Dr. Radhika 
Volunteering
Volunteering is an excellent way to enhance your personal statement, meet new people, and serve the community. It shows commitment to helping others and spending your valuable spare time doing something positive. It can also provide life skills and real-world experiences within a company or organisation.
“Volunteer activities can foster enormous leadership skills. The non-profit professional volunteer world is a laboratory for self-realization” – Madeleine M. Kunin.
Volunteering is an asset to your application, and it is highly recommended that you start this very early on. Ideally, you want to choose a volunteering role within your field of interest. If you’re applying to the area of healthcare, it would be advisable to find a voluntary role within a caring environment or a charity.
Examples:
- – St. John Ambulance
- – Red Cross
- – National Citizen Service
- – Soup kitchen
- – Foodcycle
- – Cancer Research
- – Tutoring
- – Sports team
- – Local care home
- – Hospital
- – Charity Shop
St. John Ambulance – UK
The opportunities for volunteering here can make you stand out, from attending a youth program to volunteering with COVID-19 patients, the ambulance, or working with the NHS. You can receive first aid training, a vital life skill, in addition to teamwork, accountability, leadership, and communication. All of which will dramatically improve your personal statement.
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Red Cross – Global
Volunteering with the Red Cross is incredibly flexible and allows you to serve vulnerable members of your community, such as refugees and those with disabilities. The opportunities are endless and include helping in the UK and globally. Once you apply, you will be interviewed by a recruiter and trained if successful. The process is straightforward.
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National Citizen Service – UK
NCS provides a variety of causes for you to get involved in. Volunteering for a cause you are passionate about can enhance your personal statement and facilitate your skillset – something you can mention in the interview. Volunteering opportunities include poverty, homelessness, environmental issues, animal welfare & mental health.
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Soup Kitchen
A Soup Kitchen is a volunteer-run organisation that provides nutritious food, clothing, and support for the homeless and elderly. Other similar organisations include FoodCycle and foodbanks. These organisations all aim to nourish local communities using surplus or volunteer-made food.
Soup Kitchen London
Find out more UK / Find out more USA
Care Homes
Volunteering with the elderly can include washing up, preparing food, creating engaging activities, or simply providing company. The staff will value your help. You can gain various skills such as empathy, teamwork, organisation, and communication. You may have an opportunity to help those with disabilities, dementia, Alzheimer’s, etc…
British Heart Foundation
The flexible volunteering opportunities on offer can appeal to anyone. These include fundraising, helping in their stores, promoting workplace wellbeing, and CPR. Through volunteering, you are helping to save and improve someone’s life and contributing to life-saving research. This voluntary work can also count towards your DofE Award.
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Sports Clubs, Schools, Hospitals, Mentoring & Tutoring
Reaching out to local sports teams, youth clubs, hospitals, schools, etc.. can provide you with exciting roles. The best advice we can give is to find something you are genuinely passionate about.
Volunteering should be a fun and engaging way to help others rather than a chore. Find a range of experiences that show that you can communicate with those of different ages, abilities, and backgrounds.
This is the best way to highlight your skills and willingness to serve others. Volunteering is highly valued in a medical or dental personal statement.
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