I’m an NP also and I think her volunteer positions sounds perfect.I think you should encourage her also to be active
in HOSA and any health career classes at school. At my daughters school, they can graduate high school prepared to be a CNA. A LOT of hospitals give great tuition assistance to CNAs who are working their way through a nursing program.
I love being an NP…great income and wonderful flexibility for my family.
Why does it have to be one or the other? My kid worked full time AND still found time to volunteer in a significant way.
Because she doesn’t have time for both @thumper1 She’s a high school senior who gives 20 hours a week to Marching band (at minumun) and is taking all honors or AP classes. I can’t imagine where she’d have time to work 40 hours a week
I’m not suggesting a HS senior work 40 hours a week (my kid was a college grad when she did that).
But the question remains…why is it work OR volunteer? Why can’t she do both for the amount of hours that will fit in her schedule.
Doesn’t marching band end around Thanksgiving? Maybe the “work” part could be seasonal work for the holiday season.
Marching band does end first week of December, and then she plays in the combo for the show choir until February so that takes up every Saturday from around 8 in the morning until 2 in the morning (travelling competitions). She really only has about 12 workable hours a week most of the year. Seasonal work is definitely a thought I didn’t have.
The student already has a full time job–she’s a high school student. And she’s already participating in at least one other extracurricular: marching band. Your example is completely unrelated (as you said, your kid wasn’t even a college student when she did that–was she a student at all when she working full time and volunteering?). On top of that, she’s looking for something additional to do. Doing both (a paying job and a volunteer job) would mean she is able to spend less time participating in what sounds like a great opportunity that is directly related to what she would like to do in the future. Giving that up to spend an equally inconsequential amount of time in a paying job (that would most likely be unrelated to what she thinks she would like to do in the future) would be really unfortunate, in my opinion. Sometimes, you have to do what you have to do when you need the money, but since the student doesn’t need the money, I think it would be a real shame for the student to give up this volunteering experience or even cut the time she can be there in half. She might have the opportunity to figure out if this career is something she really wants to do and will also get many of the benefits of working a job, except the money (learning to budget her time effectively, learning to show up on time and be reliable, learning to work with a supervisor and/or other volunteers, learning to interact with a variety of people, being able to work in what might at times be a high-stress environment, etc). I don’t really see the benefit of doing both or working instead of volunteering, unless, of course, she needs or wants the money from a part-time job.
Sometimes, it’s about quality, not quantity. Doing both isn’t always the best option.
My kid was spending the same number of hours doing other than working and volunteering…as this kid is spending in HS and ECs. It was still very possible to both work, and volunteer.
Like I said, seasonal work is one possibility. Another would be things like house sitting or pet sitting where the time commitment doesn’t interfere with volunteer work. I mean really…the kid needs to sleep someplace…may as well house sit and earn some money…IF working is important.
If this student has the ability to volunteer only, and the volunteer hours are such that they would completely interfere with working, then fine…volunteering is a worthwhile thing to do.
Some students don’t have the luxury of NOT working for pay.
Another option…this student could get EMT certification and work as an EMT. Or CNA certification, and work as a CNA. They would get plenty of experience seeing a variety of medical issues while getting paid as well.
Also if you look at the Common Data Set for the colleges it shows what is Very Important, Important, Considered or Not Considered. At TCNJ, for example, Volunteering is “Very Important” and Working is “Considered”. So look at some of your target colleges and see what they think is important. Princeton has them both as “Considered”, but has ECs as “Important” but Talent as “Very Important”.
Of course, it’s possible to both work and volunteer. I never said it wasn’t. But that is not always the best choice for all people, especially students who not only have to go to school but also have to study and do homework at home. There is a huge difference between working and volunteering 60+ hours a week, and being a student and volunteering/doing ECs 60+ hours a week. The easiest time I’ve ever had was one summer when I was working 60 (often more) hours per week (not including extra volunteering I was doing just because I enjoyed it), but I was not taking classes. Being a student on top of working and volunteering was much more of a drain than having a job or other commitments because at the end of the day you have to go home and do homework and study. Trust me, I get long hours (I’ve been a full-time college student with a 4.0, on top of working 40+ hours/week through a mixture of part-time jobs) and I get finding more time to squeeze in extra jobs or activities, but it’s not something I would recommend to anyone, if they didn’t have to do that. If the student has 12 hours to devote to this extra activity (and they get to decide that, not you), 6 hours volunteering and 6 hours working just isn’t the most beneficial idea, in my opinion.
But, as I believe the OP said, that is not the case in this situation. If the student did not have the luxury of not working for pay, then this wouldn’t even be a question. But the student is lucky enough to have the option, and I think this volunteer option is the right choice. If the student needed to earn money, then I would recommend they NOT volunteer and just work for pay (and not volunteer at all, if they can help it, because that’s time they could have spent earning money for the family or for college). But that’s not the case here. I don’t see how other students being in that situation should impact what this particular student does.
If, however, her volunteering is a burden on her or the family, then that’s a different situation.