<p>Hey, so my parents just introduced me to an internship for next year and....</p>
<p>Well I don't know if internships count as volunteer hours? Some say it do, others disagree. </p>
<p>If this even matters, I will be interning at a university for Biomed.</p>
<p>are you volunteering your time or being compensated? that is your answer, IMO</p>
<p>I disagree. Are you a volunteer or an intern? If you are a volunteer, you come in and perform certain duties mostly on an as-available basis. Any training is incidental. If you are a bona fide intern, you should have a rather strict schedule and are receiving relevant training and experience. Also, the term “volunteer hours” has a connotation of service and civil society. You can work at a for-profit bank for free, but you can’t really do volunteer service in contributing to their normal operations.</p>
<p>I definitely think you can volunteer at a bank… and I don’t think what time of schedule you are working has any impact on your title. Plenty of volunteers have very strict schedules that they follow.</p>
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<p>I agree with soccerguy. I volunteer A LOT and I have strict schedules, we have rules, we go through training sessions and people can get fired from volunteering, at least where I have been working. Also I do KINDA get compensated sort of but not with money but I am still totally a volunteer so I also wouldn’t use that as a way to differentiate either. </p>
<p>So to me volunteering and interning are almost interchangeable. I’ve actually come across some volunteer opportunities that were more work applying for than real jobs or internships. </p>
<p>Personally I think it depends on what you are doing and where you are doing it and how you feel about what you are doing. I call what I do volunteering - I’ve never thought to label it as an internship, I don’t know why, that’s just how it came out. </p>
<p>Why do you need it to count as volunteer hours?</p>