Volunteering Advice and Critiques Needed!

Applying to College
1

First and for most, thanks for all of the help. This is my first post on here so bear with me.

 I am currently a sophomore, grades and EC are below (if you need that to justify your answer for some reason). I have been volunteering at a hospital since the beginning of summer of 2017, and currently have 108 hours. The hospital requires 120 hours for a recommendation letter. So here's my question: Would colleges prefer for me to volunteer at a single place and rack up a bunch of hours or would they want for me to volunteer in multiple, different places... which would look better on a college application: 400 hours in one place or 200 hours in two different places? 

 Also, regarding my future class selections, I know colleges love it when students push themselves, and take as many APs as they can handle. My school, runs from 4th to 12th grade. and there around only 300 kids a grade. So, my school offers very few APs, and as an Ivy League dreamer, I am trying to take all of them. I can handle the pressure, but my preferences are subjected to change over time.

Rankings:
Freshmen year: 1/272
Sophomore year: Not set in stone, but from the looks of it, 1/300ish (a lot of students came this year, helps with my ranking).

Summer of 2016: Spanish 1: A both semesters

Freshmen year: 4.0
PE: A both semesters
Band: A both semesters
Spanish 2: A both semesters
H English: A both semesters
Acc geometry: A both semesters
H Biology: A both semesters

Summer of 2017: Spanish 3: both semesters

Sophomore year (currently): UW: 4.0, W: 4.3
Algebra 2: A
AP Bio: A
H English: A
PE: A
Academic Decathlon: A
AP World History: A

Current ECs:
President and Founder of Pre-Med Ed: Helped 5 people start to volunteer in multiple hospitals. A club dedicated to Pre-Med internships and volunteering opportunities.
Speech and Debate (NFL): 60 Points so far, qualified in Congress. Currently doing Congress, Parli, SPAR, and Impromptu.
Science Bowl: B Team sub
Academic Decathlon
Volley ball: JV 9th and starting JV 10th.
CSF
NHS

Volunteering:
Hospital: 108 hours and counting.

Future: !!!NOT FOR SURE, MAY CHANGE OVER TIME!!!

Winter break 2017-2019: UCLA Pre-Med volunteering

Summer 2018: UCLA Pre-Med Scholarship program

Junior Year:
AP Comp Sci
AP US History
AP Lang
H Chem
Pre-Calc
Academic Decathlon

Summer 2019: Stanford Pre-Med Internship

Senior Year:
AP Environmental Science
AP Chem
AP Calculus
AP Lit
AP Gov
Academic Decathlon

2

Forgot to mention, but here are my colleges that I plan on applying to: All Ivys, Stanford, UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley, University of Chicago, Rice, Northwestern, John Hopkins, Duke, etc.

3

Volunteering isn’t just about hours put in but what you did with those hours.

The UC’s don’t have pre-med majors.

No one knows whether or not you’ll get into those schools because you have no test scores.
GPA and test scores are the first hurdle. Also a first hurdle: price. Can you afford those OOS schools?

It’s beginning to look like the schools are admitting more non-traditional majors for med school. That means that majoring in bio or neuroscience won’t necessarily give you an advantage.

4

Thanks, I work in the escort department at the hospital… is that weak? It sounds cliche… what would colleges, especially those that I listed, look for with the hours I volunteered? Could you provide a strong example?

And yeah I am only a sophomore and I haven’t taken any tests yet so it is hard to tell whether or not I would be qualified for such competitive schools.]

I can afford all of those schools, and I am planning to major in Biology. Could you give me an example of a non-traditional major that they would accept?

5

First, read some of the threads here on CC. Every other student wants to be a doctor.

There is a lot of experience from a lot of students and parents on med school on these forums. Two posters especially know the ins and outs: @WayOutWestMom and @mom2collegekids. Ask their advice. It’s good.

What if you don’t get into med school? What then? A lot of students don’t. My dd’s friends got in, but some of their classmates didn’t get in. There is only so much room. Also, med school is gonna cost you big bucks. Don’t spend lots of money (keep debt low) on your UG school since you will be paying for med school.

Non traditional majors include anything non-science related. I saw a theology major get into med school.

FWIW: a ton of students work in hospitals as escorts. The colleges care about what you do for the community at large. Your EC’s appear to be self-serving: for you. You founded the premed club, big surprise there. Colleges want diversity in their ranks (no I’m not talking culturally, but creatively). People who do things for others might mesh well at their universities.

The only thing that stands out is your Volleyball.

6

Thanks, what do you mean by colleges caring about what I do for the community at large? What would you recommend for me to do? Start a community volunteering club? Advise people to work in shelters and soup kitchens? This may be true, however, I don’t see how that would benefit me getting into a college with a science orientated major over volunteering or intershipping on something related to science/ med.

I completely agree with your logic on saving money for med school, but I will be eligible for financial aid. That would hopefully loosen up the debt.

7

I don’t think you get it.

Starting another club? Really? That takes minimal investment. Advising others to do it is even worse. What are you going to teach someone that you obviously don’t know yourself?

You seriously don’t understand the medical profession and where it is going.

What do doctors do? They provide medical intervention, with care and compassion, for people who need medical services.

Whom do they serve most of the time? Those who don’t get adequate treatment, (the poor and elderly) who end up repeatedly at a hospital; a LOT of medically indigent people at the hospitals.

Where is it CRUCIAL that they serve? Low income areas, because these people don’t have access to continuous medical intervention.

My children’s friends are either in med school programs or in similar grad programs. They all did things outside of their comfort zones to get into their UC’s and into their med schools. Not one, that I can recall, escorted people around a hospital. Oh, as far as finances, they are using loans and their parents to pay for med school. That’s what most people do for med school fees. Limited to no financial aid for professional programs.

I fear telling you what some of them did because you’ll form a club, based on that, and “advise” people to do it.

One of my dd’s friends (our neighbor) is at Stanford and she did not major in Pre med and did a lot of the stuff you claim you can’t do. She’ll be an MD soon.

Your volleyball looks like the best EC.

8

An example. My son volunteered at a hospice. The colleges loved it. Shows he can handle difficult situations (2 of his patients died in a semester), showed care and compassion. One of his patients had lived on the street and he was the only one in years to come spend time with him. It was a little more unique. (He is pre-vet but still applicable to pre-med).

9

Escort is the general term given to my position. Its like your saying that a nurse only assists doctors; sure that may be their main responsibility but they do far more than just that. I do more than “escort people around the hospital.”

Obviously I don’t know much hence why I’m here. Could you give an example of something your children’s friends did that caused for them to go “out side of their comfort zones?” Or your neighbor that allowed for her to get into stanford and obtain MD?

Again, I dont know how many times I’ve said this and I dont see how can’t tell, but I am new to this stuff. I joined this forum for advice. Making a club is something that I just tend to do naturally, as I don’t know how colleges react to such things, again hence why I am here. If you, someone who is clearly experienced, tell me that clubs take little investments and dont impact my application as much as I would have thought they would, then I won’t make them. Dont “fear” or even assume that I will formulate a club from the advice you give me… that is just stupid. I greatly appreciate your advise, but please understand that I am new.

10

I’ve taught students at the high school level, so I often forget that students can’t think outside the box. BTW: I’m not stupid, just experienced.

^Hospice is an excellent idea! You have to have the compassion, care, and stomach for it. Your patients are gravely ill, but these are some of the strongest people I have ever met.

Many positions required that the students be 18 because of liability issues. But many students figured a way around that:

Student one, volunteered at a foundation that gives rides to juvenile cancer patients to go to their appointments, since many had to use public transportation to get to our large local pediatric hospital. She initially did office work and fundraising, and then did the driving.

Student two volunteered to work for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, at all of the walks, (since one of her HS teachers had a son with diabetes and he noted how much they needed volunteers). She was up on weekend mornings at 4 am, setting up tables, tarps, pamphlet displays, gift bags, etc.

Student three: My daughter volunteered for a HS acquaintance of mine who owned a pet hospital. At first DD2 walked the dogs and learned grooming. She would hold animals who were in pain recovering from surgeries. She was 16 when she started, and got a ride during her sports’ off-seasons.

They taught her about universal precautions. They taught her how to: disinfect a lab, culture petri dishes, prepare injections, clean and prepare surgical instruments for the autoclave, centrifuge bodily fluids for testing, etc. So when she applied at her UC for lab and clinical positions, her experience helped her immediately get jobs.

Student four: got his Dad to donate big used red collection bins from his work. He and his dad delivered the bins to local clinics and asked for donations of used glasses and frames through a really good graphic sign he painted on each bin. He would then pick up the bins, clean the glasses, separate the cases, and deliver these frames and lenses to a clinic which provided free to low cost vision services. The glasses and frames were recycled to provide new frames and lenses for low-income patients. He catalogued each pair (took pictures) and would provide a spread sheet to each clinic to “congratulate” the clinic for donating “30 pairs of glasses” for the year. Several times, people would accidentally donate the wrong pair, and he would hunt down and return the glasses to the owner.

Does that help?^

11

Forgot to add:
There is always a need somewhere. There is always someone who will accept your help. There is a lot of power one person can do.

12

Helped out a lot. Thanks for giving examples of various situations a student could help out a community.

13

your grades and ranking are amazing, and it’s good that you’ve started a club as a sophomore already. honestly, volunteering does not matter if you are just doing it for the sake of padding your college apps - you should only be doing it if you are passionate about the work you are doing and the people you are helping.

also, why are you taking academic decathlon for three years in a row? i’ve never heard of that being a class before.

14

Thank you so much! The hospital I am volunteering at is only walking distance from my house. I love helping people out and I especially love that I am getting a “Pre-Med” experience. I am just wondering if volunteering impacts our applications at all, and if so, whether or not volunteering at different places impacts it even more?

Academic Decathlon is a class at my school. Many schools in the LAUSD and other charter schools have it as a class as well.

15

It doesn’t matter if you volunteer all at one place or split it among different places. What you do is most important. If walking to the nearby hospital works well for you then stick with it.

I would, however, suggest you take a deep breath. Stacking up tons of APs and volunteer hours is not guarantee of getting into any of the top tier schools – many of the schools on your list have acceptance rates of under 10% and have to turn down lots of extremely well qualified candidates.

You also do not need to squeeze in as many APs as can fit into a schedule – what you need to do is take a schedule sufficiently hard that your guidance counselor will check the box saying you have taken the most rigorous schedule available at your HS (this is something you can discuss with him/her when you schedule the next two years).

And I know your intentions are good, but I always shutter when a person wants to apply to all the Ivys – it reeks of prestige hunting instead of looking for the right fit. There is a huge difference between attending Columbia in NYC and Dartmouth in Hanover, NH and the schools have very different vibes. When the time comes, seek out the schools that will work best for you.

Next spring asses your academic stats (including GPA, standardized tests, course rigor) as well as your financial needs and when you are a senior apply to a wide range of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (you will have to run a net price calculator for each school you consider) and that you would be happy to attend. You need to expand your horizons and recognize that there are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life.

As an aside, I don’t see Physics on your projected schedule (unless I missed something). Definitely take physics (even over AP Environmental Science) as top schools typically want to see a sequence of bio, chem, and physics. (and FWIW it is probably the case that Honors Physics would be considered a more rigorous course compared to AP Environmental Science).

And please recognize that HS should be an experience in and of itself – a time of learning and growth and not just a 4 year college application prep race. I’d suggest you get off of CC until next year when it is time to really think about college. Your time would be better spent elsewhere for now.

16

Wow, thanks for writing all of that out. I would much prefer to take APES as I have a good chemistry with the teacher who is teaching it. In fact, she is the sponsor for my club. Do you think this schedule would be better off? (Dropped Aca Deca Junior Year)

Junior Year:
AP Comp Sci
AP US History
AP Lang
AP Environmental Science
H Chem
Pre-Calc

Senior Year:
H Physics
AP Chem
AP Calculus
AP Lit
AP Gov
Academic Decathlon

17

Bump

18

As an Ivy dreamer, you really need to get your thinking and savvy up to Ivy level. When colleges like kids who push themselves, only part of that is class rigor. The other is in how you choose to stretch. And that’s far from founding a club where kids hang after the bell rings. Nor is it a count of vol hours. Bea is right, you need to climb out of the hs box, the hs thinking.

Take time to explore what the colleges say they want, value, and look for. The sort of kids who are empowered and activated aren’t asking what’s meant by “for the community at large.”

You need to consider how to get involved with healthcare delivery, more than escorting. Or it can be local advocacy. Or service where you deal directly with needy people. You may like being an escort and that draws on compassion, but at a point, been there/done that, and you need the next challenge. Not easy stuff, but what exposes you to the people and/or issues you’d deal with as a doctor.

Agree, you need physics, not APES. And where’s the rest of the foreign lang needed? Agree, you need to stop CC and do the basics first.

And even for LA, have to admit I’ve never seen aca deca on a transcript, as an actual class.

19

I will echo with the advice give above…most highly competitive schools recommend 4 years of a foreign language. You should not stop Spanish in Junior/Senior year.

20

Your stats are excellent!! But, unrelated to your question, you need a couple safety schools to add to your list, its extremely competitive at the top. Good Luck!