National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine

[Hollaback Girl]

A parent of a highschool student that was recently invited to attend the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine asked me if I knew anything or heard anything about this program.

Have any of you ever had any experience with this program or heard of it? Do you think it could help with getting into medical school, specifically something that would be interesting to mention on a secondary or something? Would you recommend that she go?

I have not heard of the program so was not that helpful. I looked at the schedule of events and activites it seems like it would be interesting. There are presentations about healthcare, ethics, debates, medical school, residents, applications process and a speech from the surgeon general. I actually wished I could have attended this to prep me for my interviews.

I think invitations to this thing are sent out to a student interested in medicine and who has at least a 3.4 and scored well on some standardized test. I'm not sure about the details. The cost of the program is $2000 and its in Washington D.C. It's about a week long. What do you guys think?

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[havingfaith]

i did this program while i was in high school, and i thought it was helpful b/c we had an opportunity to shadow doctors, participate in PBL-style learning, see cadeavors, talk with doctors on their career choices, and also listen to speakers address issues on health disparities and much more. It was also really fun to interact with other students your age and have same interests as you.

 

[cca931]

I participated in the program when I was in high school, and I highly recommend it. You get to choose the location (so you're not limited to D.C.) and I chose Villanova University because it was close to home. One thing I liked was meeting kids from all over the country. Most are high school seniors, but I was lucky and got into the program the summer before my sophomore year in high school.

First you are split into teams of about 15 each, and in your teams you'll attend lectures on various medical issues. Each team is lead by a professor (mine was from Alabama U) who leads the team in discussions. One time an OB/GYN came to our group and we got to ask her just about anything we want. There is also a team project where the students do research and debate on medical ethics issues.

The week-long sessions also include visits to hospitals and medical schools close to your chosen location. One of my visits was to Thomas Jefferson medical school where we toured the campus and then sat in on a student discussion.

Overall NYLF had definitely helped me in the long run. It's something to put on your EC (my Drexel interviewer knew about the program and we had a nice chat about it), and I still keep in touch with a people from my team, updating each other on our quests to become doctors

 

[MrBurns10]

I did this program at Georgetown in DC (it's actually in various parts of the country, you get a choice) and I'd say it was decent. Granted this was 5-6 years ago when I did this so I don't remember everything about it, but I remember working in small groups on different issues in medicine, going on field trips to local clinics/hospitals (I got to see an angioplasty once), visiting a med school (we visited GW), and there were plenty of guest speakers. It was definitely a cool experience and I did learn quite a bit. I also did mention it on my college application, but I doubt it had any effect on the admissions decision. However, I highly doubt this is something worth mentioning in a med school application; you're typically supposed to talk about things you did in college, not in high school, so I personally didn't include it in my list of extracurriculars. Now, it is something that could potentially be mentioned in the personal statement (e.g. if that furthered the student's desire to go into medicine, if he/she had a powerful experience in the hospital during this forum, etc.), but it should not be the centerpiece of the essay.

In all, I had a good time and it did give me some unique exposure to medicine and to medical issues that I hadn't really thought about before. But like I said before, it wouldn't be enough to mention on a med school application, so my suggestion to the parent would be to do it if: a) the student is actually interested in this activity and not just looking for something to mention on an application, and b) if they have the financial means to do it. It's definitely not worth taking out loans to do, for example. I hope this helps.

 

[pagemmapants]

Did it in LA and LOVED it. I highly highly recommend it.

 

[isobel]

i did it in SF like 10 years ago. it was ok. we didn't shadow docs. we did get a tour of UC Davis. we did a PBL type thing. i met Pam from the Real World SF since she was a resident or something and came to talk to my small group about med school and picking a specialty. we had a formal dance. we went to some beach....

it is definitely no help for med school admission since it happens way back in high school and pretty much just shows that your parents have 2 grand to send you on a mini-vacation/medicine info session. it might help for college admission but probably not.

 

[USArmyDoc]

I did it at Gtown in DC also. I think its definitely a good program. I would advise he/she participates in it. The freaky thing is that the majority of kids I know have quit the premed route.


* I put in on my med school application. W/e I was young and dumb when I was filling it out. Now I am embarrassed.

 

[Hollaback Girl]

Thanks for all the responses. I appreciate the input and will pass it along.

 

[riceman04]

i did it in SF like 10 years ago. it was ok. we didn't shadow docs. we did get a tour of UC Davis. we did a PBL type thing. i met Pam from the Real World SF since she was a resident or something and came to talk to my small group about med school and picking a specialty. we had a formal dance. we went to some beach....

it is definitely no help for med school admission since it happens way back in high school and pretty much just shows that your parents have 2 grand to send you on a mini-vacation/medicine info session. it might help for college admission but probably not.

exactly!!!!
It is an elitist ass program made for those whose parents could afford the 2G.

I did it in at UTMB galveston

 

[titoincali]

i did it in SF like 10 years ago. it was ok. we didn't shadow docs. we did get a tour of UC Davis. we did a PBL type thing. i met Pam from the Real World SF since she was a resident or something and came to talk to my small group about med school and picking a specialty. we had a formal dance. we went to some beach....

it is definitely no help for med school admission since it happens way back in high school and pretty much just shows that your parents have 2 grand to send you on a mini-vacation/medicine info session. it might help for college admission but probably not.

Hey, I was in the program 10 years ago in SF. We were probably there at the same time...

 

[zook]

I did the program a few years back at Villanova, but I thought it was rather pointless. Sure, there were a couple cool speakers, and I had a good time, but the money probably could've been better spent. In my opinion, it's basically a money-making business. If I had to do it over again, I'd say save the money and go on a vacation or put it towards college/med school.

 

[premeder]

i did this too. it was good but not worth the money. you can shadow and do similar things with your own initiative instead of spending money for someone else to organize it for you

 

[The Madden Bus]

A parent of a highschool student that was recently invited to attend the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine asked me if I knew anything or heard anything about this program.

Have any of you ever had any experience with this program or heard of it? Do you think it could help with getting into medical school, specifically something that would be interesting to mention on a secondary or something? Would you recommend that she go?

I have not heard of the program so was not that helpful. I looked at the schedule of events and activites it seems like it would be interesting. There are presentations about healthcare, ethics, debates, medical school, residents, applications process and a speech from the surgeon general. I actually wished I could have attended this to prep me for my interviews.

I think invitations to this thing are sent out to a student interested in medicine and who has at least a 3.4 and scored well on some standardized test. I'm not sure about the details. The cost of the program is $2000 and its in Washington D.C. It's about a week long. What do you guys think?

Fantastic Program. Really top notch. It's like shadowing doctors, talking with people that have various diseases (aids, cancer, etc), performing basic medical tasks (blood pressure taking, practice stitching on a banana, etc.) Hospital Volunteering, and Dorm Life all rolled into one. I learned so much about becoming a doctor and what people do in the healthcare field when I went there. Perhaps the most important thing is many people discover if medicine is really something that they want to do or not. I went and decided I loved it and there was nothing I'd rather do. The guy who was my roomate for the forum decided that medicine wasn't really something he wanted when he thought it was before. Also, the girls are hot. Great Experience for High Schoolers.