Don’t Wait Until the Last Minute to Find Volunteering

Session 170

Volunteer hours are a must, however, volunteer applications can take months. I will give you some tips and tricks on securing volunteering as well as a timeline!

All questions from this podcast are taken from the Nontrad Premed Forum. For more resources, be sure to check out all our other podcasts on the MedEd Media Network.

[01:05] OldPreMeds Question of the Week:

“I work FT and my son just graduated and off to college. I started looking for volunteering opportunities early this year after all the college application drama passed and he was accepted. Figured it would be easy and quick to find a volunteer position at a hospital. WRONG!

I live in the NYC and sent volunteer applications to all the NYP hospitals and one of the summer clinics at Einstein – maybe 9-10 applications.

Only one place accepted me as a language ambassador for Spanish speaking patients! And even then that took a long time for me to actually start because the volunteer training, medical exams, they lost my health clearance but they found it, then shadowing one of the current ambassadors.

Took nearly 4 months for me to actually start the gig! I am pretty happy so far as I get to help Spanish speaking patients and the schedule is very flexible. I will have plenty of hours accumulated from now until I apply next year but if I had known it would be this long and tedious I would have started last fall.

Just like Dr. Gray always says – apply early and apply broadly. Happy volunteering!”

[02:13] Assume Things Aren’t Easy

When you’re going through any process, don’t think it’s going to be easy. Assume it’s going to be hard and it’s going to take a long time. Assume that things are going to go wrong. That way, if they go right then great! But expect things are going to get longer than you want.

Hence, you need to start this process early. If you’re trying to squeeze in volunteering or shadowing right before the application cycle because you need a couple more hours to fit in to pad your application, assume you’re going to be able to fit it in by the time the application comes around. Assume it takes a while to get there. Also, assume that you’re going to ask a lot more people than you think.

[04:05] Blueprint MCAT (formerly Next Step Test Prep)

If you need some help on your application, check out Blueprint MCAT (formerly Next Step Test Prep). They now offer Medical School Admissions Consulting services to help you with your application to medical school. Jump on a free consultation with them! Mention this podcast and save some money.