Extracurricular Activities Question

[lp2001db]

I have kind of a strange question that I wanted some opinions on. I've been a heavily involved member of the College Republicans for the last four years. Would it be wise to put this on an application? Emotions run very high when it comes to politics, so could this put me at a major disadvantage if adcom members were very liberal? I'm just worried about the face value here. If they wanted to talk I could explain that I'm a fiscal conservative, but a social moderate so I agree with liberals on many of the social issues, and heavily disagree with the way the current administration spends money, etc., but I'm wondering if they'd write me off just seeing that I was an involved member of a political group.

Thanks guys!

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[Bluntman]

I have kind of a strange question that I wanted some opinions on. I've been a heavily involved member of the College Republicans for the last four years. Would it be wise to put this on an application? Emotions run very high when it comes to politics, so could this put me at a major disadvantage if adcom members were very liberal? I'm just worried about the face value here. If they wanted to talk I could explain that I'm a fiscal conservative, but a social moderate so I agree with liberals on many of the social issues, and heavily disagree with the way the current administration spends money, etc., but I'm wondering if they'd write me off just seeing that I was an involved member of a political group.

Thanks guys!

There is some room to explain it in the activities section...they give you enough room for a decent sized paragraph. I definitely do see your concern however...politics and religion are always best left out of professional situations like this. Since it was such a big activity for you, though, I'd for sure go ahead and put it down. But just be sure to focus on your leadership involvement, what you did for the club, and most importantly how it somehow relates to medicine and demonstrates your potential for future success as a physician...RATHER than actual political beliefs.

 

[Gerrymandering]

Don't provide any political preferences on your app because you want to appeal to every school you apply to (my screename is a bad example FYI). In retrospect, Reference or add it on there, but make sure it connects to medicine in some way. i can think of several ways where politics interwines with medicine myself.

 

[kam730]

I have kind of a strange question that I wanted some opinions on. I've been a heavily involved member of the College Republicans for the last four years. Would it be wise to put this on an application? Emotions run very high when it comes to politics, so could this put me at a major disadvantage if adcom members were very liberal? I'm just worried about the face value here. If they wanted to talk I could explain that I'm a fiscal conservative, but a social moderate so I agree with liberals on many of the social issues, and heavily disagree with the way the current administration spends money, etc., but I'm wondering if they'd write me off just seeing that I was an involved member of a political group.

Thanks guys!

I personally try to avoid discussing politics in most work-related or professional settings. Like if a resident brings up politics I usually just smile and nod along, I just don't see the point in risking my grade by getting into an arguement. So I personally would not include anything overtly political in an application, but others may disagree. Of course there are many gray areas where certain activities may have political undertones without having direct ties to a particular party, in these cases, who knows...

 

[Will Ferrell]

I've been a heavily involved member of the College Republicans for the last four years. Would it be wise to put this on an application? Emotions run very high when it comes to politics, so could this put me at a major disadvantage if adcom members were very liberal?

hmm.. that's a good question. Can you just write that you were heavily involved with an "on-campus political club" without mentioning it's conservative?

 

[Gerrymandering]

hmm.. that's a good question. Can you just write that you were heavily involved with an "on-campus political club" with mentioning it's conservative?

Heavily is a big word. Involved in a political club shall suffice! I assure you that medical schools don't want to know your political affiliations unless they ask.

If you're wondering...
stating that you were involved in an "on-site political club," is a lot better than saying it was conservative. I will bet most medical schools will interpret it as a political club for all poltical affiliations; therefore, showing you are someone who is open to all kinds of ideas. FYI medical schools want students who are well-rounded educationally and extracirricularly (if that's a word ). Briefly, just show that you are open to ideas because getting into medicine takes a lot of thought to persue...it means that your open mind witnessed something you can do for a life-time within medicine!

just my million bucks

 

[NehsNairb]

I'd definitely put it on there. If you put that much committment into an activity, it would be foolish to leave it off your app. The only problem I see is that it seems like all the club did was sit on their asses and talk about why Republicans are awesome. But if the club actually performed commendable services like maybe run a fundraiser for some verteran organization then that could look really positive. Politics, like healthcare, is a public service profession. If your involvement in College Republicans demostrated that, I wouldn't hestitate to put it on your app.

 

[Gerrymandering]

I'd definitely put it on there. If you put that much committment into an activity, it would be foolish to leave it off your app. The only problem I see is that it seems like all the club did was sit on their asses and talk about why Republicans are awesome. But if the club actually performed commendable services like maybe run a fundraiser for some verteran organization then that could look really positive. Politics, like healthcare, is a public service profession. If your involvement in College Republicans demostrated that, I wouldn't hestitate to put it on your app.

It's definitely a nice thing, but I wouldn't go too far with it especially if it didn't influence you into medicine. If it ends up in the wrong hands, it's definitely a no no even if they say med school interviews = equal opportunity

 

[lp2001db]

It's definitely a nice thing, but I wouldn't go too far with it especially if it didn't influence you into medicine. If it ends up in the wrong hands, it's definitely a no no even if they say med school interviews = equal opportunity

Thanks everybody, these are some great replies.

 

[NehsNairb]

It's definitely a nice thing, but I wouldn't go too far with it especially if it didn't influence you into medicine. If it ends up in the wrong hands, it's definitely a no no even if they say med school interviews = equal opportunity

I'm not sure what your point is. Is it that an interest in politics might give the impression to adcoms that you're not really passionate to become a doctor? Cause I don't think it would be a problem. I taught a summer at a public school and no interviewer asked me why I didn't go into teaching.

 

[Gerrymandering]

I'm not sure what your point is. Is it that an interest in politics might give the impression to adcoms that you're not really passionate to become a doctor? Cause I don't think it would be a problem. I taught a summer at a public school and no interviewer asked me why I didn't go into teaching.

No, it's generally how this country runs. Wrong perceptions translate into wrong actions! This is true for politics as well where people actually "fist-fight" over stupid ish concerning political affiliation. It just depends on the person really; however, i really don't care about one's personal opinion in politics--im more of someone who looks out on the morals presented! Some adcoms are the same way, but you never know the one who is strongly democratic or republican! They can always find a way to eliminate you from the application cycle. Politics is an extremely borderline issue so you kind of have to be careful on how you present yourself. Does this clear my statement up a little bit?

 

[snobored18]

I didn't list college dems on my application...it definitely wasn't like we sat on our arses whining about Bush, but we were pretty big activists during the 2004 campaign (heck we brought Kerry to our small campus and got to work the rally...it was sweet...and of course protested Mr. Bush bc of the ludracris policy of not allowing the public into his rallies unless we had political ties). It kind of sucks that I couldn't list this, but in all honesty it would have been a terrible idea because this kind of public service is very different that what is expected from a physician. In the end I felt I couldn't tie my work with college dems and the Kerry campaign to my desire to practice medicine so I left it off. I think if you have a tie-in and you weren't heavily involved in other activities you might want to risk it, but in the political climate of this country right now you are walking a tight rope by bringing politics up and this is a process where you definitely don't need to be up on a tight rope...adcoms will find enough reasons as it is to try and knock you off.

 

[notdeadyet]

I'd list it, and I'd go ahead and mention it was college Republicans. If I saw an application that mentioned involvement (especially heavy involvement) with a campus political issue that was intentionally vague, it would be a negative for me.

It's not like you're listing the John Birch Society or Earth First. Republican/Democrat is mainsteam enough that I don't think you'll get too much interference. You're worried about liberal adcom's and I'm worried about conservative adcom's, but there's enough of both that I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[Gerrymandering]

I'd list it, and I'd go ahead and mention it was college Republicans. If I saw an application that mentioned involvement (especially heavy involvement) with a campus political issue that was intentionally vague, it would be a negative for me.

It's not like you're listing the John Birch Society or Earth First. Republican/Democrat is mainsteam enough that I don't think you'll get too much interference. You're worried about liberal adcom's and I'm worried about conservative adcom's, but there's enough of both that I wouldn't sweat it.

In retrospect, this might be a good idea, but also have some medical extracirriculars to balance everything out (so your your political affiliation doesn't jump out to the medical schools). Again, everything we say on here is really up to you! you're in command chief--you cannot go wrong either way! if you think your app will be solid with a political background, go ahead and list it. Make sure it has a reasonable connection to why it influenced you into medicine. Adcoms can easily question you why don't you go to law school if politics is really that important to you? (in similar words, but maybe a little more professional) In medicine, people come first and then everything else. you might see this true in politics, but these days politics is so watered down that all they think firstly is about economics...that's why party affiliations can hurt you in any field you go into!