General How little weight does my journalism hobby carry?

[Catalystik]

I write for my local college engineering magazine, as well as report for the newspaper. 99% of the time I focus on health-related news and issues--anything from clinical trial updates to new hospitals to current state legislation on health reform. I love it, it's fun and great giving people a voice, plus I spend a lot of my time trying to accurately represent the people I interview. But college is hectic and I need to start narrowing my priorities, aka be more career oriented. How little will adcoms think of my hobby, especially since it's not clinical?

Your journalistic efforts make you interesting. You're engaging in a form of Teaching which helps others. But it doesn't provide you with a face-to-face experience of helping those with poor resources, nor are you gaining a leadership experience from the time you invest (at least, not from what you've written), either of which would give more benefit to an application. Still, Hobbies/Artistic Endeavors are desirable to mention, as well, as adcomms like to see that you have relaxing, stress-relieving, leisuretime interests.

How long have you been doing this? With what sort of activity would you replace it?

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[Catalystik]

Thank you for your reply, I like how you categorized teaching/face to face/leadership. (And it's a relief my hobby contributes to my app is some way).
1) I've been doing this for one year now, and
2) if I continue, I could probably obtain an editor in chief position eventually since most people in the club recognize the effort I put into it.

3) I'd mainly replace it
a) with more volunteering--join a service org, or spend more time with different volunteering experiences so I could eventually create my own project to help others.
b) I'd volunteer at 2 hospitals instead of 1, and
c) extend hospice/hotline volunteering beyond the summer.
Essentially, more pre-med things.

1) If you were to decide to let it go, a year is a decent amount of longevity that reflects well.

2) Definitely a leadership position. If you'd have a big staff and institute new initiatives, you'd get bonus points.

3) a) A single volunteer organization looks better than a lot of miscellaneous, short-term experiences. Demonstrating leadership that makes a difference in the lives of others who don't have good economic resources would be of great value. But it takes time to build something that will last. And adcomms would be looking for the latter criteria.
b) This won't add particular value to your application. Better to change department once in awhile for a better breadth of experience at your current location.
c) Longevity >1 year in either of these would be great. Hospice >>hotline, though, due to the face-to-face nature of the experience.

 

[Catalystik]

1) Honestly, I don't know what it is, but you're helping me see this process differently. I think my mental requirement of 100% clinical or bust was really blocking me from other opportunities...to the extent I almost gave up on journalism.

I'll still keep writing, probably pick up a senior reporting position over the summer for fun, but sit on editor in chief. In the meantime I'll use this hobby to search for a service project that would benefit my local community.

2) For the hospital volunteering--does high school experience count? I've been doing it every semester since junior year and have helped out at 7 different floors. It's the same hospital, continuous service, everything.

3) That should be my last question. Again, thanks for taking the time to reply

1) You don't want to be a one-trick pony. There are many characteristics desirable in a future physician and it's your job to demonstrate them through a variety of activities.

2) As long as the experience continued into the college years, a HS activity can be listed on a med school application. It sounds like you have sufficient depth and breadth of active clinical experience that you don't need to look further.

3) Happy to help!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Don't discount it! There's A LOT OF MONEY in medical communications (being a science writer for a hospital, health care provider, medical affairs company, associations, etc.) and pharma/device marketing. AMSA may also really like that you have some experience even with understanding the impact of politics and regulation on medicine and innovation; see what they tend to post about on their online forums. You also likely work better with real deadlines if you report for a newspaper (daily or weekly), even more if you wind up being an editor.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Would you say the difference between magazine writing and newspaper reporting is minimal in adcom eyes? I love reporting but magazines are more manageable and less time-intensive. I'm curious because your reply seems to focus on newspapers over other sci communications methods

This is just my personal opinion and does not represent anyone else involved in any admissions process. Writing is always contextual and subject to terminology and standards to be upheld by the publisher and the scope of the publication. Grant writing is different from peer-reviewed research, which is different from literature reviews; similarly newspaper reporting vs. magazine reporting can be very different. However, a lot of people I know are freelance writers and can adjust how they write to the medium; a travel article you might see in a blog could be reformatted for a magazine for a newspaper. The same thing will go for writing results on clinical trials for the FDA versus for a journal versus the lay public, or even on a public health crisis like the opioid epidemic or the malaria outbreaks. The fact that most of the writing you are doing is subject to editorial review and feedback, and that you participate in a process where such critical review is the norm I think is a good thing.

You will likely do a lot of writing about observing patients or reflecting on your emotions when you get into health care and medical school. Many such personal essays have found their way to be published books, and many medical schools have a lot of resources in the medical humanities that you may enjoy.

To that end, I would not worry so much about how anyone reviewing your application is going to think about your activity being "good" or "bad." You should be able to craft the narrative in a positive way that you can tell others how it helps to make you a better physician, and then let the rest of the process work.