Question for LDS, especially R.M.'s

[smc927]

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I realize there is a risk even mentioning religion in a post but this has a specific purpose so hopefully it will be tolerated by non LDS users (many, many of whom have been extremely helpful in my journey).

I am married, have a 2-1/2-year-old daughter and we're expecting another. I'll take the MCAT in August and will be applying this year.

To those who are LDS, especially those who have served an LDS mission:

If you are currently applying, how have you worked your mission (or other church) experiences into your applications and interviews? Has it been especially helpful or harmful to you?

To those who have already been accepted, I pose the same questions in retrospect.

Also, any of you married with kids? I'm especially interested to hear from current med students on how their particular school may accomodate family med students. Do you recommend any particular school?

My bishop is a doctor and he tells me the only two significant questions posed to him at his interview were asking him about his Eagle Scout ranking and his LDS mission.

 

[theringworm]

To be honest, there were two things that came up in everyone of my interviews. The first one was my research exp. and the second was my mission. Never once did I have any negative questions or negative things said about my religion or my mission exp. Even if people think the religion is strange, they can't help but be amazed by the fact that you delayed your career and college to do this type of service. The one thing I found is that most know who LDS people are but they aren't exactly sure what the mission is or why we go. So the most frequently asked questions were, what is it, why did you do it, what did you learn from it, would you do it again. Regardless of the interviewers religious affiliation, all of my interviewers were impressed.

So yes, definitely put it on your app. If not, they are going to ask why there is a two year gap in your app. So it will come up anyway. It was always positive for me.

Most schools are very as far as I know are very family friendly, once again regardless of your religious preference. Someone posted a thread about 5 months ago in regards to where LDS students are at. I know several osteo schools have a big number. I.e. Touro Univ in San Fran. All the schools in TX, but if you aren't a resident of TX don't bother applying. We only select 10% out of state. I also heard of a school in VA I believe that was mentioned a lot. You might try doing a search and see what you can find.

If you have any more questions feel free to PM me.

 

[rgporter]

I talked about it in my personal statement, so I was asked about it at every interview. I don't know how the U of U might look at it since they see so many of us, but the at the 7 schools that interviewed me it was always a point of interest for the interviewers. Being married also helps, since they like to see people with life experiences, and anything you have in common with an interviewer is something you can talk about in the interview.
Good schools:
MCW
OSU
UVa
There are others but those for sure.

 

[Scubadoc]

I can't answer to the LDS question but for the being a mom in med school, check out www.mommd.com (they've discussed a lot of those issues on the boards there).

 

[Chemguync]

I'm not LDS (close, but decided against it last minute, another story), but I noticed a lot of LDS at the schools I interviewd at (14 interviews). They all seemed pretty content and happy, even the ones w/ multiple children. Though I've rarely met a LDS who doesn't seem content and happy 🙂

But what I've heard is that the schools look upon the missions pretty favorably.. A two year tour of self-sacrifice for the benefit of your fellow man is kinda exactly the stuff med schools want in an applicant.

 

[kelenaf]

I didn't serve a mission, but I am married (no children yet) and I will be starting at Hopkins next year. Also, there are a lot of med students in my ward who go to Georgetown and GW. My girlfriend at Georgetown told me that their adcom looks very favorably upon our religion - so I suppose it might be helpful if it were mentioned in your app. somewhere (i.e. went to BYU or served a mission).

As far as the interview is concerned, my Hopkins interviewer had her first child in medical school. I felt extremely comfortable talking to her about raising a family in med school/residency - and I'm sure she brought it up because of my marriage. I've been told by many along the way that being married shows that you have something to hold onto outside of medicine - in case anything goes wrong, you're grounded and have support.

 

[medic170]

Maybe I am just being a blockhead, but what are LDS and R.M.'s?

 

[el_chavo]

I included my mission experience in both my application and personal experience. I agree with everyone else that it can only help you to include the mission and the commitment to family.
I am also married and we hope to have children before med school next year.
Best of luck to all.

btw..LDS is Latter day Saint short for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and RM means returned missionary.

 

[medic170]

I included my mission experience in both my application and personal experience. I agree with everyone else that it can only help you to include the mission and the commitment to family.
I am also married and we hope to have children before med school next year.
Best of luck to all.

btw..LDS is Latter day Saint short for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and RM means returned missionary.

Oh, ok. So you are a Mormon who did mission work?(forgive me if I am mixing something up again)That's great, I think you should include it. One of my physician mentors is Mormon.

 

[San_Juan_Sun]

***EDIT: I meant for this to end up on the osteopathic board. I'll leave it anyways, even though it pertains to osteopaths and Mormons more. You may now resume your regular programming.


I mentioned my mission in my personal statement. I specifically talked about two things:

1. service provided
2. how a mission contributed to my personal development

At my interviews, everyone already knew all about missions. In fact, several asked right off "So, where did you serve?" I don't know why they didn't just read that in my PS. 🙂

I'm in school at AZCOM, as previously mentioned we have over 30 LDS students in our class. About half are from BYU, with several from the U. of Utah, Utah State, ASU, U. of Idaho, etc. The 2006 class has similar numbers, and it seems that the 2008 class will have quite a few as well.

We're pretty fortunate to have such great representation in the medical and dental fields. On another note, many LDS individuals are ending up going DO because of limited enrollment at smaller medical schools in the western US. In 20 years, I'd imagine that there will be a very strong base of Mormon DOs, especially in the western US. Add to that our allopathic brethren, and you've got a lot of Mormon docs.

In almost all instances, reactions to my religion have been very positive. I have one good friend with a negative reaction from an allopathic school (not that it means anything). One of our professors at AZCOM (one of the basic science faculty) asked why so many LDS guys go to osteopathic schools. This instructor thought all of us religious folks were really into it for the mind-body-spirit and the OMM. 🙂 Of course, there are several in my class who really like OMM, but for many of us, we just want to be docs for a variety of reasons.

I can't speak towards any other school, but I've been pleasantly surprised at how family-friendly AZCOM has been. I've always been able to fit Church stuff into school, and my family has always been able to remain priority #1. Several of us have had kids during finals, and the faculty have been outstanding in working around births and exams.

I think the main reservation adcoms and your classmates will have is wondering about how you might proselytyze (sp?) them. For many people, medical school is the first contact with Mormons they've ever had. I know for a fact that saying stuff like "I want to be a doctor so that I can convert people to my religion" is going to get you headed towards the REJECT pile pretty quick. Of course, if you have any sense, you already know that. And, in my own opinion, any person who wants to go into medicine for that reason doesn't understand how paternal that might be. We all know how important agency is.

 

[patzan]

I agree with most of what has been said. Schools with a lot of LDS are:

U of U (of course)
OSU
MCW
UVa
GW

I spoke with Dr. Samuelson, the Dean of Admissions at the U of U about putting mission stuff on your app. and how to avoid being put into the "another white male Mormon" pile there. His advice was not to put yourself in it. I played it down a little (not much) in my U of U appl. and interestingly, it was the only school where I interviewed and was rejected. About half of the U of U adcom is LDS and they look down upon students who spend 2 years of their lives, usually in a foreign country, have tons of life-changing experiences, and don't talk a lot about it in their application or simply call it "volunteer work." Don't be afraid to tell them that you were there on a religious mission, not solely as a humanitarian.

I am married, no kids, but your situation will only make you all the more unique. I got questions about my mission in all of my interviews (even Utah). They were similar to those above ("what did you do? what did you learn? etc.).

PM me if you have any specific questions. Good luck (and don't forget to apply to Vandy!)

 

[1viking]

I think that, regardless of what you are doing, 2 years of your life that is devoted to volunteer work is 10% of your life at that time. It would be a tragedy if you didn't focus on it!
P.S., if you mean Dr. Cecil the Diesel O. Samuelson, you can see him at the BYU football games, since he is now the president of BYU and no longer the dean of the U (thank goodness; he was wasting his talent up the road--nice to have him true blue.)
About the U adcoms, they are weird! Why are they like the only school in the nation that will not accept a committee letter? If they truly were unbiased towards BYU students, there would be a lot more BYU acceptances since BYU has the second most number of med applicants in the nation! Maybe they think our education isn't rigorous enough since we have to take 16 credits of religion, hmmm? Right, we all know the true reason: they just hate the color blue! Well, I hate red. HEHEHEHE.

 

[aquaboy]

I am going into my second year at UVA. I was able to talk about my mission in my interview here and it was a major part of the conversation. However, at some other interviews I had it didn't come up. I would bring it up if your interviewer asks you about it or if you want to bring it up as a life-changing event but don't just bring it up for the sake of making yourself look good 🙄 .

Our school usually has 4-7 LDS students in every class. However, you do not receive special treatment for being LDS. You have to have competitive grades and MCAT scores just like everyone else who's here. Many DO schools are LDS friendly and some allopathic schools that have a large LDS student body are:

MCW (my friend says about 25 in his class are LDS)
GWU
SLU
Utah (still a large % of their student body is LDS)

As far as family friendly, the fact is no matter where you go you are going to be strapped financially, there are no allowances for children, spouse, etc. We have learned this during our 1st year as we had our 1st child. You will need savings, part-time income from spouse, etc. to survive. Good luck

 

[rgporter]

About the U adcoms, they are weird! Why are they like the only school in the nation that will not accept a committee letter? If they truly were unbiased towards BYU students, there would be a lot more BYU acceptances since BYU has the second most number of med applicants in the nation! Maybe they think our education isn't rigorous enough since we have to take 16 credits of religion, hmmm? Right, we all know the true reason: they just hate the color blue! Well, I hate red. HEHEHEHE.

Actually they won't give commitee letters either. I think they must have something against the whole idea of commitee letters. 👎

 

[inshanesworld]

The mission is definitely a positive and makes you unique. At all the schools I interviewed at they liked it. Also, I served in Japan...my interviewer at one of the schools walked in to where we were all sitting to get me. He started speaking Japanese to me right there and we had a brief conversation (the rest of the room was having a major freak wondering if they would have to do that for their interviews). He ended up being the Dean of Admissions and travelled to Japan extensively for other things. Even though I did not choose that school I know it played a big part in my acceptance to it.

In another note related to all questions like this. It is a mistake to go through life and hide parts of yourself from others for fear of rejection. First of all it turns you into a dishonest person and one who it not genuine. Second, it makes you not happy. Would you really want to go to a school where if they had known about the mish they would have rejected you? What would that four years have been like? (Yeah, the U I know ) Medicine is in such need of people who are genuine and true to themselves. These are the people that make the best patient advocates.

Also add Tulane to the list of schools that are LDS friendly.

 

[patzan]

P.S., if you mean Dr. Cecil the Diesel O. Samuelson, you can see him at the BYU football games, since he is now the president of BYU and no longer the dean of the U (thank goodness; he was wasting his talent up the road--nice to have him true blue.)

If they truly were unbiased towards BYU students, there would be a lot more BYU acceptances since BYU has the second most number of med applicants in the nation! Maybe they think our education isn't rigorous enough since we have to take 16 credits of religion, hmmm? Right, we all know the true reason: they just hate the color blue! Well, I hate red. HEHEHEHE.

No, I meant Cec's brother, Wayne, who is the dean of admissions at the U. He has also been a Utah Football season ticket holder for many many years. The only BYU games he went to before going to BYU were the ones against Utah!

Also, compare the number of Utah residents applying out of BYU compared to the U, not the overall number, which includes a lot of out-of-staters in comparison. You'll see they're pretty even...or maybe we're just more qualified? 😉

 

[Ypo.]

There are a lot of mormons at KCOM, too. Just FYI