Helping undocumented immigrants on my application ?

[deleted1098639]

Through my volunteer work I have helped undocumented immigrants get various types of medical help, should I mention this on my application or is it too controversial?

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[deleted1098639]

I don't particularly see the controversy here. As a young adult you worked with a vulnerable population that for the reasons you outlined above struggled to receive medical care. Your helped them navigate systems and forms to do so. Patients have the choice to include / not include information of forms (and do so all the time). Lets not forget that the patients you are working with have agency. Patients can pick and choose providers based off of what information they request. Providers can recognize if all information is not included when asked and follow up if they feel it is necessary. Personally im not sure why someones immigration status would be relevant but that's an issue for another day. It would be highly problematic if you coached an individual to deliberately provide false information on a legal document - it doesn't sound like that is what you did here.

I will say, use care when describing working with vulnerable populations. I highly recommend not using the term illegal or phrases such as "these people." Some folks may interpret that as a sign of bias and when there are so many qualified applicants, you don't want to risk it. Person first language is huge and something that my program looks for. When I was an application screener this was something we were explicitly told to look out for.

Best of luck to you.

Thank you, my mom was undocumented immigrant long time ago " these people" are my people. We( they) call themselves illegal in our language, so it's not as offensive to me, but I get the point.

 

[GreenDuck12]

Thank you, my mom was undocumented immigrant long time ago " these people" are my people. We( they) call themselves illegal in our language, so it's not as offensive to me, but I get the point.

Totally get that but with admissions It’s all about perception of the receiver and from experience you don’t want to give anyone a reason to make assumptions (i grew up with Spanish). This also came up in MMIs at my institution as well so just be on the look out for it.

 

[deleted1098639]

Can I list this activity as "leadership"?
I have over 500 hours of volunteering elsewhere.

 

[KnightDoc]

Can I list this activity as "leadership"?
I have over 500 hours of volunteering elsewhere.

It depends. What did you lead? Leading the immigrants to assistance is not what is meant by leadership. If you founded and/or helped run the organization providing the assistance, that's what the schools are talking about.

 

[xffan624]

Can I list this activity as "leadership"?
I have over 500 hours of volunteering elsewhere.

Are you coordinating a group of people towards a common goal? That's leadership. If if it's just you doing this for folks, I'd guess not. I feel if you have to ask the question it's not but I don't have a full picture of what you're doing in this activity.

 

[deleted1098639]

It depends. What did you lead? Leading the immigrants to assistance is not what is meant by leadership. If you founded and/or helped run the organization providing the assistance, that's what the schools are talking about.

Yes, I founded my own organization and created my own website advertising my services of making appointments for immigrants who did not speak English, driving some who did not have cars, and anything else they needed. I had a group of a few volunteers who assisted me with scheduling appointments and transportation as well.

 

[deleted1098639]

Are you coordinating a group of people towards a common goal? That's leadership. If if it's just you doing this for folks, I'd guess not. I feel if you have to ask the question it's not but I don't have a full picture of what you're doing in this activity.

Yes, I founded my own organization and created my own website advertising my services of making appointments for immigrants who did not speak English, driving some who did not have cars, and anything else they needed. I guieded a group of six volunteers who assisted me with scheduling appointments and transportation as well.

 

[KnightDoc]

Yes, I founded my own organization and created my own website advertising my services of making appointments for immigrants who did not speak English, driving some who did not have cars, and anything else they needed. I had a group of a few volunteers who assisted me with scheduling appointments and transportation as well.

Sounds like leadership to me!

 

[deleted933629]

The question here is OP wants to write that they helped illegal immigrant patients avoid filling certain info on the forms and I am merely stating them it it may be risky to mention that. As per care, I have no doubt most physicians will treat every patient that comes to their hospital/clinic regardless of their political and religious beliefs.

Imagine if Oskar Schindler applied to medical school.