Question:
Where should I volunteer to increase my chances of getting into a medical school?
I want to get into a medical school like Stanford or Harvard. I haven’t volunteered before. I have no experience volunteering. I want to start now to maximize the number of hours I get. Where should I volunteer?
Answer:
This is a great question because you are getting started early!
You’ll want to volunteer in two main categories: community service and clinical experience.
Community service can be almost anything. You could be helping clean parks, working teaching kids to read, or other activities. Find something that interests you and that you enjoy doing. Since you’re getting started early, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to move into leadership positions in whichever organization you choose, which is what you want to be trying to do. Another option is to start your own group, which is looked on highly by admissions committees.
For clinical experience, you’ll want to volunteer somewhere that you get the most exposure to patients. Probably the easiest places to do that are at free clinics, like homeless clinics. You could start volunteering there and that would be a great experience.
To better understand what medical schools want, sign up for my newsletter, Medical School Insider Monthly. You’ll get a free eBook about the 8 categories medical schools look at to evaluate you.
Best of luck to you! You’re getting an early start so you’ll be that much ahead when it comes time to apply!