for people to conduct epidemiological questionnaires.

also, every organization has a board of directors. So look if they are recruiting directors. You like i don’t know... fishing? See if there’s a NPO in you area about fishing and see if they are looking for directors, while going at their next AGM.