Internships in non-medical fields?

[1nvictus]

Space has always intrigued me and I was wondering if internships like NASA would help me explore that field more. At the same time I'm still considering medicine as well. How are such internships viewed in med school apps?

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[dsoz]

Do things that you enjoy doing. Don't do things because they look good on an application.

Explore your options while you are young and free enough to do so. Check out the NASA program, and if it is a good fit, then do it. You can always use it to talk about something interesting that you did in an interview. Who knows, maybe you will find a passion in space science. Then if you do continue onto medical school, then you could be a space physician. The possibilities are endless for you right now.

dsoz

 

[clued]

Do things that you enjoy doing. Don't do things because they look good on an application.

Explore your options while you are young and free enough to do so. Check out the NASA program, and if it is a good fit, then do it. You can always use it to talk about something interesting that you did in an interview. Who knows, maybe you will find a passion in space science. Then if you do continue onto medical school, then you could be a space physician. The possibilities are endless for you right now.

dsoz

And these are not mutually exclusive. But I certainly did not follow the advice of "don't do things because they look good on an application." If all that interests you and all that you have time for are non-medically related things, you would never have a strong enough application for medical school.

We all know it helps to have shadowing, research, leadership, whatever. I never was aiming for a research career but I did pursued it as an undergrad. It never interested me but I did it because frankly, I thought it would look good on my application. I got a great letter of recommendation out of it because I put in the time and effort. I learned a lot about the research process and what it takes to put out a quality paper. I got to shadow a lot of doctors and be exposed to a diverse population of patients that got me excited. I would have none of this if I initially didn't approach it because I thought it would look good on paper.

Although I did pursue things that have nothing to do with medicine directly, I did do things for the sake of jumping through the hoops of the admissions game. And for what it's worth, I'm glad I did because it taught me what I liked and didn't like.

 

[Barcu]

It's no problem, and it will help you stand out. Many of the skills used/needed for a NASA internship will be applicable to medicine as well, so you can certainly talk about those skills and traits at med school interviews.

As long as you can convince adcoms that medicine is where your true passion lies (make sure of that yourself), you should have no problems and it can only help.

 

[wuhsabee]

Do things that you enjoy doing. Don't do things because they look good on an application.

Explore your options while you are young and free enough to do so. Check out the NASA program, and if it is a good fit, then do it. You can always use it to talk about something interesting that you did in an interview. Who knows, maybe you will find a passion in space science. Then if you do continue onto medical school, then you could be a space physician. The possibilities are endless for you right now.

dsoz

lul, space physician

 

[Chir0nex]

If it is something that is of serious interest then go for it because it is likely the one chance you will have, and it may end up being what you want tot do instead of medicine. If you do decide on medicine, it may mean you have to make time later on for more medical experiences, but at the same time, it should be possible to demonstrate how the time you spent at the internship helped mold you and taught skills that you can translate to med schooll.

 

[Shockwave456]

lul, space physician

Hey that's legit: