Question about political activism on AMCAS/TMDSAS

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hopeS.O.

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Hi guys,
So I organized a peaceful protest with coordination with law enforcement, putting upwards of 40 hours into it. My question is would it be a good idea to put that on my application because it is something that I am really passionate about? Additionally, if I were to put that on the TMDSAS and AMCAS would I put it under leadership and/or extracurricular/leisure activities. If the latter is included, how would you suggest categorizing it in "type of activity"?

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Don't do it. You are applying to professional school, not running up for a seat in Congress.
 
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I would never put something like that especially in the recent politically charged climate. Don't run the risk of prematurely offending someone.
 
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Personally, I wouldn't. People these days seem to forget the old adage of not discussing religion and politics.
 
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Hi guys,
So I organized a peaceful protest with coordination with law enforcement, putting upwards of 40 hours into it. My question is would it be a good idea to put that on my application because it is something that I am really passionate about? Additionally, if I were to put that on the TMDSAS and AMCAS would I put it under leadership and/or extracurricular/leisure activities. If the latter is included, how would you suggest categorizing it in "type of activity"?
What were you protesting... That's the real information
 
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It sounds like you took a responsible approach to organizing this event. And it seems Leadership-y to me. Depending on the cause you were supporting, some adcomms may feel like you're a hero and others that you were an unconscionable rabble rouser. You don't want to be perceived as a risk taker unnecessarily, unless that's "who you are" and you don't want to be on a med school campus that doesn't accept that.
 
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Thanks guys. It was something for Baltimore and Black Spring, which at the moment is as politically charged as it gets. The general consensus seems to be to not put it on there, thanks for helping me avoid a pitfall.

Would you guys says the same for involvement in Young Dems and PRIDE?
 
And on the rabble-rousing part: we coordinated with the police, told them exactly what was happening, where, and when, and emphasized that we wanted something peaceful. The intent was to send a positive message.
 
I'm pretty involved with political activism on campus but given the charged nature of these issues I don't plan on putting it on my application. The truth is that medicine is a very conservative profession and you never know who you are going to rub the wrong way. Deep down that attitude pisses me off but it is the most prudent course of action. If anything, try to emphasize a commitment to whatever groups you usually advocate for but try to keep the words "protest" and "civil disobedience" out of it. Perhaps "demonstrations" or "raising awareness" will be ok.
 
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I'm pretty involved with political activism on campus but given the charged nature of these issues I don't plan on putting it on my application. The truth is that medicine is a very conservative profession and you never know who you are going to rub the wrong way. Deep down that attitude pisses me off but it is the most prudent course of action. If anything, try to emphasize a commitment to whatever groups you usually advocate for but try to keep the words "protest" and "civil disobedience" out of it. Perhaps "demonstrations" or "raising awareness" will be ok.

Thanks. I'm just not going to mention it, not worth the risk. However, aside from researching and volunteerism, My Extracurriculars only consist of Young Dems and PRIDE - both of which convey a great deal about my political beliefs. I just don't know what to do now. Should I include those?
 
Thanks. I'm just not going to mention it, not worth the risk. However, aside from researching and volunteerism, My Extracurriculars only consist of Young Dems and PRIDE - both of which convey a great deal about my political beliefs. I just don't know what to do now. Should I include those?

I think that is fine. I don't think adcoms will discriminate based on political views (or religious ones for that matter) but the possibility exists as soon as you decide to include it. If those groups have formed a big part of your college experience then I would certainly include them. If that offends one particular school enough to reject you then you didn't want to go there to begin with.

Protests are just a different beast entirely and my guess (from the threads we have had here and on Allo about certain topics that made me want to cry and never open SDN again) is that most in medicine are not cool with this sort of activism.
 
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Thanks. I'm just not going to mention it, not worth the risk. However, aside from researching and volunteerism, My Extracurriculars only consist of Young Dems and PRIDE - both of which convey a great deal about my political beliefs. I just don't know what to do now. Should I include those?

I'd include those and avoid saying something divisive or politically charged. Discussing a protest is really hard to do without being divisive, having political beliefs isn't. ADCOMs aren't naive, they recognize the country falls pretty equally Democrat:Republican overall. Say you were in the clubs, mention what you did in them (discus policies, inform public, etc...) and then talk about it in a context of what you gained that would help you as a doctor - leadership, teamwork. You can talk about them in a relatively neutral fashion fairly easily.
 
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Thank you so much! I really appreciate your input and it has really helped. Glad I decided to ask before doing something potentially catastrophic (application wise)!
 
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I mentioned being a part of Young Dems in my work and activities. I focused on leadership (I was club Secretary and I organized a community service event) and volunteering (phone banking and canvassing for local politicians). My main extracurriculars on AMCAS were political and religious, but if that's a main part of what you did in college, there's no harm in talking about what you learned from them.
 
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I agree with previous posters and have come to a similar conclusion myself. I'm going to mention having been part of a politically-charged group, but I'm going to focus on leadership roles and volunteering. I'm not going to mention an organization whose sole purpose is to advocate for policy changes because I don't want to mention anything that could be interpreted as rabble-rousing (ex. lobbying, peaceful protests, rallies, etc.). I don't think it's worth it to potentially alienate adcom members if the issue is divisive. I gave this a good deal of thought and figured this was best because I don't want to potentially be seen as an agitator and I don't have control over how someone could interpret a description.

I don't think political views in and of themselves would hold people back in the application process as long as they don't seem like they will cause trouble for their superiors or administration. In that regard, I think Young Dems and PRIDE would be absolutely fine to put on an application.
 
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Thanks. I'm just not going to mention it, not worth the risk. However, aside from researching and volunteerism, My Extracurriculars only consist of Young Dems and PRIDE - both of which convey a great deal about my political beliefs. I just don't know what to do now. Should I include those?

So you run the risk of looking either under-involved or involved in something with which not everyone will agree. Or tiptoeing through a PC minefield... Personally, I think your Young Dems and PRIDE involvement kinda give your politics away.

And your Baltimore activities, the way you've explained them here, show responsibility, leadership, and a prudent, cautious approach by involving the police ahead of time. But the risk is yes, of appearing to be a 'rabble rouser', particularly in light of the violence. What was the outcome of YOUR protest? Did you have a clear and well-defined message? How many people? Any violence? And what have you done to further your views on this particular front other than protest? - Any continuing involvement?
 
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So you run the risk of looking either under-involved or involved in something with which not everyone will agree. Or tiptoeing through a PC minefield... Personally, I think your Young Dems and PRIDE involvement kinda give your politics away.

And your Baltimore activities, the way you've explained them here, show responsibility, leadership, and a prudent, cautious approach by involving the police ahead of time. But the risk is yes, of appearing to be a 'rabble rouser', particularly in light of the violence. What was the outcome of YOUR protest? Did you have a clear and well-defined message? How many people? Any violence? And what have you done to further your views on this particular front other than protest? - Any continuing involvement?

And at that time you took the attention from you to an issue that many may feel very strongly about.
 
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It's not that. We don't mind passion; we just feel that we'd rather produce doctors, not advocates. You wanna advocate? Go to law school.

The OP would have much better luck by showing how his/her political beliefs and actions are directed towards medical issues. Gawd knows, African-Americans have plenty on their plate with medical issues alone in the USA.

exactly....fighting the power isn't really seen as a positive in a hierarchical system.
 
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It's not that. We don't mind passion; we just feel that we'd rather produce doctors, not advocates. You wanna advocate? Go to law school.

The OP would have much better luck by showing how his/her political beliefs and actions are directed towards medical issues. Gawd knows, African-Americans have plenty on their plate with medical issues alone in the USA.
Thanks guys! Funnily, I'm actually doing an internship addressing HIV/AIDS disparities in African Americans.

Additionally, I was wondering would there be ramifications for leaving it off?
 
There aren't many ramifications for leaving something off of your application, except for the potential to make yourself look under-involved if the activity you're leaving off was one that adds a lot to your EC's.
 
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So you run the risk of looking either under-involved or involved in something with which not everyone will agree. Or tiptoeing through a PC minefield... Personally, I think your Young Dems and PRIDE involvement kinda give your politics away.

And your Baltimore activities, the way you've explained them here, show responsibility, leadership, and a prudent, cautious approach by involving the police ahead of time. But the risk is yes, of appearing to be a 'rabble rouser', particularly in light of the violence. What was the outcome of YOUR protest? Did you have a clear and well-defined message? How many people? Any violence? And what have you done to further your views on this particular front other than protest? - Any continuing involvement?
Well, it was entirely peaceful, no violence of any kind. I'm more than likely going to be involved in other things in this movement - I.e. organizing events and speakers as we did. This was arranged in a few days, with the Notice of a day, so around 40 people showed up. But I can just help organize stuff and keep my name away from it. It won't be a problem.

I have volunteering, research, a job, and some leadership things, so I don't think it'll look too horrendous aside from in the aspect of Extracurriculars in the sense of things I "care" about beyond academics.
 
Caring passionately and acting on those passions is a good thing.
Rabble-rousing is a bad thing.

Walking a fine line is a difficult but important thing. :cool:
 
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Caring passionately and acting on those passions is a good thing.
Rabble-rousing is a bad thing.

Walking a fine line is a difficult but important thing. :cool:
You're absolutely right. I don't want to risk being on the wrong side of that line, so I think it'll just be left off. I wanted to thank all of you for taking the file to answer my question. Endlessly grateful I posted this here because I didn't think of this as anything potentially "bad" until I talked to some people. Have a great day!
 
It's not that. We don't mind passion; we just feel that we'd rather produce doctors, not advocates. You wanna advocate? Go to law school.
(Not directed at @Goro specifically in any way)
This is so myopic it literally hurts to read. Extremely disappointed in the "profession" if this is the sort of "vision" we have left. Doctors can't be advocates? Have we forgotten what the AMA has done during the past century? REALLY?

What's the point of having all these secondaries asking diversity this diversity that when people go ****less when someone who is actually diverse shows up? Because no, when push comes to shove, give me the drone who will follow orders, listen to instructions, and follow the well-carved path to success defined so narrowly that termites would have trouble navigating through.

Aren't the same qualities that lead idealistic young people to fight for the change they want to see the same ones that would drive a physician to fiercely protect the general well-being of his patients? Medicine is a hierarchical profession, so they don't take anyone who shows any inclination of fighting any sort of power...WHAT. At some point, the guild's self interested ambition to ensure that no one ever threatens that guild will result in the decline of the guild.
 
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I included political events in my application, although I don't think I included protests specifically (I might have included take back the night, but no other ones)
I will be including similiar things when I apply to residency. This is important to me because being an activist is a huge part of why I want to be a physician I just don't believe that I can "tell my story" so to speak without it. So I think it really depends on who you are and how important this is to you.
 
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I would put Dems/PRIDE, but not the current stuff in Baltimore, unless you feel you are absolutely being misrepresented without that being listed.
 
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We expect doctors to be advocates for their patients, but we don't want professional protestors. I have met such applicants and they're far more interested in their favorite cause than in actually learning about Medicine.


(Not directed at @Goro specifically in any way)
This is so myopic it literally hurts to read. Extremely disappointed in the "profession" if this is the sort of "vision" we have left. Doctors can't be advocates? Have we forgotten what the AMA has done during the past century? REALLY?

What's the point of having all these secondaries asking diversity this diversity that when people go ****less when someone who is actually diverse shows up? Because no, when push comes to shove, give me the drone who will follow orders, listen to instructions, and follow the well-carved path to success defined so narrowly that termites would have trouble navigating through.

Aren't the same qualities that lead idealistic young people to fight for the change they want to see the same ones that would drive a physician to fiercely protect the general well-being of his patients? Medicine is a hierarchical profession, so they don't take anyone who shows any inclination of fighting any sort of power...WHAT. At some point, the guild's self interested ambition to ensure that no one ever threatens that guild will result in the decline of the guild.
 
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If you want to fight the Man, you can't be surprised he doesn't applaud you.

Even Che waited until after medical school to join the revolution.

What amazes me is the expectation that you (not you specifically, but everyone who does this type of thing) should be cheered and rewarded for participating in agitation. It's an attempt to alter power structures, not a resume-building exercise. That's why you cover your face before you throw a Molotov.
Wait are we talking political activism in general, meaning everything from lobbying to advocating and showing up at rallies or actual rioting on the streets and engaging in other extrajudicial activities? I was referring to the former and obviously understand why the latter can be looked down upon in many professional circles.

To be fair, it seems OP has done both.
 
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