Volunteer activities

[Guest Digiti minimi]

Hi,

I was wondering how big your volunteer activities have to be in order to get into med school? I know they say make sure you have some volunteer experience in hospitals and such but then there's all these other people who start volunteer organizations and do all these other "big" things. I volunteer by visiting patients in hospitals and for the local Boys and Girls club. I enjoy what I do because it makes me feel good that I can help others but it doesn't seem like much compared to what others are doing. Will this be seen as a meager attempt by med schools? Thanks to anyone whose reading and/or has a comment.

[Guest Biochem10]

Hi. I really think you are worrying for nothing. Don't dismiss your volunteering as "meager" especially since you seem very sincere in your reasons for doing it. You don't have to start up a volunteer organization in order to make a difference (unless you have some amazing idea in mind), your couple of hours a week are sufficient especially if you feel that what you are doing is worthwhile. I personally think it's useless to do more volunteering for the sake of your med school application because that would not be for the right reasons anyway. I also think that you are overestimating the applicant pool because I don't think "everyone" is doing more than you. There are all sorts of people applying to med school; people who did no volunteering, people who did some and people who make volunteering their lives (sometimes just for the sake of their CV!). Anyway, this just my opinion on this matter, I think you'll be just fine.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

The idea that you HAVE to volunteer to get into med school is a myth. I have classmates who have never volunteered, even for one hour, anywhere. Volunteering, though, still looks good on your resume and is a worthwhile experience that provides you with interesting things to talk talk about during a med school interview. Volunteer because you enjoy the activity you're doing, but don't sweat it if you haven't volunteered 5 years of your life working with orphans in Kinshasa.

[Guest mying]

Quality, not Quantity.

 

It's what you get out of it that counts. Not everyone volunteers whackloads, but every applicant has strengths somewhere. And really, a couple hours a week is quite a fair bit of volunteering. The whole "you should volunteer in a hospital" thing isn't really true. What you SHOULD have, just because you're a responsible adult making a responsible career decision, is an honest idea of what health care is like: you can get that by volunteering in a hospital, shadowing a family doc, personal experiences, or a whole bunch of other things.

 

(Not to dis' volunteering. I am one of those people who did and do make volunteering my life, and not just for my CV. I worked hard and for many many hours a week, sometimes too much, but my application lacked where others shone, so it evens out.)

 

So no worries! *Definitely* do not volunteer just because "it would look good." What a waste of your time and energies, when you could be doing more for the groups you like, and keeping up your grades.

 

But if you've held a breadth of jobs in your volunteering, you can always split them up into those separate jobs. Like, if you were a mentor one year, and a games planner the next, that's two volunteer jobs you've had.

 

Where's Kinshasa?

[Guest bad hombre]

I think what's even more important than just the quality of your activities is what you get out of them; how they can help you grow as a person and a future physician. From my experiences, volunteer positions that combine healthcare, education, teamwork, and leadership are probably the best opportunities out there. Check out this website for a good example, I was involved with these guys last year. I'm sure there's a version of them in most universities in Canada.

 

meds.queensu.ca/~qmo

[Guest Digiti minimi]

Hi,

Thanks for all your comments everyone. You've given me things to think about and I appreciate that. Even though some places may not require it, I will continue to volunteer because I enjoy it.

My problem I guess is that I view the people that do get into med school as almost "superhuman" or something. I'd like to join the ranks of med students someday but was starting to wonder if I could compete against people who are so multi-talented and volunteer in big projects.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

If I remember correctly, Kinshasa is the capital of what used to be known as Zaire and is now known as either the Congo or Democratic Republic of the Congo or something along those lines. Haven't had the time to follow Central African politics recently.

 

And I in no way meant to imply that people shouldn't volunteer. I had a number of volunteer experiences before getting into med school. . . some good, some bad (btw - I didn't find volunteering in a hospital to be that great an experience for finding out what medicine is really like. . . though it can give you a sense of what it's like to work with people who are ill.) And while I've never polled the class on who did volunteer work before medicine and who didn't, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that more than half the people did volunteer before getting in.

 

My point was to try to dispel the notion that to get into med school you need to be "super-human." You don't. In fact, I think such thinking is dangerous as it promotes arrogance on the part of med students and doctors. Yeah, med students on the whole are pretty smart, pretty motivated, and pretty accomplised people. But it's just that - we're PEOPLE.

 

I remember having that fear as well when applying. . . and the simple fact of the matter is that while almost, if not all, med students have a number of interesting activities on their resume, if you're an applicant DON'T second-guess what YOU have done.

 

I think that's a pretty key point to keep in mind when applying to meds. . . don't let yourself get psyched out by the competition. Yeah, maybe one of the people applying against you was on the gold medal winning Canadian Women's hockey team at the Salt Lake City Olympics. But was she a part of the intramural Ultimate team you participated on in 3rd year of university? Did she work at the same kid's camp in the summer after first year that you did? Did she have a paper published in the same journal you did? More importantly, simply because she's done something you haven't does that mean you won't get in? Probably not.

[Guest aneliz]

To add to what has been said, remember that admission commitees are looking to create a diverse class...they don't want everyone to be a varsity athlete or a professional musician or a 'save the orphans' humanitarian....Sure there are people from all of these categories that do get in, but there are also a lot of med students that have volunteered as a Brownie leader, or sung in their church choir or played intramural sports for fun....everyone has *something* that distinguishes them as an interesting person....never doubt the worth of your own accomplishments!