Medical How is my Peace Corps experience perceived?

[Question]

I completed the Peace Corps a few years ago, and I’m preparing to apply to medical school.

1) How do adcoms weigh my experience in the Peace Corps? Will it stand out if other parts of my applications are sufficient/average compared to other applicants?
2) How common is it to see applicants who served in the Peace Corps?
3) I was an English teaching volunteer, does this reflect negatively on me since it was unrelated to medicine?
4) Should I try to continue volunteering in other organizations to diversify my experience? I would love to continue volunteering, but I’d like to focus on other parts of my application, too.

I’ve been working on other areas of my application, but I want to better understand what I should lean into for my PC experience.

— Experts please respond to this post —

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[AlteredScale]

I completed the Peace Corps a few years ago, and I’m preparing to apply to medical school.

1) How do adcoms weigh my experience in the Peace Corps? Will it stand out if other parts of my applications are sufficient/average compared to other applicants?
2) How common is it to see applicants who served in the Peace Corps?
3) I was an English teaching volunteer, does this reflect negatively on me since it was unrelated to medicine?
4) Should I try to continue volunteering in other organizations to diversify my experience? I would love to continue volunteering, but I’d like to focus on other parts of my application, too.

I’ve been working on other areas of my application, but I want to better understand what I should lean into for my PC experience.

1) Every medical school adcom has a different approach to weighing experiences. It will stand out for sure.
2) I don't have these statistics off the top of my head. But it's not a common experience to have.
3) No
4) Yes you should continue other experiences especially if you enjoy them.

 

[Goro]

I completed the Peace Corps a few years ago, and I’m preparing to apply to medical school.

1) How do adcoms weigh my experience in the Peace Corps?

In my book, Peace corps experience is one of the best ECs one can do.

Will it stand out if other parts of my applications are sufficient/average compared to other applicants?

I'd prefer to see your app first

2) How common is it to see applicants who served in the Peace Corps?

Very uncommon

3) I was an English teaching volunteer, does this reflect negatively on me since it was unrelated to medicine?

That's fine. Not everything you do has to be related to Medicine.

4) Should I try to continue volunteering in other organizations to diversify my experience? I would love to continue volunteering, but I’d like to focus on other parts of my application, too.

Best to strengthen whatever is in your app that's lacking. Also, do what you love, and love what you do

I’ve been working on other areas of my application, but I want to better understand what I should lean into for my PC experience.

— Experts please respond to this post —

 

[lord999]

1. Depends on the university. It is usually valued highly if the entire term is completed. An exception is USUHS who MUST upgrade the experience to a noncompetitive appointment eligiblity (this is part of your Peace Corps post-experience benefits). So, it counts better for you there.

2. Rare. There are no official statistics kept. It's not more than 5% as I keep track of that and veterans for the state as they get tuition benefits (both immediately get in-state tuition and there are other considerations such as being considered in-state for admission).

3. As above

4. You should get clinical experience as a volunteer.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Peace Corps is NOT common and seems to be looked at very favorably. Do things you are interested in for volunteering. As long as you have your clinical experience it looks good and can be a jump off point for conversation come interview time.

 

[Doodledog]

I certainly concur that's it's an uncommon and positively perceived experience. However, it would be important to make sure that you tell the story well, including why you did it, what you got out of it and how it informs your thinking about your future. The fact that it was English teaching is irrelevant, what matters is the way you tell the story. I presume you completed it before COVID hit? If not, did that shorten or otherwise change the experience?

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

1. Depends on the university. It is usually valued highly if the entire term is completed. An exception is USUHS who MUST upgrade the experience to a noncompetitive appointment eligiblity (this is part of your Peace Corps post-experience benefits). So, it counts better for you there.

2. Rare. There are no official statistics kept. It's not more than 5% as I keep track of that and veterans for the state as they get tuition benefits (both immediately get in-state tuition and there are other considerations such as being considered in-state for admission).

3. As above

4. You should get clinical experience as a volunteer.

If you’re saying that usuhs is required to give preference to peace corps volunteers, I’m not sure that’s true. However, it is viewed highly and there are some peace corps vets in my class whose experience was highly valued.

NCE is a hiring option. We are not “hired” when we’re accepted to USUHS.

As to the OP, agree that more info is needed. However, peace corps is highly valued. And things outside of medicine are not only not negative, but are a positive. Being a premed robot is not what you should be striving for.

 

[lord999]

If you’re saying that usuhs is required to give preference to peace corps volunteers, I’m not sure that’s true. However, it is viewed highly and there are some peace corps vets in my class whose experience was highly valued.

NCE is a hiring option. We are not “hired” when we’re accepted to USUHS.

As to the OP, agree that more info is needed. However, peace corps is highly valued. And things outside of medicine are not only not negative, but are a positive. Being a premed robot is not what you should be striving for.

No, this is not through the NCE mechanism (you are absolutely correct that admissions is not the same as hiring), it is through the sponsoring agencies mechanism. I had thought that sponsoring agencies for USUHS were limited to DoD, DHS, HHS, and VA (past). During one process (2018), I saw that DoS did sponsor two recent Peace Corps and will also sponsor USAID, though whether it's seen or not from one admission year to the next is unknown. I remember it because it was that unusual and was not in the rules that we knew.

Have they changed this in the past couple of years? I know VA was one of them to the mid-2010s, but at present, we roll ours into DoD nowadays and they sponsor for us for anyone sent through VA EISP now.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

No, this is not through the NCE mechanism (you are absolutely correct that admissions is not the same as hiring), it is through the sponsoring agencies mechanism. I had thought that sponsoring agencies for USUHS were limited to DoD, DHS, HHS, and VA (past). During one process (2018), I saw that DoS did sponsor two recent Peace Corps and will also sponsor USAID, though whether it's seen or not from one admission year to the next is unknown. I remember it because it was that unusual and was not in the rules that we knew.

Have they changed this in the past couple of years? I know VA was one of them to the mid-2010s, but at present, we roll ours into DoD nowadays and they sponsor for us for anyone sent through VA EISP now.

Yeah I’m not sure about that. Never heard about any of that stuff. I just went straight from active duty to USUHS (still active duty obviously).

 

[PerioDont]

Peace corps will be looked favorably by adcoms, its a unique experience to share

 

[MusicDOc124]

I had 1 classmate who was in the peace corps when i was in school, and have 1 student currently who was in previously. Safe to say it's very uncommon, and looked upon quite favorably.