Hey, Just wanted to post this thought I have about Volunteering.
Volunteering can be anything.
Yes you need healthcare experience but it can be on the job, shadowing, ect.
If you want to volunteer for a shelter thats great,
for Peace Corps that’s great!,
The Hospital for any department better for exposure,
Girl or Boy Scouts that’s great!,
Girls and Boys club awesome,
To take pets to a Nursing home great!
To clean up the enviroment awesome!
There is not one perfect answer on this, because volunteering is you getting involved with our world around us helping our fellow man for free, giving your time, brains and muscle to help other people some how.
When you go to medical school you will rotate through areas of medicine that may not be something you love, when you are a resident the first year and sometimes the second does the same thing in most programs. SO to say one area is worth more than another to spend time volunteering, well is missing the whole point of volunteering.
Just a thought!
Good Luck.
Bill.
I’m pretty excited-- I took a volunteer job for the spring and summer at the Cabrini House AIDS Hospice in the East Village (on my way from my pay job to home). We train at the end of this month.
I volunteer for the local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. I have done so since before I returned to college to get into med school, not just as an application enhancer. I thought this would look good on my app, though.
When I applied the first time, the adcomms couldn’t have cared less.
Cool I think those are great!
Once I’m out of Med school and residency slows a little I’m back into volunteering for the BSA. My sons will be way too old but I loved it and will go camping again with “The Boys” As will my wife. She was in it too as a leader. Hey giving something back, well just warms my heart. I’ve thought about the Red Cross from time to time too.
Bill. 
So I’m assuming if it can be absolutely anything then volunteering as a math tutor while going to college would count as that right?
I don’t know why, but it seems like math is the subject everyone seems to have trouble with and it’s a cakewalk for me, so might as well share the wealth (knowledge). I don’t like seeing people struggle with something that should be straightforward, shouldn’t have to be that way.
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So I’m assuming if it can be absolutely anything then volunteering as a math tutor while going to college would count as that right?
I don’t know why, but it seems like math is the subject everyone seems to have trouble with and it’s a cakewalk for me, so might as well share the wealth (knowledge). I don’t like seeing people struggle with something that should be straightforward, shouldn’t have to be that way.
Yes I think that is a good thing but I do not know if it is counted as a school activity?
Judy can give an insight more on the possibilities as counting it as volunteering or not.
I think though what ever someone volunteers is great! It shows character.
This is true, I’m going to do it regardless anyways so I guess it’s kind of a moot question, lol. I don’t want to be a teacher as a career but I love helping teach stuff to friends and other people who have a hard time learning whatever it is.
Hopefully doing medical transcription while in college will work out, if I can set my own hours on my job I could tutor an hour or two every day when I’m at Fullerton. 
I have been volunteering a lot of my time to my husband’s rugby club. They are a USA Div. III club in the Chicago area and rely solely on the volunteering of people in the board positions to make it work.
I (and my husband) do a lot for them including organizing fundraisers, recruiting outings, and social events.
I know it’s not medically related, but with my job being an allied health field, it’s nice to get away from health-care at times. I also do some pro-bono type work for screenings and parent seminars, so I guess that’s volunteering, too.
Between now and my application deadline (June 2007), I don’t see myself having a whole lot of time to go to a hospital or clinic, but I do have a lot of volunteering in my recent past.
Hopefully this will suffice, or at least I’ll have to be creative in how I present it to an adcom !
Yes thats part of my point what seems trivial to us may put a memorable point on the application that gets you selected.
You never really know the people who are reading the apps, as they don’t know you, but they will if you don’t leave any of this out, it’s not one thing or just a “formula” thats gets you selected but a combination of grades and an application that says WOW.
As one post I read once said “I have a good GPA and MCAT OKAY per requirements for med school now what?” It’s not just a game of numbers but it’s like an interview for a Job, “you look to have the needed skills but why should we take you over someone else?”
Good Luck!
I’ve said it before but this thread seems like a good place to say it again: I think volunteering can have depths of meaning for a medical school application that go far beyond the actual volunteer “job” you have. It shows your interest and involvement in your community. It can help you develop skills in dealing with people. It can open your eyes to things you didn’t know about before. None of this has to be medically related - but for many people that is the most attractive way to volunteer because it “kills two birds with one stone” - or maybe even three, because applicants know that volunteering and medical involvement are important, and because if you’re interested in medicine, then medical volunteering is going to be rewarding to you anyway.
Your personal statement will give you a chance to frame your volunteer work in a way that makes it relevant to your desire to practice medicine. Tim, you like to teach one-on-one: so much of my day as a doctor is spent doing just that! You definitely have the kernel of an idea worth expounding on when you discuss your tutoring involvement. In my own PS I talked about voting for the purchase of a million-dollar building when I was on a volunteer Board of Directors: my point was that it was a risky decision that I didn’t shy away from.
I do think as OPMs that our volunteer work says more about us than we realize. We can make that work to our advantage and this thread is turning into a nice discussion about all the avenues that are open to us if we think creatively.
Mary
That makes me feel better. It was a concern for me, but not enough to really start a thread about. I’m glad someone else did!
I volunteer for the Dallas area Habitat for Humanity and am the volunteer symphony librarian and personal assistant to the conductor for a community orchestra I helped found. I’ve also done the librarian thing for the church orchestra for 7 years now…there’s a GOOD reason a “real” symphony" librarian makes decent money. Musicians can be pains in the butt. I say this as a viola player too. LOL!
I just volunteered at the local Red Cross chapter as a Disaster Action Team or data entry volunteer…the former because anything that involves action or adrenaline has my vote, and the latter because I type 150 wpm. Hopefully I’ll get some more information on what the DAT volunteers do, just mailed off the letter today. I already have an idea though, since Northern California has more wildfires then any other region in the US as far as I know (although our niche right now seems to be flooding, this weather sucks!).