Internship + AdCom School Questions

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Timwfu

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Do medical schools consider the types of internships you choose to do during the summer? If I was a business major, and I chose to intern in a renown business firm, would the business internship be something frowned upon since medical schools want to see more of your interest and involvement in medicine? Would the business internship be seen as you are not fully interested in medicine and that you are just using it as a backup?

Also, during high school when you are applying to competitive colleges, college consider whether you have made the best of all your resources at your school and if you stood out distinctively within your school. Are medical schools like that? Where in high school, perhaps the top one or two students who stood out the most are accepted to Ivies, do medical schools select the best out of your college to be accepted? I know that in the end everyone is competing for seats in medical school, but are students self selected within a school and may be competing with each other internally?

For instance, at a competitive college such as Washu, many of WashU's students score extremely high but off course not all get in. Even though those who do not get in still may have high scores, how do they compare to another state university where those with lower stats are still accepted? Is there a type of internal ranking where adcoms select the best within a school?

Thanks.

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1) No, but be prepared to explain something you gained or learned from the experience that could apply to the medical field.

2) No. They don't compare you to others at your school. Each person judged based on individual merit.
 
For some of my friends who switched from business junior year, and decided to apply the following year with many internships in business, would such ECs limit their chance of getting interviews? Since ECs should be done if one is truly interested in the subject, an applicant be penalized if their core interests are business as well as medicine.

Although interviews are mainly based on grades, a lack of medical activities may eliminate any chances of an interview. Is it the same way having some medical experiences but with a greater number of business ECs?
 
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1) 2) No. They don't compare you to others at your school. Each person judged based on individual merit.

I'd disagree. Adcoms think all the time about geographic and school diversity. They'll try to get some students from different schools, and when being from X undergrad is an asset, you'll certainly be compared to other applicants from your school.

Otherwise, for OP, med school application is this silly process of convincing interviewers that you have oodles of interests outside of medicine, yet medicine is the only path for you. A business internship, especially if related to the healthcare field, could certainly be an asset aside from the typical time-wasting most undergrads do in a lab for a summer. If it's in something completely different, you'll need to have an explanation.
 
I'd disagree. Adcoms think all the time about geographic and school diversity. They'll try to get some students from different schools, and when being from X undergrad is an asset, you'll certainly be compared to other applicants from your school.

+1. This is actually one of the main functions of a committee letter.
 
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