Volunteering as a ward volunteer

Hey everyone! i’m a year 12 student currently studying maths, chem and bio at a level in the hopes of studying dentistry at uni.
recently i have discovered the opportunity to volunteer at the local hospital for 3 hours a week. The volunteering would start around february time. Do you think that it’s worth volunteering or will the workload and pressure of a levels mean that it may be a struggle?
I also have a part time job and work on mondays and tuesdays

Hi amreece,
Hope your well! This sounds like a really good opportunity that i believe you should take up! You could learn valuable transferrable skills for the future and it is something you might want to write about in your personal statement!
3 hours seems manageable, however, if you are worried about college, having a job and volunteering you should bring this up with whoever you are volunteering for and ask if they will be able to be flexible around your shifts and when your a -levels happen!
Hope this helps!
Katy,
LJMUStudentRep

Hey everyone! i’m a year 12 student currently studying maths, chem and bio at a level in the hopes of studying dentistry at uni.
recently i have discovered the opportunity to volunteer at the local hospital for 3 hours a week. The volunteering would start around february time. Do you think that it’s worth volunteering or will the workload and pressure of a levels mean that it may be a struggle?
I also have a part time job and work on mondays and tuesdays

Hey everyone! i’m a year 12 student currently studying maths, chem and bio at a level in the hopes of studying dentistry at uni.
recently i have discovered the opportunity to volunteer at the local hospital for 3 hours a week. The volunteering would start around february time. Do you think that it’s worth volunteering or will the workload and pressure of a levels mean that it may be a struggle?
I also have a part time job and work on mondays and tuesdays

Hey everyone! i’m a year 12 student currently studying maths, chem and bio at a level in the hopes of studying dentistry at uni.
recently i have discovered the opportunity to volunteer at the local hospital for 3 hours a week. The volunteering would start around february time. Do you think that it’s worth volunteering or will the workload and pressure of a levels mean that it may be a struggle?
I also have a part time job and work on mondays and tuesdays

I would recommend this . If you network well and become liked the doctors/consultant could write a nice reference/help with applications/ or the more junior docs can help with interview questions. Just make sure it's volunteering on a ward to get the most out of it.

This person wants to be a dentist, not a doctor, so specific hospital volunteering in MaxFax or ortho departments is the most useful. All experience is good experience, however if this person is trying to use their time wisely, then it is to be noted that very few dentists go on to hospital careers, and there is little exposure to wards at undergrad level depending on where you train. My personal experience of mock interviews is that medics really don't understand how dentistry interviews are structured and assume they are the same as for medicine and just change scenarios to say ' you are the dentist and..' (obviously there are small overlaps). You really don't need to be on a ward, and in fact a broader volunteer job like hospital porter would be far more enlightening. All opinions are valid of course; I offer mine as someone actively working in dentistry including hospitals. OP, follow your heart!

Thank you for your reply. Do you think it’s worth volunteering for DentAid instead? In terms of being a ward volunteer, would it still not bring any useful experience to dentistry as you are interacting with patients, visitors, etc. Also, if i do become a ward volunteer do you think i could try to volunteer in the ortho department?

This person wants to be a dentist, not a doctor, so specific hospital volunteering in MaxFax or ortho departments is the most useful. All experience is good experience, however if this person is trying to use their time wisely, then it is to be noted that very few dentists go on to hospital careers, and there is little exposure to wards at undergrad level depending on where you train. My personal experience of mock interviews is that medics really don't understand how dentistry interviews are structured and assume they are the same as for medicine and just change scenarios to say ' you are the dentist and..' (obviously there are small overlaps). You really don't need to be on a ward, and in fact a broader volunteer job like hospital porter would be far more enlightening. All opinions are valid of course; I offer mine as someone actively working in dentistry including hospitals. OP, follow your heart!