How do medical schools feel about teaching English abroad?

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premedasaurus

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Hello everyone!

Assuming everything else is okay with your app (i.e stats, clinical exposure, volunteering, research, leadership, shadowing), how would medical schools view teaching English abroad during a gap year? Does the answer change if this is paid vs volunteer, or change depending on the country?

Thanks!

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I did this exact thing my gap year. I feared it would be received poorly because I was moving and settling in a foreign country in the midst of a pandemic, but it seems to have been taken very well. I taught and lived in underprivileged areas with predominantly ethnic/racial minorities and immigrant populations, so it also fit with my application narrative. I spent a lot of time in interviews talking about my insights. I was very glad that this year’s cycle was virtual otherwise I would have had to deny the opportunity.
 
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Hello everyone!

Assuming everything else is okay with your app (i.e stats, clinical exposure, volunteering, research, leadership, shadowing), how would medical schools view teaching English abroad during a gap year? Does the answer change if this is paid vs volunteer, or change depending on the country?

Thanks!

This makes you more interesting than 90% of people I had to talk to during interviews. It's a big plus.

More importantly, it will give you valuable life experience. You'll be thankful you did it, even though it might be hard.

It will come up during residency interviews too. I'm speaking based on similar experiences.
 
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As long as you have clinical experience, have explored enough experiences to find out what you are passionate about, you can do anything. It's important to do something (employment or volunteering) to show schools you are doing more than fixed action patterning every night.
 
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Thank you everyone!
@sarcasmrules @holdthemayo Do you think the answer changes if I have already taught English abroad? I took a gap year after HS because I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, and ended up spending 3 months teaching English in Asia. I then went to college, became pre-med, did all the pre-med stuff, etc. I now have a gap year before I apply and I am very interested in going abroad again, particularly to a Spanish-speaking country so I can improve my language skills. One of the best ways to go abroad is to teach English, especially when going abroad is extra complicated with COVID. (I would also hope to do other forms of volunteering when abroad, but this is difficult to coordinate without actually being in the country). However, I am a little worried about how admissions committees may view going abroad to teach English twice?
Thank you so much for your help!
 
Thank you everyone!
@sarcasmrules @holdthemayo Do you think the answer changes if I have already taught English abroad? I took a gap year after HS because I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, and ended up spending 3 months teaching English in Asia. I then went to college, became pre-med, did all the pre-med stuff, etc. I now have a gap year before I apply and I am very interested in going abroad again, particularly to a Spanish-speaking country so I can improve my language skills. One of the best ways to go abroad is to teach English, especially when going abroad is extra complicated with COVID. (I would also hope to do other forms of volunteering when abroad, but this is difficult to coordinate without actually being in the country). However, I am a little worried about how admissions committees may view going abroad to teach English twice?
Thank you so much for your help!

Showing commitment to something isn't going to look bad. Assuming everything else is good (grades, MCAT, etc), this will only help you.
 
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Thank you everyone!
@sarcasmrules @holdthemayo Do you think the answer changes if I have already taught English abroad? I took a gap year after HS because I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, and ended up spending 3 months teaching English in Asia. I then went to college, became pre-med, did all the pre-med stuff, etc. I now have a gap year before I apply and I am very interested in going abroad again, particularly to a Spanish-speaking country so I can improve my language skills. One of the best ways to go abroad is to teach English, especially when going abroad is extra complicated with COVID. (I would also hope to do other forms of volunteering when abroad, but this is difficult to coordinate without actually being in the country). However, I am a little worried about how admissions committees may view going abroad to teach English twice?
Thank you so much for your help!
Mention this in your 700 W/A section; that you wanted to improve your Spanish or that your Spanish improved. Don't just talk about what you did, talk about what you got out of it. That is just as important as what you did.
 
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This type of activity can be easily explained as a positive experience. Furthermore, do what you want to - not everything is about medical school admissions. You’re only young once so make the most of it - it becomes harder to have such experiences once you’re in the medical school/residency grind nd you’ll regret not taking the opportunities when you had the chance. You’ll also realize that medical school admissions people are human too and will understand this, plus it’ll give you an amazing experience to talk about during interviews etc.
 
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