Hi,
I’m new, and i’m glad i came across this site. I will be graduating from nursing school in the fall of 05,i’m taking my last premed prerequisite (Biol) this summer, and i plan on taking the Mcat in april of 06. I would not necesarily want to be a volunteer in the hospital since i’ll be working as a nurse, but i plan on volunteering in the community. Any ideas to what type of community services are available (I live in Baltimore, MD). I am also thinking about doing some kind of research, but just don’t have any contacts. The bottom line is that i am trying to create a strong background on other extracurricular activities. Any ideas?
What would you love? Since you don’t need patient contact, what about literacy tutoring? I did that for several years and enjoyed it immensely. People make very slow progress sometimes, and I think it helps you keep perspective when someone you worked with four months ago finally gets digraphs (two-letter combinations like the “st” in “stop”). These are smart folks, getting by for years in a world geared for people who read, and yet some of them struggle so hard for things so many of us find simple.
My two cents about research…
I was always interested in behavioral studies. I skimmed throught web pages of many, many professors in my university. I found few of them who had active research going on and e-mailed them. One of them answered…and this is how it all started. I’m halping with Alzheimer’s related reaseach in the biopsyhology department. We do experiments on mice and rats. I find this totally facinating. And there are people in our lab, who aren’t taking classes in my school…
I hope it’ll give you some ideas 
Kasia
Go with something you’re interested in or passionate about. I know the whole premed process takes up a lot of time and many of us end up neglecting other interests. Perhaps you can work that into volunteering. It would be another item that makes your eyes light up during med school interviews and that’s definately what the admissions committees look for. If you like dogs, find a greyhound rescue organization and volunteer there. If you like kids, look into volunteering at a school. I really like writing and got the opportunity to teach a writing class to a group of middle schoolers for two years. That was awesome. Just think about the things you like to do or are interested in, and see if you can come up with a way to share it with someone else–those make great volunteering projects. Oh and remember that you want a consistant commitment, a few hours a week for a year, instead of just a day here or a day there. Good luck!
Gina
Thanks guys for your replies. It has given me an idea on focusing on what i am particularly interested in.
I want to wholeheartedly second the “do what you love” theme. I think that doing something you’re passionate about will make your soul sing, and come interview time, if you end up talking about it, you’ll be passionate and informed about something you really care about. I think that will make a really powerful impression.
Congrats on finishing nursing school. I have seriously considered going thru a one year bsn program.
Sincerely,
Leah