Political activities on application? Help or Harm?

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If it's something that you feel strongly about, and something that defines you, and something that you invested a lot of time and energy into, I'd say put it down, with her name included. Some of the things that define a person the most are very polarizing topics (religion, politics). I would hope that adcoms wouldn't hold it against you just for having a differing political view from their own- I mean isn't that the point of selecting for a diverse class... to have different views/backgrounds, etc? Listing that you participated without the name, to me, shows weakness in something you supposedly care about a lot, and any interviewer who is genuinely interested in it will surely follow up with the question "well, who was it?". Sure some adcoms might grumble after reading a name, but I would hope at this level, most adcoms would know to put their own personal biases aside when selecting candidates. In the end, it may help you find the school that's right for you.

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It's truly disappointing that some of you on here MIGHT get the privilege to be a physician someday. As Donald Trump would say "Sad!".

I could not live with the guilt of knowing that I helped an orange monster take office.
I had to quote this. Look at that statement and tell me you're joking when you say this at the beginning of your original post. This answers your question.
if politics has taught me anything its how to work with people who have differing opinions and how to stay calm when discussing hot button issues

Don't include politics in your PS or secondaries. It'll come back and bite you--even if you can calmly and eloquently write about these activities I'd imagine that when confronted by an interviewer(could be a community clinician from the area) with a different set of beliefs you might show them your cards and it won't look pretty. Take it from someone who loves politics--i'm risk averse and I chose to take a very centrist approach when politics(or health policy) were brought up in interviews.
 
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I'm afraid a school might hold these activities against me or think I'm too political or confrontational (but if politics has taught me anything its how to work with people who have differing opinions and how to stay calm when discussing hot button issues)

This is the money quote. Expect that it might be tested during your interview --
 
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This guy Trump might set off a nuclear war with North Korea, so maybe you won't have to worry about applying OP (kidding of course, I think). This thread has devolved into a political fight and should be moved or locked
 
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This guy Trump might set off a nuclear war with North Korea, so maybe you won't have to worry about applying OP (kidding of course, I think). This thread has devolved into a political fight and should be moved or locked

If thats's going to happen can we just get it over with and not make me go through the misery of taking my finals next week? I'm going to be really angry if I have to go through all this, only to be decimated by a nuclear bomb lol. But yes, I agree.
 
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If thats's going to happen can we just get it over with and not make me go through the misery of taking my finals next week? I'm going to be really angry if I have to go through all this, only to be decimated by a nuclear bomb lol. But yes, I agree.
Same, got finals coming up in three weeks and I would prefer not to take them if I'm going to be atomized anyways
 
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He only said he was going to send nukes to Los Angeles. So, if you're on the East Coast, you're fine. :p
 
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That's not how you Google yourself. You need to also use information that the adcom member will have about you. You should be googling YourName Democrat, YourName Hillary Clinton, YourName DNC, YourName planned parenthood etc



This is not what highly educated academic physicians or PhDs think. They are actually in touch with reality and facts. Doesn't mean you may not run into the random abortion zealot but thet would be very rare.


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Can you provide a source regarding the attitudes of highly educated academic physicians and PhDs toward abortion vs the population at large? I don't doubt that more educated people, especially those in academics, tend to hold more liberal attitudes, but to what extent? If 99% are staunchly pro-choice, then your advice is probably sound. If it's 90%, then I would still say a 10% chance of turning off your app reviewer is an unnecessary risk. I'm going to guess you have no idea what the actual numbers are, in which I case I would err on the side of caution.
 
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Can you provide a source regarding the attitudes of highly educated academic physicians and PhDs toward abortion vs the population at large? I don't doubt that more educated people, especially those in academics, tend to hold more liberal attitudes, but to what extent? If 99% are staunchly pro-choice, then your advice is probably sound. If it's 90%, then I would still say a 10% chance of turning off your app reviewer is an unnecessary risk. I'm going to guess you have no idea what the actual numbers are, in which I case I would err on the side of caution.

My source is experience. Of course there's no data. You'll never find 99% agreement on anything. In fact I would argue that saying you went on a mission trip, either medical or religious, would be way more polarizing and by your standards extremely risky. I bet more than 10% of folks involved in reviewing apps are either skeptical of religious zealots or medical tourism.


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I think the people you encounter in admissions will probably also realize that Planned Parenthood provides a lot of other services in addition to abortion, often for people who would not otherwise have access to care.
As a former PP intern, I'm definitely putting that on my app. That said, I have not yet applied and so I can't say with absolute certainty how it will be received. As much as it pains me to say, if you include it, you may have to be prepared to play up PP's role as a safety net provider for low-income people and downplay their abortion access work. </3
 
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My source is experience. Of course there's no data. You'll never find 99% agreement on anything. In fact I would argue that saying you went on a mission trip, either medical or religious, would be way more polarizing and by your standards extremely risky. I bet more than 10% of folks involved in reviewing apps are either skeptical of religious zealots or medical tourism.


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I agree. I wouldn't advise someone to express strong religious beliefs on an app either unless it's at a school where that fits the mission.
 
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I think the people you encounter in admissions will probably also realize that Planned Parenthood provides a lot of other services in addition to abortion, often for people who would not otherwise have access to care.
As a former PP intern, I'm definitely putting that on my app. That said, I have not yet applied and so I can't say with absolute certainty how it will be received. As much as it pains me to say, if you include it, you may have to be prepared to play up PP's role as a safety net provider for low-income people and downplay their abortion access work. </3
Agreed.
 
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I agree. I wouldn't advise someone to express strong religious beliefs on an app either unless it's at a school where that fits the mission.

How strong is strong? I've volunteered extensively through my church and plan on listing it (along with my other volunteering experiences). Avoid all mention, or just avoid listing things that may make you seem like a YECer or something?
 
To follow up on these sage comments, I'll add that medical missions are indeed a turnoff (I first heard the term "medical tourism" used by an MD pathologist colleague). Religious missions we're more tolerant of, at least at my school. It's almost always LDS who take part in these.

Now the caveat in missionary trips is when people try to spin them as a volunteer effort to benefit others.

Primarily religious missions are to be included in your app to explain what you were doing during the time you were serving. This service does not hurt your application. If you are able to describe how these experiences developed your self-understanding or a deeper respect for the value of others' beliefs, these experiences (not the "mission") can give you a more interesting application.

Missions whose primary purpose is the conversion of others to your belief system fall flat as a resume builder, even though you have a constitutional right to pursue this activity. You don’t get bonus points for trying to convert the heathens. It also opens you up to be probed to see if your religious beliefs will trump the practice of Medicine and care giving (this does NOT have to do with abortion, either). For example, I have a bank of questions to see if an interviewee has a paternalistic or misogynistic viewpoint. No, I'm not sharing.



My source is experience. Of course there's no data. You'll never find 99% agreement on anything. In fact I would argue that saying you went on a mission trip, either medical or religious, would be way more polarizing and by your standards extremely risky. I bet more than 10% of folks involved in reviewing apps are either skeptical of religious zealots or medical tourism.


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I agree. I wouldn't advise someone to express strong religious beliefs on an app either unless it's at a school where that fits the mission.
 
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How strong is strong? I've volunteered extensively through my church and plan on listing it (along with my other volunteering experiences). Avoid all mention, or just avoid listing things that may make you seem like a YECer or something?
I have volunteered extensively both at my church as a vocalist and at the no-cost medical clinic provided by the church. These two activities were the majority of my volunteering experience. Every interviewer asked me about these experiences, not because of their religious groundings, but, in my opinion, because of the steadfastness and maturity that is demonstrated in maintaining a volunteering experience for many months or years. I would not be worried the least bit about the connotations associated with the organization. Besides, no interviewer is allowed to ask you about your religious preference unless you voluntarily provide it.
 
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I volunteered extensively for Bernie's campaign and for causes at the local level over the past few years. I included this on my apps without mentioning candidates or causes and framed it largely as to getting out and meeting the local communities, registering voters, and becoming informed on issues because this was the value that I got out of it. I debated on including politics at all, but it was such a big activity for me that it felt like I should have included it to paint the whole picture of myself. The only time it was brought up in interviews was when I was asked about problems with the current health system and how I would solve them, I discussed single payer healthcare and discussed some of the people I talked to while canvassing.
 
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I volunteered extensively for Bernie's campaign and for causes at the local level over the past few years. I included this on my apps without mentioning candidates or causes and framed it largely as to getting out and meeting the local communities, registering voters, and becoming informed on issues because this was the value that I got out of it. I debated on including politics at all, but it was such a big activity for me that it felt like I should have included it to paint the whole picture of myself. The only time it was brought up in interviews was when I was asked about problems with the current health system and how I would solve them, I discussed single payer healthcare and discussed some of the people I talked to while canvassing.
This is absolutely the same as with church / religious organizations. What matters is your motives for the volunteering, what you gained from the experience, and how this experience has shaped you as a future physician.
 
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Don't get me wrong I was NOT saying that all religious activities are high risk! I was speaking very specifically about religious mission trips with the purpose of "converting the heathens" as @Goro said.


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