Volunteer

Service to your community through volunteer experience is an essential part of your commitment to medicine and a requirement for medical school. Volnuteering can take place in many places including in a hospital, hospice center, women's shelter, or a homeless shelter. It can the form of tutoring underserved children, reading books to a hospice patient, working in a rape crisis center, or bringing blankets to someone in the Emergency Department.

Your volunteer experience represents some degree of patient contact, indirectly or directly. When assessing your clinical experiences medical schools look for: length or time of the experience and depth of the experience. You may consider volunteering at a hospital or other patient care settings. Additional possibilities for clinical experience include volunteering at a rape crisis center, a social service agency (suicide hotline, Alzheimer’s Association, etc), a non-profit clinic, hospice or retirement center, or at the health department.