internship experience

[jrpierce]

Does anyone know how experience in the public health department (not clinical) looks to admissions commitees? Would this just be a waste of time?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[SMW]

If you're interested in it, you should do it. You should do whatever you want to do without worrying about how it will look to adcoms. It will likely look different to different adcoms and to different people within the same adcom. People who do things just to impress adcoms are the sort of people they weed out in interviews. They're looking for people who are enthused about something besides just getting good grades and getting into med school.

 

[SMW]

Hey, jrpierce, just noticed that that was your first post. Welcome to SDN!! I'm interested in public health, too. In fact I'm thinking of applying for an MD/MPH program. Only after I get in somewhere, that is. I can't deal with any more applications this year.

 

[Ex-InfantryMedic]

Public health is perhaps even a more noble goal than medicine itself!! Go for it! In clinical medicine you are helping one family at a time, but in Public health you reach millions. Even a 0.1% difference in public health saves as many lives as a potential career as an MD. I was able to do a non-paid internship at local school of Public Health after taking epidemiology. Because of my internship there, I was able to get a casual (part-time) paid position with it's associated medical school. Seeing how epidemiologists gather design studies and split hairs in their data will give you a fresh appreciation for "applied" science like epidemiology. As you intern, look to network with the MD/MPH's and you'll have a potential mentor to help guide you. Two, stay focused in discerning better study-designs from studies of less caliber. A valuable skill as an MD is seperating the chaff from the wheat as your reading time in your career and familiy life is limited and you will appreciate selecting the good articles in your journal reading from airplane/toilet reading.(reading you might get around to...eventually) Focus on Public health projects that foster a forward-thinking attitude and garner positive gains in the health of the populations you are studyings versus projects which seek large "numbers" in the publication game. Just my two cents! Go for it. I will never regret my epidemiology internship and neither will you.

 

[MacGyver]

I agree that MPH can reach a wider population than just MD. However, you dont get the satisfaction of seeing YOUR DIRECT IMPACT ON THE LIFE OF ANOTHER PERSON. True, you have an impact thru MPH too, but its not NEARLY as pervasive and life-changing as the personal contact between MD and patient.

PhD is the same way as MPH. They affect a huge population of lives, but the level of impact is not high enough for me. I want to have a direct and substantial influence on people.

 

[jasmine]

I'd jump into the debate on the merits of public health vs. direct physician contact but that the original question had to do with whether or not a public health department *internship* was a valuable experience.

You can't be a good physician unless you understand the system you're working in. This internship sounds great in terms of teaching you more about health care, especially if you're interested in primary care. Really though I think that in the end, do whatever the hell you want. You'll be tracked enough when medical school begins so why not experience something you're interested in, even if it's not related to medicine.

So if you feel like you'll learn, you'll enjoy yourself, and the experience sound rewarding, then that would be enough reason to go...

 

[Ex-InfantryMedic]

Jasmine, you understood perfectly the tone of my response and I agree completely. (Mac) I agree that direct patient contact is the best route to determine one's medical inclination, but PH is NOT to be overlooked due to it's unglamorous role. Remember, epi is part of your med-ed. (JRPierce) Just learn from a great internship and make the best of yourself from it. (Jasmine)
Thank you Jasmine.

 

[jrpierce]

Thanks everyone for the comments. My main interest does not lie in public health though the work that I would be doing there would be tied to genetics which is what I hope to specialize in (I think!) I certainly have been doing what I enjoy and not what I think will impress adcoms. The work would be putting together the state genetics plan for Colorado and I feel this will become more and more important in years to come. Thanks again.
Just out of curiousity, what clinical experience do some of you have prior to applying? Just curious what diversity there is out there.

 

[jasmine]

Thought I'd throw my two cents in -- over my summers during college, I spent one workign at the NIH (where I discovered I'm not interested in lab work and therefore probably not academic medicine), and another summer working at the US State Department overseas. Another summer I spent teaching. All three were really different and I was pretty happy with all of them.

Ex-Inf -- I've had a particular respect for public health ever since I began working at a health care policy consulting firm and seeing both sides of the equation... anyhow, sounds like you had a dream internship.