Medical Is Peace Corps seen as a pro or con?

[Goro]

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I'm about to start my senior year and know I want to take a gap year (or two) before applying to medical school. I know I want to do something service based and dedicate myself to something I feel really passionately about. I've been reading more about the Peace Corps and it sounds like an amazing experience that gets me really excited at the thought of applying. Since I would want to apply to med school after working as a PCV, I'm curious whether this would hurt my application in some way I'm not aware of.

I've heard that medical "voluntourism" can really hurt students applications to med school since it's pretty unethical to practice medicine in another country (typically on people of low SES). However, the Peace Corps wouldn't demand any sort of medical practice while abroad and the programs I'm particularly interested in involve working as a public health educator or language teacher. I just want to make sure there isn't some red flag for my med school application that I'm not aware of in dedicating myself to the Peace Corps during a gap year.

The Peace Corps is one of the most altruistic things a med school applicant can do. They are highly respected. It's the complete opposite of voluntourism.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Agree. Volunteerism is when someone goes to Africa for 2 weeks and says they got 150 hours. Peace corps is legit

 

[MusicDOc124]

Voluntourism is short term using the guise of volunteering to essentially take a vacation.

Peace Corps is established, long term overall, and requires a longer-term commitment (last I check was usually a somewhere between 6months to a 2-year commitment or something.

These are very different things.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Absolutely would help. Peace Corps would be awesome to add to your application.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I don't recall that you pay money to be part of the Peace Corps, unlike the "voluntourism options". Peace Corps has been around for about 60 years and has always been a green flag in modern med school admissions. I don't recall if there are still policies on this, but some med schools hand out deferrals to Peace Corps participants generously for those applicants who apply simultaneously; obviously if you apply after your tenure in the Peace Corps, you'll be good.