What kind of volunteer work for med school

Volunteering also provides opportunities to work with people in your community, teaching you valuable skills along the way. Being involved in your community is one way to truly set yourself apart, while also preparing you to be an excellent physician in your career. Volunteering is an opportunity to discover what you are truly passionate about. Instead of perceiving service work as a rat-race to log an infinite number of hours in the hopes of impressing a medical school admission committee member, volunteering should be regarded as a step towards growth, exploration, and the adventure of discovering who we truly are as individuals.

This ever-evolving journey of discovering what we are capable of when pursuing something that we are passionate about has unequivocal benefits when it comes to your surrounding environment and community as a whole! The act of service work should be a personal choice, one that speaks to your ethos: a mandate that you believe in, and the part of your day that you most look forward to.

But again, it is important to note that this is not set in stone. When looking for volunteer experiences that you will be passionate about, there are two basic groups you should be looking at:.

A lot of activities can fit into this category, depending on how you frame them during your application. Choosing service work in a healthcare-related field may show a medical admissions committee that you have taken the time to explore and understand what it would mean to pursue a career in medicine.

Conversely, choosing to explore service work that is indirectly related to medical care illustrates that you are truly interested in the act of serving and helping others. You should strive to try experiences in both categories. Remember earlier when we stated that when it comes to service work, quality trumps quantity?

This is absolutely true, but we also cannot ignore the numbers when it comes to medical school requirements. Admissions committees are looking for well-rounded individuals, and one of the best ways to show this is through a long-standing dedication to volunteer activities. Medical School Admissions also view service work as a long-term commitment, where a prospective applicant has committed at least 6 months to a given organization.

Making a long-term commitment shows that you are dedicated, which is an important quality in future physicians. Many prospective medical school applicants may think that volunteering overseas could give the applicant an edge, but for admissions officers, this type of experience may raise some flags. When considering overseas volunteer experiences, admissions committee members will be considering:. To avoid any misinterpretation of your experience, volunteer in your own backyard!

There are likely a ton of opportunities to be of service in your own community, and to try and become a part of re-building your own community from its roots demonstrates that as an applicant you are truly grounded, and understand what it means to be a contributing member of your own community.

Above all, choose activities that you are passionate about! This will make it far easier to fulfill the time commitment and remain dedicated. Here are some ideas to get you started:. The more people you tell, the more potential leads you have. You can also consult Career Services on your campus for advice and resources.

If none exists, contact the charity directly to ask if you could help better establish them in your community through a fundraising event or something similar. Sign up for things that you are going to spend time working on! Email Address Please enter a valid email address. Thanks for subscribing! Please check your email for further instructions. Try Now. The Ultimate Guide to Volunteering for Premeds. It can provide you with experience in an area of health care you may not otherwise be exposed to.

Before volunteering, you must remember that your first priority should be your continuing education. You must not jeopardise your readiness to qualify in the future by taking on too many additional responsibilities. If you want to volunteer within the NHS, you must be supervised to be safe and act within your competence at all times. Arrangements should be made locally, and employers should give you relevant induction, equipment and support. In line with this guidance, NHS England and NHS Improvement have stated that NHS organisations can choose to deploy medical students which are currently on clinical placements in acute trusts in their region to do paid volunteer work caring for patients whilst on these placements.

Medical students can sign up for paid work of up to 12 hours per week to support clinical services, with the agreement of their medical school. HealthSHIP is a web-based app that allows students to offer their support to NHS staff for tasks like babysitting, pet care, picking up medicine and grocery shipping. This cookie is used by vimeo to collect tracking information. It sets a unique ID to embed videos to the website. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns.

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This cookie is used for statistical analysis and website optmization. It gathers information on user's interaction with the SurveyMonkey- Widget on thewebsite. Volunteering Placements Volunteering placements are a great work experience option - and perhaps the most viable with COVID restrictions in place. Find out how volunteering can boost your Med School application Start Volunteering! Building Experience Through Volunteering Discover why volunteering is so valuable Find out what counts — and how long you need to volunteer Tips for arranging volunteering experience.

Jump to Section Icon. What Counts As Volunteering? Volunteering Placement Alternatives In normal times, GP placements or hospital placements would be the most popular forms of placements.

More Support. Start Volunteering! Work Experience Guide Discover Med School work experience requirements, how to build your experience, and how to reflect meaningfully. Get Into Medicine Work Experience is one of six steps you need to complete to get into Med School - do you know the other five? General Advice Tutoring Not sure where to start? Book a General Advice session and we'll help you get into Medicine. You May Also Like. Grid Circle.

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