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(edited 8 years ago)
Unis don't care about your volunteering for the PS, unless you are applying for courses like medicine
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ajs4815
That's bull. Unis do care about volunteering even when applying for a subject other than medicine as it can show commitment (depending how long you've volunteered there for). Unis will look for people who are committed because otherwise how are they supposed to know that you're going to go to the lectures every week or even stick the course through to the end. If you can use an example of skills you've gained while working there or a particular event which has had an impact on you then it will be of additional use in your personal statement. It's useful if you can use it to say something, remember you want every line of your personal statement to count for something, especially since you only have 47!

If you're applying in January then i'm not sure how much better a year and a half sounds compared to a year, like both are significant amounts of time, I'm not sure the extra 6 months is that big of a deal?

You're probably better off freeing up your time and spending it on study. In the end unis want to fill a space so they'd rather you spent your time meeting their offer. Additionally without the annoyance of organizing yourself to be up and at work every single weekend you might find you don't feel so overwhelmed by the stress the year ahead will likely cause :smile:

If you aren't being interviewed you can pretty much spin it in your personal statement so that they don't know when you stopped volunteering or if you even have stopped, if that makes sense. For example, you could say "Over the past year I have volunteered weekly at CRUK" - a statement like that does not give any indication that you are no longer volunteering.

I hope this has been helpful!!
Original post by ajs4815
That's bull. Unis do care about volunteering even when applying for a subject other than medicine as it can show commitment (depending how long you've volunteered there for). Unis will look for people who are committed because otherwise how are they supposed to know that you're going to go to the lectures every week or even stick the course through to the end. If you can use an example of skills you've gained while working there or a particular event which has had an impact on you then it will be of additional use in your personal statement. It's useful if you can use it to say something, remember you want every line of your personal statement to count for something, especially since you only have 47!

If you're applying in January then i'm not sure how much better a year and a half sounds compared to a year, like both are significant amounts of time, I'm not sure the extra 6 months is that big of a deal?

You're probably better off freeing up your time and spending it on study. In the end unis want to fill a space so they'd rather you spent your time meeting their offer. Additionally without the annoyance of organizing yourself to be up and at work every single weekend you might find you don't feel so overwhelmed by the stress the year ahead will likely cause :smile:

If you aren't being interviewed you can pretty much spin it in your personal statement so that they don't know when you stopped volunteering or if you even have stopped, if that makes sense. For example, you could say "Over the past year I have volunteered weekly at CRUK" - a statement like that does not give any indication that you are no longer volunteering.

I hope this has been helpful!!


This is coming from over 7 years of PS reviewing experience.

I could do 10 hours of volunteering in a charity shop, but if I have no interest in the subject I'm applying for, then I'm not likely to be committed to it. Whereas if you talk about your interest in the subject in the PS, you are more likely to be committed to attending lectures and doing work outside of taught input. Universities care more about academics, apart from for vocational courses
Original post by Revilos
I don't plan on making the volunteering the subject of the PS at all. I recognise that most of it should explain my passion for the subject and give evidence for skills relating it etc. But surely having volunteering on there as a side entity is useful when it comes to standing out? My question is whether it's best for it to be in the present tense, verses having volunteered in the past.




Thanks, very helpful !

If you're just going to have a sentence saying that you volunteer (ed) weekly in a charity shop it isn't going to help you stand out or help your application.

If you're going to have 2-3 sentences about a particular experience while volunteering then it will be personal but probably not relevant to your subject- in which case you'd be better advised to use the space to talk about something that is relevant.

2hours a week doesn't demonstrate commitment (and admissions staff are looking for commitment to the subject they studied for a degree, a masters, a PhD and have a career in- your audience is committed) and your referee will discuss your more general commitment and reliability.

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