Non-clinical volunteering vs. tutoring classification

[lowkeyy]

I’m finishing up my sophomore year and I’ve been volunteering one night a week this year with a service org that provides tutoring to people with low-literacy so they can pass their GED. A few of us students travel together to do this tutoring in an underserved area. I really enjoy this activity and find it to be meaningful. I planned to continue with this being my main non-clinical volunteering activity for the next 2 years and should have 300 hours at time of application.

My concern is whether this activity will be reclassified by med schools into the teaching category on my application and I will show zero non-clinical volunteering hours? My premed advisor said that it should count as non-clinical but I’m doing a sanity check since my time is limited. If there’s a good chance it will not count in that category, I need to find a different service org. Thanks!

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[LizzyM]

Each activity in the work/activities section of the AMCAS application gets a tag. You choose the tag. You can call this tutoring or you can call it non-clinical volunteering. Frankly, if you are tutoring people who couldn't pay for your services and who are not your peer group of in a place where you were not long ago (e.g. other college students), to me that is volunteering, particularly if you are dealing with people with low literacy who are working toward the GED. This is a group of people you might not otherwise encounter in daily life (unlike, let's say, teens prepping for entrance exams or a religious rite of passage).

There are schools that value teaching/tutoring as medical students take on that role in problem-based and team-based learning and use some of those skills with patients, too. However, community service seems to be a more important unwritten requirement and I think what you are doing meets that requirement.

 

[lowkeyy]

Each activity in the work/activities section of the AMCAS application gets a tag. You choose the tag. You can call this tutoring or you can call it non-clinical volunteering. Frankly, if you are tutoring people who couldn't pay for your services and who are not your peer group of in a place where you were not long ago (e.g. other college students), to me that is volunteering, particularly if you are dealing with people with low literacy who are working toward the GED. This is a group of people you might not otherwise encounter in daily life (unlike, let's say, teens prepping for entrance exams or a religious rite of passage).

There are schools that value teaching/tutoring as medical students take on that role in problem-based and team-based learning and use some of those skills with patients, too. However, community service seems to be a more important unwritten requirement and I think what you are doing meets that

Thanks, yes these are all adults that I’m tutoring, from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and racially diverse.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

It is worthwhile nonclinical community service. The challenge is that on screening rubrics I have answered to, it does not address service orientation. I agree literacy is a barrier to accessing everything in society, and a lot of organizations (libraries, faith organizations) host ESL classes. Who hosts and funds these classes? What training are you getting?

I'll credit you with the community you are serving, but the action isn't by itself alleviating others distress. Teaching is always an academic skill showing mastery/competence, and being an expert in English, you are showing academic competency.

Look at the rubrics.

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[LizzyM]

It is worthwhile nonclinical community service. The challenge is that on screening rubrics I have answered to, it does not address service orientation. I agree literacy is a barrier to accessing everything in society, and a lot of organizations (libraries, faith organizations) host ESL classes. Who hosts and funds these classes? What training are you getting?

I'll credit you with the community you are serving, but the action isn't by itself alleviating others distress. Teaching is always an academic skill showing mastery/competence, and being an expert in English, you are showing academic competency.

Look at the rubrics.

How to Assess Your Academic Competencies - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net

How to Assess Your Pre-Professional Competencies - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net

I disagree with this view. It seems to me that many of the pre-professional competencies can be honed in working with adults who are preparing for the GED. There is a great deal of listening and learning on the part of the tutor, exercising compassion and good judgment, and helping tutees build resilience and self-efficacy. One also gets to know the tutee's circumstances and the challenges faced. This is far more than an academic skill on display and, perhaps, why sometimes the highest achieving students are not good teachers.