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Is it bad to say I'm Catholic on my app to MD schools? This could come up in my activities and secondary essays.
Catholic Applicant
- Thread starter baltimoreman
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It wont say anything bad about you unless you go on and talk about controversial topics in your personal statement. It will however help you in applying to religiously affiliated schools such as Loyola. If I were you I would include it in my application but take care not to show your opinions on controversial topics, which is good advice for anybody applying with any religious views or lack therof.
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There are more catholic medical schools than any other denomination.
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Relax. Medical schools aren't Puritan.
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Yeah... really. I'd say most are religious and probably look down on atheist applicants more than anything.
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If Catholicism is a big deal in your life, consider Loyola, Georgetown, St. Louis, and Creighton. When applying, I didn't realize all 4 of these schools are jesuit, and they all HIGHLY value applicants who are Catholic.
Source: Catholic education for 15 years, and it was brought up in more than one interview, especially at Loyola.
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I didn't bring my faith up in my primary application, yet I mentioned my Catholicism and involvement in my campus Chapel in the Georgetown secondary. I think it depends on where you think it will benefit you most effectively.
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Just based on the fact that medicine is a generally conservative profession or what?
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Not really sure where you're getting that from...
😕
Unless you're militant about your atheism, in which case they won't like you because you're an *******, not because you're an atheist, and that would be the same regardless of your beliefs.
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I think it's fine to mentioned it and how it influence your decision to be generous with your gifts and talents to help those in needs in medicine (or what every other volunteering experience you have).
Just don't be moderate about your views and realize others will have different views but we can all be respectful and get along and you should be fine...
Just don't be moderate about your views and realize others will have different views but we can all be respectful and get along and you should be fine...
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The fact that most Americans are Christian/religious which probably means that most adcom members are Christian/religious.
I mean, people are naturally going to help people like them. And since this is a majority Christian country, there is probably a very slight favor towards Christian applicants.
I don't want to make it sound like it's a huge deal, because it's not. Some may favor a Christian applicant because they are Christian, but others may favor an applicant because the applicant and the adcom like to fence. Stuff like that.
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I doubt the validity of the assumption that the faculty of medical institutions are a representative sample of the population of the US.
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Well of course not... but if you had to pick a religion that was the most represented in medicine, you'd be a fool to not go with Christianity.
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I did mention my religion in my secondary to SLU. Plus 12 years of Catholic Education. I think it helped, I was accepted.
In my general app. the only "mention" was probably when I listed my high school, which had an obvious Catholic name.
In my general app. the only "mention" was probably when I listed my high school, which had an obvious Catholic name.
I spent a good 45 minutes at one of my interviews talking with my interviewer about faith. He totally loved it.
If you're asked about it at an interview, remember that schools see diversity as a value. Nobody is going to hate you just because you have a religion (most people do). Just make sure to show you are smart about your beliefs (i.e. you can explain them and reason through them and explain how they lead you), that you're open-minded and accepting and that you can participate in the intellectual dialogue of academia. I think reason and evidence are universal values in medicine that even the most spiritual of us can connect with.
I also believe there's also a lot to be said for the maturity that is reflected in someone who has thought through the more personal, spiritual motivations for their actions and profession. If your faith has helped you be more reflective and thoughtful about why you do what you do, that's a good thing, and I think people will appreciate that. Just be able to articulate that in language a secular audience can connect with.
On my personal statement, my activities did have some faith references, but I mostly kept my personal statement about medicine itself.
If you're asked about it at an interview, remember that schools see diversity as a value. Nobody is going to hate you just because you have a religion (most people do). Just make sure to show you are smart about your beliefs (i.e. you can explain them and reason through them and explain how they lead you), that you're open-minded and accepting and that you can participate in the intellectual dialogue of academia. I think reason and evidence are universal values in medicine that even the most spiritual of us can connect with.
I also believe there's also a lot to be said for the maturity that is reflected in someone who has thought through the more personal, spiritual motivations for their actions and profession. If your faith has helped you be more reflective and thoughtful about why you do what you do, that's a good thing, and I think people will appreciate that. Just be able to articulate that in language a secular audience can connect with.
On my personal statement, my activities did have some faith references, but I mostly kept my personal statement about medicine itself.
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