Is this something that will look good?

[simondimond]

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My uncle is a doctor and he is active in medical missions.

He is going to Kenya sometime in March to volunteer at a mission hospital.

My cousin is going with him for four weeks because it counts as one of his fourth year rotations.

My uncle asked me if I wanted to come and that he would pay my airfare.

I have one week of spring break and I can probably ask for another. I don't know how much "clinical" experience I would get as a pre-med because I don't know what the policies of the hospital are. I would be a volunteer in the hospital though.

Is this something that will help my application in the EC category? I'm not going there to save lives, I'm going there to learn about the culture and to observe medicine in a foreign country. The hospital is open year round for volunteers but I can only go when my uncle goes and right now I can only get about two weeks off.

Is it worth it?

 

[Catalystik]

Other costs you may not have factored in: Who is going to pay for all the vaccines and medications you'll need to acquire for the trip (which may or may not protect your health)? And also, how far behind will missing a week's worth of college coursework put you?

There's nothing wrong with a free cultural trip. As to its effect on your application: you could do just as much good at home without sacrificing your GPA and, further, have the opportunity for greater longevity in a volunteer activity, which adcomms like to see. But it might make for a great talking point during interviews.

 

[PinkpanthaMD]

There's nothing wrong with a free cultural trip.

Wow! I thought this was a humanitarian mission. My bad! I think OP should think about going. Not many of us have this type of opportunity presented to us. Yes, there are many US citizens who could use a hand but we have a lot of resources available to them, unlike our friends in 3rd world countries. I say go!

 

[dmf2682]

I would stay home, volunteer, go to class, and tell your uncle to use your trip money for medical supplies. Then you can not worry about missed class and write about how instead of taking a rich kids medical safari just to make your application stand out you made a meaningful contribution to the underserved here at home.

 

[simondimond]

I just want to add that I'm planning on doing a post-bacc in 2013. I am a business major right now. The reason why I suggested that I would ask for one week off is that I am not taking any pre-req's right now.

I just want to know if a two-week volunteer trip in a foreign country is enough to give you a new perspective on medicine and if it is a good opportunity to learn something new.

Thanks

 

[OBK]

I just want to add that I'm planning on doing a post-bacc in 2013. I am a business major right now. The reason why I suggested that I would ask for one week off is that I am not taking any pre-req's right now.

I just want to know if a two-week volunteer trip in a foreign country is enough to give you a new perspective on medicine and if it is a good opportunity to learn something new.

Thanks

you will most likely remember this trip for a very very long time
i dont remember what i studied for the week after spring break during any of my undergrad years...i think there were graphs involved

imho, you will always learn something new when you go someplace new
if you have the opportunity, go for it

 

[QofQuimica]

Is this something that will help my application in the EC category?

No.

Is it worth it?

Well, that depends on why you're doing it. If you're doing it because you want to pad your AMCAS, see above. If you're doing it because you want to have a new cultural experience and be a better informed citizen of the global community, then of course it's worth it. You can't ever see too much of the world.

As far as service ECs go, the best ones are done consistently over a long period of time, even if it's only 1-2 hours per week. Pick a local organization that matters to you, and ideally commit to volunteering there on a weekly basis for a year or more. This can be either medical or nonmedical.

 

[IvanNikolaevich]

I was in Kenya for a public health project and my cousin happened to be doing a med school rotation at a mission hospital nearby, so I went to visit her there. Of course she was doing more hands-on stuff as a 4th year med student, but I think it'd be a worthwhile thing to do as a volunteer. You can really get an idea of the different health problems in developing countries, and you might see things you'd never see volunteering at a hospital in the states - for instance I was just there briefly and saw little kids with tetanus, TB and kwashiorkor, and the tiniest low birth weight newborns. It was also interesting to interact with the Kenyan doctors and nurses and see the workings of an African hospital in general. It was actually something that made me start thinking about going into medicine, which I'd always rejected before.

No, the trip probably isn't something that'll be a slam dunk to seal the deal for med school, and no one's going to save the world on a two-week volunteer trip, but these sorts of things are always good for one's world view (insert old adage here about volunteering being more for the volunteer than the people they're serving, yada yada). And I don't see how it could hurt if you can speak thoughtfully about the experience in an essay/interview.

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

My thought is I don't see how it can hurt your app. Maybe it's not the number one thing, but certainly won't hurt your application. I say go... trips like this may not come up again... Also, it could show you something that DOES add to your application...