How do you 'prove' your volunteer hour/experience?

[mitrieD]

I have volunteer hours from different organizations like homeless shelters and food banks throughout the years (some from 2010). How am I supposed to prove that I gave my time there? I really doubt that the organizations that I volunteered at 'recorded' my time, nor do I have anyone that I could refer to at these places.

If I could just place the time that I believe that I spent at these organizations, then what keep people from lying on their applications about their time spent volunteering?

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[bobtheweazel]

Some places, like Habitat for Humanity, actually will track your time. Then they can provide you with some kind of verification. At least my local Habitat does. For others, I don't know.

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[Mad Jack]

Plenty of people lie, but getting caught is a death knell to your app. It's happened here and there that someone has put something outlandish on their volunteer hours and been called out on it. I don't know how it works on the pod side of things, but on the AMCAS side, your app can be pulled if they find out you've falsified anything and you can be banned from the service for a period of time.

 

[bobtheweazel]

Yea, I would think that should be one of the first things people consider when trying to find a place to volunteer. Whether they have a process to verify your hours. If not, it might just end up being a huge waste of time...not that the humanitarian aspect is a waste, but you know what I mean.

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[MalleableMan]

Not a single school or interview (whether it be for jobs, pod school interviews, or residency interviews) asked me for verification of my volunteer work or hours put in. They could ask questions about a specific experience you list and of course you better be able to back it up at the interview

 

[mitrieD]

Not a single school or interview (whether it be for jobs, pod school interviews, or residency interviews) asked me for verification of my volunteer work or hours put in. They could ask questions about a specific experience you list and of course you better be able to back it up at the interview

I really hope this is my experience. I don't really have a way to verify my volunteer hours. At least from the organizations that I've spent time in.

 

[Sweatshirt]

I had 300+ volunteer hours at a hospital and never got asked to verify anything. It is very unlikely admissions will ask. Volunteering isn't as important for pod as it is MD/DO

 

[PodasaurusRex]

I can confirm the above posts for all of my interview experiences that I have never once been asked to prove my volunteer hours and I had something relatively outlandish than most with all of my Eagle Scout jazz. They're basically looking for a number to say,"Hmm looks good. Moving on.."

 

[skim25]

Yeah, schools never verified my hours during my interviews.

I feel like they aren't verifying your volunteer hours, but more on your experience and what you got out of it. When I was interviewed, they always asked me something about my volunteer experience, such as what I did and what I learned from it. As long as you don't put total bs and back up your experience, you are good.