Volunteering
As Noreen Kerrigan, Assistant Dean of Albert Einstein’s College of Medicine says, medical schools “want to make sure we’re not accepting brains on stilts. We want people with hearts”. The volunteering section of your medical school application is meant to illustrate that you are more than just book smart, you are a human being with an insurmountable level of selflessness, compassion, and altruism. Volunteering also provides an amazing opportunity to work with people in your community, allowing you to learn valuable skills such as leadership, teamwork, and communication. The world of medicine, and medical professional hopefuls is filled to the brim with high-achieving, motivated, and competitive beings. Being involved in your community is one way to truly set yourself apart, while also learning the skills required to be an excellent physician.
The benefits of volunteering include gaining new experiences, building long-lasting and substantial relationships with others, self-discovery, networking, reaffirming your life's calling, having a sense of purpose and accomplishment, giving back to your community and, of course, helping others.
It is recommended you have over 50 hours of volunteering in various settings such as inpatient, outpatient and community clinics.
Although you’ll benefit from almost any type of volunteer experience, it’s best to find at least one health care-related opportunity. You want to search for something that genuinely interests you so that you’ll enjoy the experience, be motivated to stick with it, and learn from it. You may need to try a few different volunteer experiences until you discover one that will be a good long-term fit, but don’t do something just because you think it will look good to medical schools. When you talk about your experiences during medical school interviews, it will be easier if you’re passionate and invested in the volunteer work in which you’ve participated.
Volunteer opportunities include supporting blood donations and delivering much-needed services to your community. They even have a wide variety of remote (work-from-home) opportunities available.
The BLS course is designed to provide a wide variety of healthcare professionals the ability to recognize several life-threatening emergencies, provide CPR, use an AED, and relieve choking in a safe, timely and effective manner.