Volunteering vs. Research?

M_s_Mom
Tue, 20 Mar 2012 09:08:13 +0000

Research if you enjoy research. If not, ditch the hospital (where the volunteer work is often quite boring due to liability issues) and volunteer at a public health clinic instead. The latter is likely to be short-handed and the population often has many unmet needs. Bonus points if you speak a language that is spoken by the clientele or are computer savvy.

S spend two summers at a local public health clinic: The first he spent in the clinic, giving his high school Spanish a work out while he was helping to triage patients, and the second doing independent research on their patient population that lead to improvements in how they handle obesity. He’s going to medical school next year.

And yes, anyone can volunteer - but not every volunteer makes an impact. Be the one that does.