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I got waitlisted by every school that I applied to last year and as a result, I'm doing the application process over again, right now. I have met with, or talked to, adcoms from every school, and I'm hearing that I should beef up my resume a bit.

So now I'm looking for some volunteering opportunities that I can add to my resume. But I'm planning to have my applications in early this time, so that won't leave me very much time to volunteer before I turn it all in. If they look at my resume and see that I just started volunteering in August and September, is that going to look like I just did it to pad my resume really quickly?

Or is it still better than if I didn't do it at all?

Well, you are doing it to pad your resume quickly. I don't think you have the benefit of thinking about this for a long period of time. Besides, volunteering is volunteering, no matter when you do it. Just because it happens so close to your application period doesn't diminish it in the least.

Really, what interests me is the assertion that volunteering would instantly solve this waitlist problem. I hope it does, but was there anything else on your application that should be worked on? Did you start the cycle late?

billyez wrote:Well, you are doing it to pad your resume quickly. I don't think you have the benefit of thinking about this for a long period of time. Besides, volunteering is volunteering, no matter when you do it. Just because it happens so close to your application period doesn't diminish it in the least.

Really, what interests me is the assertion that volunteering would instantly solve this waitlist problem. I hope it does, but was there anything else on your application that should be worked on? Did you start the cycle late?

Yes, I was definitely on the later side and I think that was the biggest factor. However, one adcom told me specifically that some volunteering experience would help my application the next time around, so I'm going to attempt to address that.

What are your numbers and where did you apply? Perhaps you did not have a good mix of reaches/targets/safeties?