Not doing Fulbright...can I still mention it?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
SufiPoet

SufiPoet

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2015
Messages
63
Reaction score
19
Members do not see this ad.
I was very fortunate to be awarded a fulbright for the upcoming year. However, after receiving my placement, I was informed that the rural sites were endemic hotspots for lymphatic filariasis, to the point where about 10% of the national population is living with it.

Because I do not want to take upon myself a lifelong chronic illness, and put myself in a position of risk, I'm seriously thinking of declining the award.

Instead, I will be teaching middle school life science at a school in D.C.

But, having been awarded this opportunity is something of substance...can I still mention it, or would it be to my detriment?
 
This is off-topic, but is that not a disease the WHO is working on eradicating? I figured that meant there was preventative measures or medications in place.
 
I mean I would say no. Think about how that might look to an adcom. "I was awarded a prestigious post, but I turned it down because I don't want to be around sick people. I still wanted to mention it to get brownie points for med school though."

That's how it could easily come off.
 
It's not transmitted from person to person, it's a mosquito borne illness. And currently, once infected, there's only medications to treat larva in your blood, not actual parasitic worms that are swimming around in you.

I'm scared, if 10% of the population has it, I mean, why not me? I'd be living there for 9 months.

But @skougess I get your point, it could be misunderstood and I don't want to have to defend my reasons for not going...not a good look at interviews lol
 
skougess said:
I mean I would say no. Think about how that might look to an adcom. "I was awarded a prestigious post, but I turned it down because I don't want to be around sick people. I still wanted to mention it to get brownie points for med school though."

That's how it could easily come off.
Click to expand...

Quoted for emphasis. Sorry - but that's how it sounded to me. "I was scared of getting sick."
 
SouthernSurgeon said:
The 10% that has it accrues that 10% risk over a lifetime, not over 9 months, and they accrue it in a resource poor setting and, historically, without efforts at prevention.

This also ignores current eradication strategies being undertaken by the WHO.
Click to expand...

It's a mosquito borne illness...I mean all it takes is one bite, am I right?

It's a bit silly to say that, oh no big whoop. If it was something like TB or a water-borne illness, something I could control, then I'd be down. And TB and many water-borne parasites are in this country, but after I heard about this, I was like, no way!

The common name of this disease is Elephantiasis, and it's pretty horrific. WHO efforts to eradicate this disease have been going on for 50+ years but the fact that a bunch of different types of mosquitos are vectors for this makes it difficult. Also it's a tropical environment, so there's mosquitos everywhere.

I lived in country for two months prior and never heard about it until Fulbright alerted us.

Plus, you have to take into account that that 10% are people living in rural areas...so the chances of you getting it while living in a rural area dramatically increase. And, fulbright is all about rural places.


Great program, unfortunate circumstance. I think being a teacher will add nicely to my resume anyway. Teaching here or there, I'm lucky just to have a job during my gap year.
 
Why apply to be a doctor then? With all of the various patients and environments they have to make contact with they are also always at risk. If you are still declining I would definitely not use that as my reasoning.
 
Was this a teaching Fulbright. It isn't even that prestigious so in that regard it is not worth mentioning. Furthermore, to say that you fear developing a chronic illness does not bode well for a prospective physician. You know that clinical care puts you at risk of TB, Hepatitis C, HIV and many other illnesses for which we do not have vaccines.

Best not to mention it. Hope you don't catch anything from those middle school students in the USA.
 
Haha look, c'mon, I would never refuse to treat a TB patient, and am fine doing so. But it's lunacy to put myself in harm's way. I don't want to develop Elephantiasis, and if I had a patient who was concerned, I'd do my research and tell them hey, you're going to live in so and so village, where lots of people have this disease, so there are probably a bunch of mosquitos in that area carrying it.

I want to be a doctor, but I don't want to prick myself with an HIV infected needle. When I can avoid getting a debilitating chronic illness, I think that's a good deal.

And @LizzyM yes it is an ETA, so yes, not nearly as prestigious as research.

And...middle schoolers are gross, but tropical illnesses aren't roaming around DC to my knowledge (jokes)...
 
SufiPoet said:
I was very fortunate to be awarded a fulbright for the upcoming year. However, after receiving my placement, I was informed that the rural sites were endemic hotspots for lymphatic filariasis, to the point where about 10% of the national population is living with it.

Because I do not want to take upon myself a lifelong chronic illness, and put myself in a position of risk, I'm seriously thinking of declining the award.

Instead, I will be teaching middle school life science at a school in D.C.

But, having been awarded this opportunity is something of substance...can I still mention it, or would it be to my detriment?
Click to expand...

If you feel you had to make a thread about it, I'm pretty sure you already knew the answer...just sayin'
 
TaroBubbleTea said:
If you feel you had to make a thread about it, I'm pretty sure you already knew the answer...just sayin'
Click to expand...
I don't know, a few people from my school that are declining mentioned it on their law school apps, so I was a bit confused.
 
SufiPoet said:
I don't know, a few people from my school that are declining mentioned it on their law school apps, so I was a bit confused.
Click to expand...

I'm sure law school admissions is different from med school school admissions; but then again, everything I know about law school comes from Legally Blonde, so I could be wrong.
 
SufiPoet said:
I don't know, a few people from my school that are declining mentioned it on their law school apps, so I was a bit confused.
Click to expand...

Being "scared of getting sick" is not nearly as detrimental for a prospective lawyer as it is from a prospective doctor. While that behavior could be characterized as 'prudent risk mitigation and avoidance' for a lawyer, it just doesn't smell the same for a doctor.
 
DokterMom said:
Being "scared of getting sick" is not nearly as detrimental for a prospective lawyer as it is from a prospective doctor. While that behavior could be characterized as 'prudent risk mitigation and avoidance' for a lawyer, it just doesn't smell the same for a doctor.
Click to expand...
It's not being afraid of getting sick. Is it a requirement of every doctor in the US to go into an Ebola camp? I don't plan on specializing in tropical disease, I'm not interested in being in a place where I might contract an incurable, chronic, debilitating, and disfiguring disease.

I've made up my mind that I will not be mentioning this on my app, and am cursing myself for not applying to Germany like I'd wanted to, but I think it's a bit entitled for everyone on SDN to be questioning my pursuit of medicine. If becoming a doctor meant going and living in endemic areas with life-threatening disease, I doubt the majority of people who are current US docs would do so.

The speciality that made me want to consider medicine in the first place doesn't have much to do with chronic illness, so while I greatly empathize with people living with these conditions, I'm also aware enough that I know I don't want to put myself in the same position.

Is that callous? I don't think so.
 
SufiPoet said:
It's not being afraid of getting sick. Is it a requirement of every doctor in the US to go into an Ebola camp? I don't plan on specializing in tropical disease, I'm not interested in being in a place where I might contract an incurable, chronic, debilitating, and disfiguring disease.

I've made up my mind that I will not be mentioning this on my app, and am cursing myself for not applying to Germany like I'd wanted to, but I think it's a bit entitled for everyone on SDN to be questioning my pursuit of medicine. If becoming a doctor meant going and living in endemic areas with life-threatening disease, I doubt the majority of people who are current US docs would do so.

The speciality that made me want to consider medicine in the first place doesn't have much to do with chronic illness, so while I greatly empathize with people living with these conditions, I'm also aware enough that I know I don't want to put myself in the same position.

Is that callous? I don't think so.
Click to expand...

No one is blaming you for not wanting to do it. I probably wouldn't either. It's just wierd that you think you should call attention to it on an application. This can only hurt you.
 
SouthernSurgeon said:
I want to be selfless and help others...but only if I can do it somewhere nice like Germany...

Now Mbuto, pass me another baby. This one has died...
Click to expand...

I attended a teacher's college, I'm trained to teach. Whether I'm teaching kids in D.C. or in rural Indonesia, who are you to say who is more deserving? I want to spend a year doing something meaningful, travel to a new place, but I refuse to put my health and future in risk for a little "adventure."


I don't know why you're so extreme. Because I want to be a doctor, I automatically have to be willing to put my life in harm's way? No.
 
SouthernSurgeon said:
Because you don't understand the epidemiology, incidence, pathology, or treatment of the disease and are making absurd statements.
Click to expand...
Ok listen, Fulbright informed me that I would be at risk because of the village I was placed in. And that it was up to me to accept or decline the offer, or move to a nearby village where the risk was less.

I highly, highly doubt you are an expert on the regions within this country. I never asked you to sniff out the validity of whether or not I am at risk, I know I am, in-country officials have told me that, so excuse me if I take their word over yours .


The initial reason I'd asked is because a lot of people put down "Fulbright Finalist" on their applications at my school, but after getting good opinions (not yours) I'm not going to mention it.
 
SufiPoet said:
It's not being afraid of getting sick. Is it a requirement of every doctor in the US to go into an Ebola camp?
Click to expand...

Oh, stop it.

SufiPoet said:
If becoming a doctor meant going and living in endemic areas with life-threatening disease, I doubt the majority of people who are current US docs would do so.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what being a doctor has meant, from the dawn of time to maybe the last 50 years, when most vaccines were invented.

I guess we can cross your name off the list for help during the next serious flu epidemic.
 
Snakes said:
Oh, stop it.



That's exactly what being a doctor has meant, from the dawn of time to maybe the last 50 years, when most vaccines were invented.

I guess we can cross your name off the list for help during the next serious flu epidemic.
Click to expand...

Omg, the flu isn't going to disfigure you and leave you with no life. So you, stop it.
 
You do not have to put yourself in harm's way that is your personal choice. I do think you would benefit to see the world from such a perspective as patients come from all over.

Coming fron some experience with mosquito driven diseases netting really helps. Keep your home clean and put on sprays. Our family did not have sprays nor netting when I was young but things really did turn out okay. I do not know all the diseases we contracted since we did not have healthcare. We lived though my siblings and I all had worms that we need to take care of...
 
Last edited:
I'm taking OP's side. I can deal with the (small-to-negligible) risk of all the diseases mentioned in comparison to lymphatic filariasis---I can live with the tiny chance of getting TB, a curable illness, or HIV, which I'm extremely unlikely to contract in medicine and which is highly treatable. But this disease sounds extremely unpleasant, easily spread, and (if OP is correct) untreatable and chronic.

So please, @SouthernSurgeon (and others), get off your high horse. I'm confident that the majority of pre-meds would be hesitant to take on this level of risk, and I'd bet anything that you would too (if not, why aren't you in rural Africa treating these people?) If the level of risk is high enough for Fulbright to alert OP, then YOU are probably the one who is wrong about OP's risk.
 
Okay, so it looks like you made up your mind already...why bother with a thread then?

Put it down and let us know how it goes at interviews when you're asked why not (I'll lay my SDN account on the line that someone somewhere will bring it up).

P.S. LizzyM's right: teaching Fulbrights are not that prestigious. lol you make it sound like you're a Rhodes/Soros or something
 
Salt Salt said:
So please, @SouthernSurgeon (and others), get off your high horse. I'm confident that the majority of pre-meds would be hesitant to take on this level of risk, and I'd bet anything that you would too (if not, why aren't you in rural Africa treating these people?) If the level of risk is high enough for Fulbright to alert OP, then YOU are probably the one who is wrong about OP's risk.
Click to expand...

You are misunderstanding the comments. I don't think anyone here is saying that the OP has some kind of duty to go do a Fulbright down in wherever this is because he should suck up the risk of getting this disease. We are saying that:
1. It takes a lot of solipsism to make a post like this on a website dedicated to becoming a doctor and then:
2. Ask if he can still get "credit" on his med school apps for being offered the Fulbright;
3. Despite the fact that he declined the Fulbright because he's afraid of illness;
4. Then appears both puzzled and indignant when the irony of this dichotomy is pointed out to him

I would also like to point out the fact that the OP referred to teaching in this rural place as a personal "adventure", and while I'm sure it's an adventure for him, it's actually the reality of everyday life for the poor kids in this village.

Sometimes the way someone says something infers a lot about them.
 
LJN Ltd. said:
Okay, so it looks like you made up your mind already...why bother with a thread then?

Put it down and let us know how it goes at interviews when you're asked why not (I'll lay my SDN account on the line that someone somewhere will bring it up).

P.S. LizzyM's right: teaching Fulbrights are not that prestigious. lol you make it sound like you're a Rhodes/Soros or something
Click to expand...
I said I'm not going to mention it. I made up my mind after reading posts. And I didn't make it sound like anything, all I said was that I got a Fulbright, and yes there is some level of difficulty in attaining it, but even I admit that an ETA is no where near research...so I don't know where you got the whole rhodes/soros impression.
 
Snakes said:
You are misunderstanding the comments. I don't think anyone here is saying that the OP has some kind of duty to go do a Fulbright down in wherever this is because he should suck up the risk of getting this disease. We are saying that:
1. It takes a lot of solipsism to make a post like this on a website dedicated to becoming a doctor and then:
2. Ask if he can still get "credit" on his med school apps for being offered the Fulbright;
3. Despite the fact that he declined the Fulbright because he's afraid of illness;
4. Then appears both puzzled and indignant when the irony of this dichotomy is pointed out to him

I would also like to point out the fact that the OP referred to teaching in this rural place as a personal "adventure", and while I'm sure it's an adventure for him, it's actually the reality of everyday life for the poor kids in this village.

Sometimes the way someone says something infers a lot about them.
Click to expand...
Haha omg, wow, way to read into every word I saw and take the most extreme, negative view of it.

I worked very hard on my Fulbright application, I'm very passionate about teaching, and was excited to go to said country until I was alerted about this. All my months of hard work deserve something, I thought. But I understand how that could be misconstrued. People put down "4 semesters of Dean's List." I spent a year writing my Fulbright application with my fellowships office and now this unfortunate circumstance is taking me away from it.

And get off it on that last bit, I'm not an idiot that's going there to "see how the poor people live." I'm going there because I know nothing about that culture, and wanted to broaden my horizon.

Sometimes I don't understand people on SDN, why don't you go join a forum centered around the art of arguments? I bet posting there would fill your daily quota of "feeling like I'm smart."
 
SufiPoet said:
Ok listen, Fulbright informed me that I would be at risk because of the village I was placed in. And that it was up to me to accept or decline the offer, or move to a nearby village where the risk was less.

I highly, highly doubt you are an expert on the regions within this country. I never asked you to sniff out the validity of whether or not I am at risk, I know I am, in-country officials have told me that, so excuse me if I take their word over yours .


The initial reason I'd asked is because a lot of people put down "Fulbright Finalist" on their applications at my school, but after getting good opinions (not yours) I'm not going to mention it.
Click to expand...
Why not request a transfer to one of the safer villages? Just curious.
 
HIV is treatable today and most TB is treatable except the drug resistant strains that will kill you. Pateints who have Ebola but don't know it can and have walked into at least one emergency department in the US this year. You can be exposed without even knowing it.

What I worry about for @SufiPoet and others who are not going into medicine with their eyes wide open are the diseases we going to face in the next 40 years. I'm old enough to remember young men with "fever of unknown origin" who were very sick and dying in 1981. We used precautions, mostly to protect them from our germs but we didn't really consider the risks of what they had being transmitted to us.... We didn't even know what this was or how it was transmitted. And all around us, they were dying.
 
Last edited:
The holier-than-thou attitudes on this thread is unbelievable. The OP has already said s/he won't be including the Fulbright on their app.

If I were the OP, I'd do the same thing and decline the Fullbright. Ain't nobody got time for elephantitis. Geez, When did it become a crime to value your own health and wellbeing?
 
Well I think a lot of this comes down to what the actual risk is. If it is anything even approaching 10% or even 1%, then you can't fault OP for turning it down. Occupational exposure to something like HIV is very unlikely, and the chance that that exposure will result in transmission is ridiculously low. Totally unfair to compare that to the 10% number.
 
TaroBubbleTea said:
The holier-than-thou attitudes on this thread is unbelievable. The OP has already said s/he won't be including the Fulbright on their app.

If I were the OP, I'd do the same thing and decline the Fullbright. Ain't nobody got time for elephantitis. Geez, When did it become a crime to value your own health and wellbeing?
Click to expand...
No one cares whether he takes the Fulbright (one L, not 2) or not. The bigger issue he needs to contemplate is whether he is willing to spend the seven years preparing for a career that will place him at risk of communicable diseases, some of which can be debilitating or life threatening. The risk is low but it is real. I once had a first year medical student tell me, before we had antiretroviral therapy, that he would not care for patients with HIV. I told him there was still time to leave and get a tuition refund; there was no way of knowing who had a yet undiagnosed infection and he would not have the luxury of choosing who to treat while he was a student.
 
SufiPoet said:
It's not being afraid of getting sick. Is it a requirement of every doctor in the US to go into an Ebola camp? I don't plan on specializing in tropical disease, I'm not interested in being in a place where I might contract an incurable, chronic, debilitating, and disfiguring disease.

I've made up my mind that I will not be mentioning this on my app, and am cursing myself for not applying to Germany like I'd wanted to, but I think it's a bit entitled for everyone on SDN to be questioning my pursuit of medicine. If becoming a doctor meant going and living in endemic areas with life-threatening disease, I doubt the majority of people who are current US docs would do so.

The speciality that made me want to consider medicine in the first place doesn't have much to do with chronic illness, so while I greatly empathize with people living with these conditions, I'm also aware enough that I know I don't want to put myself in the same position.

Is that callous? I don't think so.
Click to expand...
I find your whole view on things amusing. What happens when a pandemic flu finally breaks out, or something on the level of ebola or smallpox hits stateside? Are you just going to stay home? Are you going to be like all the residents and medical students that I used to have to deal with that refused to do anything mildly invasive (even something as simple as an ABG) if they could avoid it in their HIV and Hep C patients? Are you going to panic every time you're in the room of a patient with necrotizing fasciitis, knowing that that hellish bacteria is all around you, waiting to hitch a ride and make a lunch of you if given the chance?

Unless you're going into psychiatry (and to a lesser extent, physiatry, A+I, and a few of the other fields that put you wayyyy out of harm's way), there will always be the potential to come into contact with some really nasty bugs. Do the job long enough, and you will almost certainly end up harboring MRSA, and potentially other drug resistent bugs that can and will possibly kill or disfigure you. You should really think about that before signing up. I'm not saying this to be a dick, I'm just saying, you didn't have the foresight to think about disease and infection risk before, so you should probably give them some consideration in regard to the training you plan to undergo in the future.
 
Snakes said:
You are misunderstanding the comments. I don't think anyone here is saying that the OP has some kind of duty to go do a Fulbright down in wherever this is because he should suck up the risk of getting this disease. We are saying that:
1. It takes a lot of solipsism to make a post like this on a website dedicated to becoming a doctor and then:
2. Ask if he can still get "credit" on his med school apps for being offered the Fulbright;
3. Despite the fact that he declined the Fulbright because he's afraid of illness;
4. Then appears both puzzled and indignant when the irony of this dichotomy is pointed out to him

I would also like to point out the fact that the OP referred to teaching in this rural place as a personal "adventure", and while I'm sure it's an adventure for him, it's actually the reality of everyday life for the poor kids in this village.

Sometimes the way someone says something infers a lot about them.
Click to expand...

But this is exactly my point! The OP was nothing but moderate, well-spoken, polite and thoughtful (hence his posting on SDN asking for advice before boldly adding it to his app without doing it). In short, if "the way someone says something infers [implies*] a lot about them," then we are pretty much forced to conclude the OP is a thoughtful person who handles delicate situations with tact and realism. He was never hostile until being relentless berated by people like @SouthernSurgeon (who, by the way, should have been your ACTUAL target if you really care about "the way someone says something").
 
Mad Jack said:
Why not request a transfer to one of the safer villages? Just curious.
Click to expand...
I put in a transfer request but the likelihood of them being able now to find me a placement is low.

I still have hopes I might be in a safer area, but I accepted a job offer here in D.C. about a week ago. My chances aren't great.


And also, all of these arguments are really useless. If you could avoid getting a disease, wouldn't you? Being a physician (and all the occupational hazards that go along with it) is in no way comparable to living in an area with an endemic, incurable illness.
 
LizzyM said:
No one cares whether he takes the Fulbright (one L, not 2) or not. The bigger issue he needs to contemplate is whether he is willing to spend the seven years preparing for a career that will place him at risk of communicable diseases, some of which can be debilitating or life threatening. The risk is low but it is real. I once had a first year medical student tell me, before we had antiretroviral therapy, that he would not care for patients with HIV. I told him there was still time to leave and get a tuition refund; there was no way of knowing who had a yet undiagnosed infection and he would not have the luxury of choosing who to treat while he was a student.
Click to expand...

Mad Jack said:
I find your whole view on things amusing. What happens when a pandemic flu finally breaks out, or something on the level of ebola or smallpox hits stateside? Are you just going to stay home? Are you going to be like all the residents and medical students that I used to have to deal with that refused to do anything mildly invasive (even something as simple as an ABG) if they could avoid it in their HIV and Hep C patients? Are you going to panic every time you're in the room of a patient with necrotizing fasciitis, knowing that that hellish bacteria is all around you, waiting to hitch a ride and make a lunch of you if given the chance?

Unless you're going into psychiatry (and to a lesser extent, physiatry, A+I, and a few of the other fields that put you wayyyy out of harm's way), there will always be the potential to come into contact with some really nasty bugs. Do the job long enough, and you will almost certainly end up harboring MRSA, and potentially other drug resistent bugs that can and will possibly kill or disfigure you. You should really think about that before signing up. I'm not saying this to be a dick, I'm just saying, you didn't have the foresight to think about disease and infection risk before, so you should probably give them some consideration in regard to the training you plan to undergo in the future.
Click to expand...

These are both fair points, but you are both making a false analogy: the OP is not refusing to provide medical treatment because of his fear of infectious disease. He is refusing to teach because of his fear of infectious disease. To use @Mad Jack's Ebola example, I would consider risking acquiring Ebola to help heal a patient with Ebola. I wouldn't risk acquiring Ebola to simply teach in an area with extremely high risk of Ebola.

Not to diss teaching, of course.
 
You're going to put yourself a lot more in harm's way when you deal with acting out psychotic patients, active TB patient, or getting a blood splash from someone who's HCV or HIV positive. For that matter, let's throw in Ebolavirus while we're at it, or pandemic flu, Lassa fever, Legionnaire's Disease, SARS, MRSA, VRSA, MERS or other infectious diseases that you'll be exposed to because the patients were in Africa yesterday. The USA isn't safe anymore just because we have two oceans between us and all those nasty, icky sick people and their germs and bugs. They'll just kill you, rather than leaving you disfigured. BTW, all of those diseases I listed have appeared out of nowhere in my lifetime.

Your rationale is, frankly, ridiculous, and I'm amazed that the SDNers here are being so reserved. Stick with teaching. My student interviewers would eat you alive if they smelled your attitude.

Being a doctor means you get exposed to infectious diseases, even lethal ones, no matter where you are.


SufiPoet said:
Haha look, c'mon, I would never refuse to treat a TB patient, and am fine doing so. But it's lunacy to put myself in harm's way. I don't want to develop Elephantiasis, and if I had a patient who was concerned, I'd do my research and tell them hey, you're going to live in so and so village, where lots of people have this disease, so there are probably a bunch of mosquitos in that area carrying it.

I want to be a doctor, but I don't want to prick myself with an HIV infected needle. When I can avoid getting a debilitating chronic illness, I think that's a good deal.

And @LizzyM yes it is an ETA, so yes, not nearly as prestigious as research.

And...middle schoolers are gross, but tropical illnesses aren't roaming around DC to my knowledge (jokes)...
Click to expand...
 
Sounds like you have made up your mind and are comfortable with your decision. I say go ahead and include it in your app so that adcoms can get a complete picture.
 
SouthernSurgeon said:
Speaking of reading things into my posts that weren't there. What I actually said was that the OP didn't understand the epidemiology, incidence, pathology, or treatment of the disease and therefore his claims, particularly the 10% claim, was absurd:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1405918/

Thus, it appears that the course of filarial infection in individuals who have not been previously exposed to filariasis is that of quantitative clearance without the development of patent infection. In those instances where the infection is of a limited intensity and duration, as in the case of American GIs, it appears that the disease does not develop and these individuals remain clinically normal for the rest of their lives.

(Note that this historical data was in completely untreated individuals)
Click to expand...


Ok, that's your research. I still wouldn't give it more credit that an email from the Fulbright committee telling me to reconsider, isn't that a matter of worry? When in a small village of 250, 28 people have been infected over the past 4 months.

And @Goro, while practicing in America, I'm fine with having that risk, because there are facilities available, and adequate healthcare.

In the country I'd be in, I'm literally in a village, and even the closest hospital is a flight away.
 
Just wear bug juice.

SufiPoet said:
Ok, that's your research. I still wouldn't give it more credit that an email from the Fulbright committee telling me to reconsider, isn't that a matter of worry? When in a small village of 250, 28 people have been infected over the past 4 months.

And @Goro, while practicing in America, I'm fine with having that risk, because there are facilities available, and adequate healthcare.

In the country I'd be in, I'm literally in a village, and even the closest hospital is a flight away.
Click to expand...
 
Occupational death rate for physicians is roughly 17 to 57 per 1 million per year. Compare that to about 7-14 for lawyers or 1081 per 1 million for construction workers. CDC does admit that their numbers are rough estimates and need to be further studied. But let's stop acting like physicians are out there putting their lives on the line every night.

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/11/7/pdfs/04-1038.pdf
 
Goro said:
Just wear bug juice.
Click to expand...
That's horrible advice, and almost insulting to all the people who "wear bug juice" and contract this horrible illness.

Your students might be able to "sniff me out" but I'm able to sniff out your apparent callousness.

And your comment earlier about "just stick to teaching." Teachers do a lot of service. Have you ever tried changing the trajectory of someone's life? It'd be helpful to not be so demeaning to people. I guess when you're behind a computer screen you can say anything.
 
It's my job to make sure I don't have to teach students like you, and protect the public from doctors like you. Careful! There's a mosquito!

SufiPoet said:
That's horrible advice, and almost insulting to all the people who "wear bug juice" and contract this horrible illness.

Your students might be able to "sniff me out" but I'm able to sniff out your apparent callousness.

And your comment earlier about "just stick to teaching." Teachers do a lot of service. Have you ever tried changing the trajectory of someone's life? It'd be helpful to not be so demeaning to people. I guess when you're behind a computer screen you can say anything.
Click to expand...
 
Goro said:
It's my job to make sure I don't have to teach students like you, and protect the public from doctors like you. Careful! There's a mosquito!
Click to expand...
Teaching students who are motivated about their futures is much different from teaching middle schoolers who have unstable home lives.

So don't compare the two. And there you go again, mosquito borne illnesses are a major issue, how can you be so callous? It's so disgusting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

K
Fulbright ETA vs Med School
Replies
1
Views
1K
Real_Eyes
Real_Eyes
F
Can I still go to Med School with an Engineering Undergrad?
Replies
14
Views
2K
FlowRate
FlowRate
pinkbowbunny
Should I mention rural med interest in PS?
Replies
12
Views
1K
LizzyM
LizzyM
C
Does withdrawal look bad if it is only to switch schools and still taking it the same semester?
Replies
4
Views
510
CMBM
C
M
Should I mention other acceptances in LOI?
Replies
4
Views
1K
Goro
Goro
Top