Volunteer Experience on Resume?

[sk1540]

I'm assuming that many of us here have a lot of volunteer experience, so I was wondering how you guys discussed it on your resumes. My main issue is that I started volunteering at one place about a year ago. Initially, I was going maybe once a month, and lately (maybe in the past ~5 months) I've been going once a week. It seems kind of wrong to say I've been volunteering at this particular place for a year, though, given that it wasn't a huge commitment a year ago. I thought about putting something like 2015-present. Is this silly? Am I over-analyzing?

[RCtheSS]

I don't see anything wrong with listing when you first started volunteering with the organization. Technically, it's been an ongoing activity for you even if the amount of time has varied. I don't know how else they would verify how often you attended, unless a volunteer coordinator is one of your LOR writers.

[Dreams]

Of course you should list your volunteer experience.  The frequency you volunteered does not matter.  And if you made any significant contributions, be sure to highlight those either in your resume or SOP.

[xXIDaShizIXx]

On 12/20/2015 at 1:48 PM, Dreams said:

Of course you should list your volunteer experience.  The frequency you volunteered does not matter.  And if you made any significant contributions, be sure to highlight those either in your resume or SOP.

I agree with this. It definitely helps to list your volunteering experience. It was talked about in my admissions interview and was talked about when I was hired for the government agency that I work for.