<p>I found an opportunity to volunteer abroad in South America but it is a little pricey (nothing insane, but obviously not cheap). The program I'm looking at is focused on health/medicine and Spanish because it's in Argentina. I really love Spanish and I am seriously thinking about majoring in something health/science, so I'm really excited and would love to do this, but is it worth it? Would colleges be impressed? Thanks guys :)</p>
<p>It may be an opportunity to practice your Spanish skills, but (realistically) do not expect to do a whole lot of useful charitable work. If charitable work in poor countries needs people from rich countries, it typically needs people who have skills that are in scarce supply in the poor countries, not unskilled high school students (they can just hire unskilled locals if they need unskilled labor). Also, Argentina is not that poor of a country.</p>
<p>You may want to consider volunteering with a local charitable organization, perhaps one serving people whose best language is Spanish.</p>
<p>If you can afford it and you want to do it, go ahead. It is probably not “worth it” if you’re talking about a payoff in college admissions. Colleges know that these opportunities are open to anyone who can pay for them. It won’t give you an admissions edge.</p>
<p>What about study abroad programs in college? Ill be doing pre-med, and I’m also expected to pledge my mothers sorority (it’s NPHC, so it’s an arduous process). I wanted to go to Europe or Africa, not for charity work, but to attend an English speaking university, not unlike the university I’ll be attending come fall, just in another country.</p>
<p>What about them? Many pre-meds do them. They will not be important factors in med school admissions, either.</p>
<p>Ok i found an opportunity to volunteer at a local hospital so I’ll probably do that instead. There won’t be any Spanish but I can deal with that haha. I kind of expected that a volunteer abroad thing wouldnt help admissions too much</p>