CIA Internship

[IronMan585]

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I'm a rising soph. My current activities are research, some volunteering, and will start clinical experience over the year.

I was very interested in the CIA internship, how will that look to med schools?

Would I be better off going abroad and doing social work? I'm interested in doing something relating to it sometime down the line.

But, right now, I'm just very excited to see what working in the Clandestine Service for CIA would be like. I have some family that works there, so basically its just a curiosity.

Since my goal is to get into medical school, hopefully a top-notch one, would this be okay? Would they think my interests are too diluted? Would they think that I'm not really a humanitarian, which is what most schools perfer?

 

[LizzyM]

If you did it, would you be able to tell anyone?


Furthermore, if you wanted to do humanitarian work as a physician, and if it ever got out that you had CIA connections/experience, then you could be hampered in your mission because there would be suspicion on the part of some people that you were a spook. Isn't that the sort of thing that gets people killed? And you wouldn't even get a star on the wall because you weren't actually an agent at all.

 

[tartrate]

If you did it, would you be able to tell anyone?


Furthermore, if you wanted to do humanitarian work as a physician, and if it ever got out that you had CIA connections/experience, then you could be hampered in your mission because there would be suspicion on the part of some people that you were a spook. Isn't that the sort of thing that gets people killed? And you wouldn't even get a star on the wall because you weren't actually an agent at all.

Lol, you have a nice way of scaring neurotic pre-meds 😀.

 

[ucladoc2b]

I had a professor who worked at the CIA before getting his Ph.D. He said some of his projects were actually health-care related (he had to analyze how many army docs the USSR had at one point). Could make for some interesting interview conversation. That is, if you don't have to kill your interviewer (might not look good on an eval).

 

[Whatyousay]

But, right now, I'm just very excited to see what working in the Clandestine Service for CIA would be like. I have some family that works there, so basically its just a curiosity.

I actually thought people in the Clandestine Service of the CIA weren't allowed to divulge to loved ones that they were actually part of that department (unless they just work there in an administrative capacity).

Or perhaps your security clearance is higher than you let on...

 

[Perrotfish]

I actually thought people in the Clandestine Service of the CIA weren't allowed to divulge to loved ones that they were actually part of that department (unless they just work there in an administrative capacity).

Or perhaps your security clearance is higher than you let on...

The department of operatons at the CIA (the secret part) is a smaller component of the organization than you would think and for most of what's left you're allowed to say who you work for. My neighborhood in VA was full of people whose parents worked, openly, for the CIA.

Edit: could be wrong. There apparently is a clandestine services internship, and the website reads:

Important Notice: Knowledge by non-Agency personnel of your association with the Central Intelligence Agency or the Intelligence Community may limit your ability to perform or preclude you from certain assignments. NCS applicants should therefore endeavor to protect the fact that they have applied and/or are thinking of applying to the NCS. We urge your discretion throughout the entire hiring process to ensure maximum flexibility for your potential NCS career. Further guidance will be provided as competitive applicants move through the hiring steps.

Anyway, OP, I would worry less about this affecting medical school (they love wierd stuff) and worry more about getting the internship. As I recall they're crazy competitive. I tried to Co-Op with the engineering side of the house and couldn't even get an interview.

 

[Big Dog]

...but then he'd have to kill you (which I guess wouldn't look to good on the interview report).

 

[bucks2010]

you have to admit, a Harvard MD would be a pretty good cover story for a spy

 

[Perrotfish]

you have to admit, a Harvard MD would be a pretty good cover story for a spy

There is such a thing as a CIA medical officer.

 

[Asyouwereatrio]

I'm a rising soph. My current activities are research, some volunteering, and will start clinical experience over the year.

I was very interested in the CIA internship, how will that look to med schools?

Would I be better off going abroad and doing social work? I'm interested in doing something relating to it sometime down the line.

But, right now, I'm just very excited to see what working in the Clandestine Service for CIA would be like. I have some family that works there, so basically its just a curiosity.

Since my goal is to get into medical school, hopefully a top-notch one, would this be okay? Would they think my interests are too diluted? Would they think that I'm not really a humanitarian, which is what most schools perfer?

I think a lot of what people have said is correct, and I think you may simply just not be able to disclose your participation in some of these "assignments" in which you participated.

 

[Whatyousay]

Is...is the guv'ment watching us right now?

 

[LizzyM]

My greater concern is that you go to any country where the US might be conducting covert ops, or even where the locals think that the US is spying , you might be questioned regarding your association with the US gov't and specifically with the CIA. There are people who want to take out CIA agents and they will be suspicious of people who may be using humanitarian relief as a "cover". If you have CIA on your work history (Linkedin, etc) you might be a target.

Am I watching too many episodes of Burn Notice?

 

[Whatyousay]

Am I watching too many episodes of Burn Notice?

You can never watch too many episodes of Burn Notice.

 

[IronMan585]

If you did it, would you be able to tell anyone?


Furthermore, if you wanted to do humanitarian work as a physician, and if it ever got out that you had CIA connections/experience, then you could be hampered in your mission because there would be suspicion on the part of some people that you were a spook. Isn't that the sort of thing that gets people killed? And you wouldn't even get a star on the wall because you weren't actually an agent at all.

If I am just an intern, they wouldn't be sending me overseas. Mostly, my work will be training at the "farm" which is their special spy training site (how cool does that sound and it's actually real) I believe.
What I'm hoping to get out of it is finding if this is something I might want to do (i.e. military doc, CIA doc) even after im a doctor, gaining more leadership ability hopefully especially in the stressful environment that the clandestine force is known for.

In my med school interview, I'm really gonna say how I grew from the experience, how it shaped my views, my general work ("providing intel etc.") and not really the specific missions we were targeting. Plus, it's not like I'm the director of the agency and have to do it for national security. The agency tells people not to advertise the position more so to protect them in case the wrong people find out about it, but hopefully no one on the med school adcom is rogue lol.

 

[Long Way to Go]

Am I watching too many episodes of Burn Notice?

Consider White Collar instead 😉

 

[IronMan585]

My greater concern is that you go to any country where the US might be conducting covert ops, or even where the locals think that the US is spying , you might be questioned regarding your association with the US gov't and specifically with the CIA. There are people who want to take out CIA agents and they will be suspicious of people who may be using humanitarian relief as a "cover". If you have CIA on your work history (Linkedin, etc) you might be a target.

Am I watching too many episodes of Burn Notice?

I can keep a secret or two about my life 🙂

No way would I be posting up my history online on LinkedIn etc. I probably won't even mention details on a normal resume for a job. Only on med school application will I probably go a bit in detail, not really breaking laws, but probably risking my protection in case some nutcase adcom has shady business.

 

[IronMan585]

The department of operatons at the CIA (the secret part) is a smaller component of the organization than you would think and for most of what's left you're allowed to say who you work for. My neighborhood in VA was full of people whose parents worked, openly, for the CIA.

Edit: could be wrong. There apparently is a clandestine services internship, and the website reads:


Anyway, OP, I would worry less about this affecting medical school (they love wierd stuff) and worry more about getting the internship. As I recall they're crazy competitive. I tried to Co-Op with the engineering side of the house and couldn't even get an interview.

See, right now my only concern is how it will affect my med school admissions, because I certainly don't want to waste time if this will be looked down upon.

Second, the internship requires 2 summers of committment. Knowing that, is it worth it now? I will be devoting 2 summers, probably one after soph year and one after senior year. Will this much devotion be looked down upon when I could've been doing research/health related things?

 

[Asyouwereatrio]

I can keep a secret or two about my life 🙂

No way would I be posting up my history online on LinkedIn etc. I probably won't even mention details on a normal resume for a job. Only on med school application will I probably go a bit in detail, not really breaking laws, but probably risking my protection in case some nutcase adcom has shady business.

I wouldn't go into detail at all about the nature of your work. Just keep it VERY general when describing the experience. Talk more about what you GAINED rather than what you DID. Take these words from someone who is in a position to advise you on the extent of your disclosure. 🙂

 

[raltima07]

If I am just an intern, they wouldn't be sending me overseas. Mostly, my work will be training at the "farm" which is their special spy training site (how cool does that sound and it's actually real) I believe.
What I'm hoping to get out of it is finding if this is something I might want to do (i.e. military doc, CIA doc) even after im a doctor, gaining more leadership ability hopefully especially in the stressful environment that the clandestine force is known for.

In my med school interview, I'm really gonna say how I grew from the experience, how it shaped my views, my general work ("providing intel etc.") and not really the specific missions we were targeting. Plus, it's not like I'm the director of the agency and have to do it for national security. The agency tells people not to advertise the position more so to protect them in case the wrong people find out about it, but hopefully no one on the med school adcom is rogue lol.

This would be my biggest concern. A spy-fight at a med school interview? I already have the movies rights for that one

 

[LizzyM]

This does have a certain "cool" factor that can help distinguish you from the cookie cutter crowd.

However, do not let it be a substitute for the holy trinity of clinical exposure, volunteerism and research.

 

[lacrosse87]

As cool as an internship/job in the CIA sounds, you do run the risk of doing some pretty shady stuff. Real world example, some doctors worked with the CIA on what was basically illegal human experimentation on detainees. Physician involvement in designing, implementing, collecting data on, and improving "enhanced interrogation techniques" (waterboarding, etc) on a vulnerable population like detainees is pretty screwed up...Whatever happened to "first and foremost, do no harm?" Just keep stuff like that in mind when trying to decide whether or not to pursue this line of work

 

[ceasefire]

That's one tough/ultra-competative opportunity to secure. Good luck

 

[cloudysh]

That's one tough/ultra-competative opportunity to secure. Good luck

I agree. OP, I don't know how far you are in the process, but don't count your chickens! I have two friends who went through this process, which involved (am I even allowed to say this?) extensive background checks of overseas and US relatives, some very SCIENTIFIC monitoring machines (read: LD test) coupled with questions, and both were rejected. Both are brilliant human beings who were kind of devastated. The positions they were going for were NOT covert, although they would have had access to privileged info, obv.

I'd try it and I think it'd be awesome! However, consider this a healthy reminder that it might be a hail mary type thing, don't take the outcome too seriously 😀

 

[Asyouwereatrio]

As cool as an internship/job in the CIA sounds, you do run the risk of doing some pretty shady stuff. Real world example, some doctors worked with the CIA on what was basically illegal human experimentation on detainees. Physician involvement in designing, implementing, collecting data on, and improving "enhanced interrogation techniques" (waterboarding, etc) on a vulnerable population like detainees is pretty screwed up...Whatever happened to "first and foremost, do no harm?" Just keep stuff like that in mind when trying to decide whether or not to pursue this line of work

Because there are some techniques that truly "work" in terms of getting people to say things that we are interested in finding out. 🙂 We were discussing this topic last weekend during our Memorial Day Party..there are just some methods that truly elicit desired knowledge.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

I can keep a secret or two about my life 🙂

No way would I be posting up my history online on LinkedIn etc. I probably won't even mention details on a normal resume for a job. Only on med school application will I probably go a bit in detail, not really breaking laws, but probably risking my protection in case some nutcase adcom has shady business.

Did you post this from an IP that can be traced to you...or sign for the account for an email that can be traced back to you? If so, you're giving away secrets 😉

 

[TooMuchResearch]

As cool as an internship/job in the CIA sounds, you do run the risk of doing some pretty shady stuff. Real world example, some doctors worked with the CIA on what was basically illegal human experimentation on detainees. Physician involvement in designing, implementing, collecting data on, and improving "enhanced interrogation techniques" (waterboarding, etc) on a vulnerable population like detainees is pretty screwed up...Whatever happened to "first and foremost, do no harm?" Just keep stuff like that in mind when trying to decide whether or not to pursue this line of work

I somehow doubt they'll have a pre-med intern torturing people. But I have been wrong before. Once.

 

[IronMan585]

Okay, so all in all, it will give my application another dimension and will probably be a great life experience personally.

Does anyone have experience with CIA internships etc.?? Willing to offer advice? How much do they look at GPA, work experience?

 

[Scarab]

Okay, so all in all, it will give my application another dimension and will probably be a great life experience personally.

Does anyone have experience with CIA internships etc.?? Willing to offer advice? How much do they look at GPA, work experience?

While your interest in the intelligence community is commendable; due to the nature of the work it would be in your best interest to avoid posting about your aspirations on public forums.

Also if you have been involved in any Peace Corps work it will directly impact your eligibility for consideration within the intelligence community, for the exact same reason brought up by previous posters i.e. LizzyM.

As for work experience and GPA they are both very important as well as life experience and foreign language proficiency. As a point of reference many agencies receive near 4000 applications a month.

😎