New York Guard State Volunteer Force or Naval Militia

[CuriosityKillsMe]

I'm a resident New Yorker and I happened upon these two "volunteer" based "military operations." I was wondering what these two branches are in relation to the National Guard and the United States Military, if you had any more information on them, it seems that most states have a similar program, and ultimately what their effect would be on a pre-med's chances of getting into medical school. Also, would you check off the section asking: Have you or are you currently serving in the United States Military?

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[armytrainingsir]

LARPing

No, you wouldn't check that box.

 

[LTMCUSN]

...and ultimately what their effect would be on a pre-med's chances of getting into medical school. Also, would you check off the section asking: Have you or are you currently serving in the United States Military?

State defense forces are not the armed forces- they are not subject to federal control by Title 10 USC- they are in essence, volunteer militias that some states maintain. If some quasi-military training interests you and you are considering military medicine, by all means do it, but not because you think it will help your applications.

I imagine most admissions committees will not know what a State defense force is though, and if you do have a military veteran on any of your school’s committees that does know, and you represent yourself as having served, that is going to come back on you...

 

[DeadCactus]

I honestly don't know if I would put this on an application. Few people are going to know what it is and even those who do are unlikely to be familiar enough with it to have a positive view of it. I just don't see "I volunteer in a militia" invoking a lot of positive stereotypes. Don't take this as a comment on the merits of actually doing it, I just have concerns about the perception in a setting where you can be filtered out prior to having a chance to speak about your experience.