Long term volunteering problems

[sd91]

At the moment i am in year 12. Basically in feb/march of this year i was supposed to have an interview with the volunteer co-ordinator at a school for disabled children. They kept putting the date backwards and made excuses that she wasnt in and arranged the interview for today. I went there this morning and the volunteer coordinator had been double booked so i didnt have my interview. The volunteer coordinator said that i should wait after my AS exams to do any volunteering and arrange the interview for after then. I organised this through millenium volunteers who say that i have to do 100 hours with them. Is it better to start volunteering in june and finish in december (which i am reluctant to do because i would have already completed the ucas form and unis may be replying and giving out interviews) or do i do the 100 hours intensely during june, july and august and would this still count as long term volunteering seeing as its over 3 months?

My other option would be to do long term volunteering at the hospital but i would find this hard to comment on in my ucas statement and in interviews because i dont think id gain aas much out of it as the other one

[drbang]

its not about the number of hours you can clock up, but it does sound good to say ive been doing it for x amount of months. The most important thing is what you learned from the experience. I have been volunteering now for about a year - 2.5 hours a week - in a respite centre for disabled kids and ive learnt so much, felt like a total spare wheel for the first 6 months cuz i really didnt know what i was doing - i mentioned this on my ucas form, and was asked about it at all four of my interviews and explained how i had changed this, and what i had achieved in terms of communication skills and understanding! Dont worry about clocking up x-amount of hours, if you can get the MV thats great, but do start volunteering as soon as possible so you yourself can get the best experience out of it

good luck, sorry if i was rambling !

[angelic]

do start volunteering asap - i know of many people who have applied with fab academic grades but poor volunteer experience and none have had a single interview - be warned if you work on your total application ( and this is hard work on top of exams work shadowing bmat ukcat writing your statement visiting unis etc) you will be so happy this time next year - think of it as creating the perfect package - competition is tough - you don't have to do huge amounts of hours but really think about each session you do-write a diary of what was hard what was positive what you learnt what you want to do/know more about the next session and by the time you come to write your ps you won't find it hard - you'll just have so much to say!
good luck

[agneishd]

any amount of voluteering is good, and as long as you convey to the unis you'll apply to what you learnt and that it was a worthwhile experience, you're set

[ruridh17]

You should go into your local nursing or care home. Thats what i did.

Do things like make cups of tea, talk to the residents. Do jigsaws and generally make them feel as though someone is taking an interest in them.

This seemed to bode well for me so i would recommend it to anyone else who is applying and thinking of voluntary work.

[Wanna B Doctor]

if you work on your total application ( and this is hard work on top of exams work shadowing bmat ukcat writing your statement visiting unis etc) you will be so happy this time next year!!!

possibly the BEST comment i've ever seen!!!!!!!!!

thats what getting into medicine is all about

[ruridh17]

does seem like it to me.

also wanna b, you should get yourself to aberdeen.

[Rona]

Try and start as soon as you can, but don't try to cram it all in just so you can get your 100 hours. As people have said, its about what you learn, not how long you do it for. With my voluteering, which I've been doing for about a year now, at first I did go in lots which I think helped to get me really started, but it was a few months before I really properly felt I was being worthwhile. I found I've been better committing to it long term.
If you are still doing it when you do your ucas form, you can say that thats what you are doing, you don't need to be finished it.

Thats just what I think anyway! But definitely get it started as soon as and then hopefully you'll want to keep going past your 100 hours anyway!!

[dreaming_princess]

I was volunteering throughout the application cycle, I started right before I sent my UCAS form out and continued until I had all my interviews. It sounds good to be able to say last week or last ...day in an interview. Continuity - as long as you start early enough that you can talk about it in your personal statement. Don't just do one thing though, I volunteered throughout y12, then in y13 at somewhere else, plus I did work experience in a GPs office for a day and at a magestrates court.
You need to show 2 things - commitment - doing something over a period of time, and range - not just doing 1 thing or having 1 experience.

[agneishd]

bad thing to say but...
they don't know if when you say you did X for 6 months, you actually did it for 2 weeks...

expand the truth if you want, but do make sure you do learn something and can talk about it