<p>I realize this isn't the greatest place to post something like this. I'm an Engineering major at the University of Maryland right now and I can't find a major that I really have a passion for and Engineering definitely isn't what I want to do. I love volunteering and I really want to make a difference in this world. Are there any job opportunities in volunteering in third world countries, possibly with a wage, so I can get by? I would be willing to drop out of college to do something like this.</p>
<p>You could complete a civil engineering degree and help design clean tap water infrastructure for a poor country. Or an electrical engineering degree and help design reliable power generation and transmission infrastructure for a poor country. Or a mechanical or materials degree and design something innovatively inexpensive (like [this](<a href=“Business Design News & Trends | Fast Company”>Business Design News & Trends | Fast Company)</a>) that would be useful to people in poor countries.</p>
<p>The organizations (e.g., NGO’s, U.N., diplomatic corps, multi-nationals, int’l schools) that pay foreigners to work in developing countries want people with skills (e.g., engineers, scientists, economists, doctors, nurses, financial planners, urban planners, teachers). If the organizations just wanted unskilled labor w willing hands in these countries, they could just hire the local people.</p>
<p>Stay in college and learn something. Your brains will be a greater asset to helping the developing world than your unskilled hands.</p>
<p>Stay in school, even if you decide to switch majors. As noted, organizations that receive funding for projects in developing countries hire people with skills and experience. Take a look at companies Louis Berger. Also, Nathan Associates, Dahlberg. A degree in areas like engineering, environmental sciences, urban planning, developmental economics will get you started. Summer jobs and internships are good resume builders.</p>
<p>The first thing you need to do to “make a difference in this world” is remove the phrase “third world” from your vocabulary. It is offensive, condescending and anachronistic.</p>
<p>American college kids volunteering for the sake of volunteering very often benefit more from their activities than does the country they’re in. What difference, exactly, do you want to make in the world? What region or country are you interested in? Or are you simply working toward a nebulous vision of your shirtless, tanned self building water pumps with your bare hands somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa and teaching English to malnourished children?</p>
<p>Unqualified 20-year-olds with a savior complex can have a great time “in the third world,” but they’re very unlikely to help it move forward. Policy-makers, investors and experts are the only Western people the developing world actually has use for. I agree with everyone above that you need to stay in school.</p>
<p>I hope this video will give you something to think about:</p>
<p>ghostt…watched and loved the video. do gooders trying to save the 3rd world put on blast! the third world is a disaster beyond words but, they are not looking for rich people from europe and long island to come save them. it is more about self validation for the do gooders then wanting to really make a difference(IMO)</p>
<p>I know many people who have made careers working abroad in developing nations. My friends make a difference. Who are they? Mostly extremely well educated selfless folks that make careers out of their work. Their professions? Doctors, nurses, agriculture consultants with masters degrees or PhD’s, civil engineers, water management experts, teachers and military experts. Dropping out of school will DISQUALIFY you from these types of jobs. Most require at least a masters degree.</p>
<p>Go volunteer with your fellow students in the U. of Maryland’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders
[Engineers</a> Without Borders, University of Maryland](<a href=“http://www.ewb.umd.edu/]Engineers”>http://www.ewb.umd.edu/)</p>
<p>I’m not an expert in any of this at all, but I know how you feel about wanting to make a difference. Maybe it would help if you started volunteering closer to home? Unless you live in an extremely wealthy area, there are probably a lot of people who could use your help. It’s not as exciting, but it’s still helpful.
Also, having a college degree will help you do stuff like join the Peace Corps, for example.</p>
<p>Gee wiz…why is everyone coming down so hard on this kid. He’s in college, realizing that the path he thought he wanted to take doesn’t feel right. He wants to take some time to regroup and figure some things out, and doesn’t want to ride his parents couch and play Bioshock 3 while he’s doing it. Maybe he wasn’t so eloquent about it…but I don’t think it’s reason to string him up.</p>
<p>It is not just the eloquence or lack thereof, but the fact that the OP’s proposed course of action to drop out of college would be less effective at helping people in poor countries than completing a degree in engineering or some other subject of use in providing assistance to people in poor countries.</p>
<p>If you do water engineering, we can use you! (we have no money, but that has never stopped us - [Clean</a> drinking water for all! | Friendly Water for the World](<a href=“http://www.friendlywater.net%5DClean”>http://www.friendlywater.net) )</p>
<p>(P.S. NONE of our people working in the field have a degree in it. But we do need people with skills and tools.)</p>
<p>Am I the only person who found the responses to the OP’s requests a condescending smack down ? He/she is looking for advice, not an insulting accusation of his intentions. Suggestions of finding work he is passionate about is a good start but suggesting he wants to get himself a tan while padding the resume is a tad harsh</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus…But isn’t that the point? That he’s not sure about the current path that he’s following? So you think it’s better for a young person to waste energy and time and probably lots of their parents’ money floundering at school without a clear goal, instead of calling for a (hopefully planned and temporary) time-out to do some volunteer work and use the time and repose to reevalute their goals?</p>
<p>Realistically, it is unlikely that organizations doing charitable work in poor countries will have need for unskilled volunteers from rich countries, particularly those without a clear goal. There may be more opportunities in charitable work domestically. However, in either case, someone with applicable skills and education will be able to contribute a lot more to the charitable cause than someone without.</p>
<p>I agree, but would note the skills and tools often don’t come from a degree. He could take a year off and acquire some of those skills elsewhere, if he knew what he wanted to pursue, and then might be better off going back and finishing the degree which would really assist even more.</p>
<p>OP is asking for a “volunteering” gig that pays WAGES. That is unlikely. It is expensive to fly someone overseas & to apply for a work visa to do paid work in a foreign country. </p>
<p>To get a work visa, you need to demonstrate to a gov’t that the local expertise is unavailable, in order to justify bringing in a foreign national instead of hiring a citizen locally. This usually requires that the visa applicant has a degree and/or years of work experience to demonstrate expertise.</p>
<p>If OP is willing to fly himself there and be self-supporting, then that opens possibilities.</p>