Health Careers Advising

Community Service

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Community Service

Medicine is performed in service to others and the desire to help others is a key characteristic of individuals who are interested in healthcare. While you may not yet have the knowledge or training to provide healthcare, you can give back to your community in other ways. This allows you to not only benefit your community but also demonstrates that you have an authentic desire to help others.

Types of Community Service

You can use a skill that you already have and share that with the community. For example; Are you a skilled athlete? Volunteer to coach a kids league. Do you speak another language? Volunteer as a translator or tutor.

If you find that you don’t have a strong skill that you can use to give back, instead follow your passion. For example; Love the outdoors? Work with conservation groups to clean up your local area. Enjoy spending time with animals? Volunteer at the humane society.

The options are endless and varied and we encourage you to see out service experiences that you find fulfilling.

Community Service Opportunities

Here are a few suggested opportunities to get you started but there are many more available depending on your personal interests.

BrownEngage - Brown’s community engagement database
Brown Student Groups - many of these have a strong service component.
Swearer Center
Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island
Connect for Health
Brown Refugee Youth Tutoring & Enrichment
Brown Sustainability and Resiliency Volunteer Opportunities
Brown Market Shares Program
Volunteer Match - an organization that matches your interests to volunteer opportunities across the US

Frequently Asked Questions

There are no set number of hours of community service required by the health professional schools. Instead, we recommend that you spend time volunteering for your community because it is something you are passionate about doing and find fulfilling. Then, the number of hours will be spending time doing what you enjoy rather than something that feels like an obligation for admission.

While there are no requirements for a specific number of types of community service, it is preferable to choose a smaller number of activities and spend considerable time doing those rather than participating in many activities but for a small number of hours in each. This way you can become more deeply involved in the smaller number of activities you can commit to.