Can we/should include internships in the medical application?

[The Buff OP]

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I has a question. Can we/should include internships in the medical application? I'm still at the point on my education where I can go with human biology or nutritional sciences (Didactic Program in Dietetics track) degree? The nutrition degree requires you to do an internship so you can become an RD (register dietician). Here comes the question. Would being a register dietician look good on my application? I think so. Obesity is a pandemic and what a great way to try help it. I like the idea to give presentation to kids and warn them about the diseases they can get and tell them about cool meals to eat that are healthy. @Mr Avante did tell me once doing this as an EC is a plus.

P.S. Forgive me for the tittle if the first words don't make sense.

 

[sinombre]

If you're passionate about it, it can only help you.

 

[The Buff OP]

If you're passionate about it, it can only help you.

Of course. I know I wouldn't force my self to do something I'm not into, like volunteering at soup kitchen.

 

[theseeker4]

I has a question. Can we/should include internships in the medical application? I'm still at the point on my education where I can go with human biology or nutritional sciences (Didactic Program in Dietetics track) degree? The nutrition degree requires you to do an internship so you can become an RD (register dietician). Here comes the question. Would being a register dietician look good on my application? I think so. Obesity is a pandemic and what a great way to try help it. I like the idea to give presentation to kids and warn them about the diseases they can get and tell them about cool meals to eat that are healthy. @Mr Avante did tell me once doing this as an EC is a plus.

P.S. Forgive me for the tittle if the first words don't make sense.

It certainly wouldn't hurt you, but it probably won't be a HUGE plus on your application, like having a research publication or some such would be. If you feel strongly about it, do it, but don't think it is going to have an enormous impact on your application, or rather, don't do it primarily because you think it will have a big impact on your application. Do it for you, not for med schools.

 

[The Buff OP]

It certainly wouldn't hurt you, but it probably won't be a HUGE plus on your application, like having a research publication or some such would be. If you feel strongly about it, do it, but don't think it is going to have an enormous impact on your application, or rather, don't do it primarily because you think it will have a big impact on your application. Do it for you, not for med schools.

When it comes to research does it have to be health/medicine related? I know they offer research positions for nutrition research.

 

[Mr Avante]

Internships/Preceptorships/Externships are high-calibre, tier-1, activities.
Currently, they haven't been given their rightful place within the application. As a result, by 2020 there will be a new "Professional Development" section implemented — of course, if it is approved.

 

[theseeker4]

When it comes to research does it have to be health/medicine related? I know they offer research positions for nutrition research.

As long as it is scientific research, it is all good. Nutrition would be great, as that is very clinically oriented. Anything in the health field, or bio, chem, etc. is a big plus. "Soft sciences" such as social science research probably wouldn't count as strongly, but nutrition would definitely be relevant.

 

[Captain Sisko]

As long as it is scientific research, it is all good. Nutrition would be great, as that is very clinically oriented. Anything in the health field, or bio, chem, etc. is a big plus. "Soft sciences" such as social science research probably wouldn't count as strongly, but nutrition would definitely be relevant.

Non medical, engineering research counts too, as do engineering internships and co-ops. My experiences were brought up by several interviewers and are a centrepiece of my application.

 

[The Buff OP]

Non medical, engineering research counts too, as do engineering internships and co-ops. My experiences were brought up by several interviewers and are a centrepiece of my application.

Did most schools asked you about it or was it just one or two?

 

[Captain Sisko]

Did most schools asked you about it or was it just one or two?

My non medical research was discussed in all 12 of my interviews to some extent. Summer internships were brought up in maybe 3-4 of those. Without going into specifics, one of my internships was working with the space program and I suspect it either landed me an interview, acceptance, or both. Uniqueness and all that.

 

[The Buff OP]

Bump
Although, I do take in consideration oh what the previous posters said, can I get something confirmed by a faculty member here on SDN?

 

[ZeaL6]

I would definitely use it. I did a cardiac rehab internship and I think it was one of my biggest pros of my application. How many out of 30,000+ (idk rly know) apps can have that? Maybe 5 ? Unique activities will definitely help you stand out.

 

[Mr Avante]

@Goro Any wise words?

 

[The Buff OP]

@Goro Any wise words?

Gracias, Seidel.

 

[youmed]

It sounds like a terrific opportunity to experience in life. I say go for it. Plus, educating kids is super fun.

 

[LizzyM]

Do you know that a dietetic internship is the equivalent of a full-time job for an academic year or so? And then a national exam? It is, in essence, preparation for an allied health profession. You'll know more about nutrition than most attending physicians but the opportunity cost is very high and you also raise the question "why train for this other profession if the goal is to be a physician?"

 

[PreMedOrDead]

Do you know that a dietetic internship is the equivalent of a full-time job for an academic year or so? And then a national exam? It is, in essence, preparation for an allied health profession. You'll know more about nutrition than most attending physicians but the opportunity cost is very high and you also raise the question "why train for this other profession if the goal is to be a physician?"

I agree with your sentiment, but I was always curious, what doesn't raise this question?

Other than doing full-time jobs as a CNA, Phlebotomist, Scribe, Research Assistant (clinical), etc., all of which are jobs you can do in/right out of high school and pay minimally making it difficult to pay off debt and live, going into graduate work in any field seems to raise concern. Sounds to me like a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't situation.

 

[The Buff OP]

Do you know that a dietetic internship is the equivalent of a full-time job for an academic year or so? And then a national exam? It is, in essence, preparation for an allied health profession. You'll know more about nutrition than most attending physicians but the opportunity cost is very high and you also raise the question "why train for this other profession if the goal is to be a physician?"

Well, I can also follow these tracks that they offer general nutrition or molecular and experimental track. I like the dietetics tracks because you get to learn how to make people's diets and health disease prevention. But I can still graduate with that degree even if I don't do the internship and national exam. The internship is required if you want to the the RD exam. LizzyM, I guess I would just not do the RD exam since I'm guessing it brings a red flag.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

Well, I can also follow these tracks that they offer general nutrition or molecular and experimental track. I like the dietetics tracks because you get to learn how to make people's diets and health disease prevention. But I can still graduate with that degree even if I don't do the internship and national exam. The internship is required if you want to the the RD exam. LizzyM, I guess I would just not do the RD exam since I'm guessing it brings a red flag.

Why? If you're going to the length to get the degree through this internship, it would only be detrimental to not complete the national exam. 50% of applicants do not get into medical school. How is this not a terrible catch 22? To me, it reflects poor planning to not provide yourself with legitimate alternatives in the case that your primary goal is not achieved. Just make sure the alternatives demonstrate the same motives that your primary career (physician) entails. I think nutrition/dietetics shares many essential characteristics of medicine.

Granted, I am not on an admissions committee, but this logic baffles me.

 

[LizzyM]

Well, I can also follow these tracks that they offer general nutrition or molecular and experimental track. I like the dietetics tracks because you get to learn how to make people's diets and health disease prevention. But I can still graduate with that degree even if I don't do the internship and national exam. The internship is required if you want to the the RD exam. LizzyM, I guess I would just not do the RD exam since I'm guessing it brings a red flag.

If you were to spend a year working as a dietitian-in -training, I would wonder at what point you decided to become a physician and why you changed gears? It seems to be a lot of time training for a profession you don't intend to practice.

As for the other question, there are jobs that are most often stepping stones for college students and college grads such as patient care technician, nurse's aide, phlebotomist, research assistant, scribe, barrista, retail sales, tutor etc. Sure, some people make a life long career of it but most are planning to go on to more schooling and a professional position. What is odd is taking a degree and an internship for a specific career as a stepping stone for medical school.

 

[The Buff OP]

As for the other question, there are jobs that are most often stepping stones for college students and college grads such as patient care technician, nurse's aide, phlebotomist, research assistant, scribe, barrista, retail sales, tutor etc. Sure, some people make a life long career of it but most are planning to go on to more schooling and a professional position.

I am planning on getting certified as a surgical technologist next year. I'm doing it because I love surgery, I need a good paying job for I can pay for school, and so I can live on my own with my brother. My parents planned to leave Texas sometime.

If you were to spend a year working as a dietitian-in -training, I would wonder at what point you decided to become a physician and why you changed gears?
What is odd is taking a degree and an internship for a specific career as a stepping stone for medical school.

Right. I could still go for this degree though, right? After all I should major in what you like, I would just skip the internship.

 

[The Buff OP]

Why? If you're going to the length to get the degree through this internship, it would only be detrimental to not complete the national exam.

The exam and internship is like at the bottom of the curriculum (senior year). Would it even matter if I did the intership if I applied on my junior year? This is what the school says about the degree.
"Not only does an education in dietetics provide you with opportunities to work in diverse settings to help people improve their health and wellness, but the strong science foundation provided in our program prepares you for graduate studies in other health professions, such as medicine, pharmacy, and nursing." -The school

How To me, it reflects poor planning to not provide yourself with legitimate alternatives in the case that your primary goal is not achieved.

Even if I studied human biology as a major and didn't get into medical school, I wouldn't really have big paying jobs knocking at my door.

 

[LizzyM]

You started out asking if an internship should go on the AMCAS. The answer is yes but as we've explored, the type of internship you are talking about is a year of full-time training for a licensed (in some states) allied health profession that requires a college degree and a year of additional training.

IIRC, surgical tech is a position that does not require a college degree. It would be like training to take a job as an EMT while attending school. That's cool.

 

[The Buff OP]

You started out asking if an internship should go on the AMCAS. The answer is yes but as we've explored, the type of internship you are talking about is a year of full-time training for a licensed (in some states) allied health profession that requires a college degree and a year of additional training.

I'm trying to find how long the internship is, but no answer. If I don't take the national registry exam the only difference would be I would be called a nutritionist instead of register dietician. Also, the less setbacks the better. I have had a lot of setbacks with my education. 🙁

IIRC, surgical tech is a position that does not require a college degree. It would be like training to take a job as an EMT while attending school. That's cool.

Yeah, it's like a 9 month training course and at the end it's a certification. Well, thank you for your input LizzyM.👍

 

[quitejaded]

If your goal is to be a surgeon, why would you spend 9 months in RD internship? It just doesn't make any sense. It's a waste of your time. Yes, you'll get experience of helping people with their diet but how does that help you get closer to your goal of PERFORMING SURGERY?

 

[The Buff OP]

If your goal is to be a surgeon, why would you spend 9 months in RD internship? It just doesn't make any sense. It's a waste of your time. Yes, you'll get experience of helping people with their diet but how does that help you get closer to your goal of PERFORMING SURGERY?

You are a little late on this topic, but I will catch you up. 🙂 I can still go for that major and I would just opt out on the internship.
This would be the difference....

• Nutrition degree in dietetics with internship = Register Dietician
• Nutrition degree in dietetics without internship = Nutritionist

BTW how did you know I'm interested in becoming a surgeon?

 

[Davida]

Sorry, it's late, but I want to second what LizzyM was saying. My personal experience was that having extensive post-college/graduate training isn't necessarily considered a positive on your application. I did a master's degree in a public health field, and got asked about why I did it at every interview. The interviewer at my top choice school explicitly said that he was concerned about it - he didn't understand why I didn't just apply for medical school right away, instead of spending a lot of time and money on this additional training. I had a good answer for that question, and in the end it hasn't hurt me at any of the schools I've heard back from. But I was really surprised that graduate school, which is something that not too many people have on their application, could actually be considered a negative.

My point is that if you decide to do it, make sure you've got a really good reason for it (besides looking good on your application) - you're very likely going to get asked about it in an interview. Your reason shouldn't make others question your judgment or suspect that you're not totally committed to medicine.

Also, just out of curiosity - if for whatever reason you decided not to go into medicine, would it be possible to do the internship later in your career? Or does it have to be while you do your degree in nutrition? If you can do it later, it can always be a backup plan - I always had public health as my backup in case I didn't get into medical school.

 

[The Buff OP]

Also, just out of curiosity - if for whatever reason you decided not to go into medicine, would it be possible to do the internship later in your career? Or does it have to be while you do your degree in nutrition? If you can do it later, it can always be a backup plan - I always had public health as my backup in case I didn't get into medical school.

Okay, I just checked the school's website and in their graduate degree programs section the internship option comes up, so yes. I don't think I would want to be an RD as my backup degree anymore. I like nutrition and informing others about healthy eating, but not as career. I know, I'm contradicting myself trying to do the RD thing, but I'm not gonna go for the internship anymore. What can you do with a public health degree? What did you learned in your program? What is the annual salary for people who have that degree?

 

[Davida]

Okay, I just checked the school's website and in their graduate degree programs section the internship option comes up, so yes. I don't think I would want to be an RD as my backup degree anymore. I like nutrition and informing others about healthy eating, but not as career. I know, I'm contradicting myself trying to do the RD thing, but I'm not gonna go for the internship anymore. What can you do with a public health degree? What did you learn in your program? What is the annual salary for people who have that degree?

Public health looks at the health of populations, and you can do so many things with a degree in public health that I don't even know where to begin - it totally depends on your specialty. Our school has a bunch of departments, including epidemiology, health services, environmental health, global health...there's a lot of them. I have an incredibly specific degree that, if named, would definitely compromise my anonymity, but it involves genetics and population health and how they intersect. People with my degree usually go into private tech work, lead particular genetics programs at the Department of Health, or work in research. My degree is also really multidisciplinary - as part of my training, I've done biostatistics work, worked in public health consulting, and taken classes in law and ethics. We're essentially supposed to be experts in both how to do genetics research and how genetics affects every aspect of society (medicine, law, etc.).

Salaries are definitely not known for being super high, but it can vary a lot. Ranges from careers like community health educators, which make around 30,000 a year, to health services administrators, which has a median income of around 100,000. Epidemiologists, management, and academic positions can make a nice salary too. However, I can pretty confidently say that nobody goes into public health for the money!

I love public health and can talk more about it, but you should probably PM me if you want more info. I can seriously go on and on about it (and unfortunately did for one of my interviews 😱).

 

[The Buff OP]

Public health looks at the health of populations, and you can do so many things with a degree in public health that I don't even know where to begin - it totally depends on your specialty. Our school has a bunch of departments, including epidemiology, health services, environmental health, global health...there's a lot of them. I have an incredibly specific degree that, if named, would definitely compromise my anonymity, but it involves genetics and population health and how they intersect. People with my degree usually go into private tech work, lead particular genetics programs at the Department of Health, or work in research. My degree is also really multidisciplinary - as part of my training, I've done biostatistics work, worked in public health consulting, and taken classes in law and ethics. We're essentially supposed to be experts in both how to do genetics research and how genetics affects every aspect of society (medicine, law, etc.).

Salaries are definitely not known for being super high, but it can vary a lot. Ranges from careers like community health educators, which make around 30,000 a year, to health services administrators, which has a median income of around 100,000. Epidemiologists, management, and academic positions can make a nice salary too. However, I can pretty confidently say that nobody goes into public health for the money!

I love public health and can talk more about it, but you should probably PM me if you want more info. I can seriously go on and on about it (and unfortunately did for one of my interviews 😱).

Hahaha, okay if I got anymore questions about public health I will PM you.