Religious Medical Schools

[myoung83]

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I am a non-religious person interested in a couple schools that have a religious affiliation. I'm not talking Loma Linda here. I am thinking more like Albert Einstein, New York Medical College, and Georgetown. I have a couple of questions.

1. Does the religious affiliation affect the curriculum or student life at all? Do you even know you are going to a religious school?

2. What other schools besides those listed above have an affiliation?

3. Does the religious issue come up in interviews or have any effect on admission?

Although I am not religious, I think going to a religious school could be a real positive in the sense that it could mean more opportunity for working with disadvantaged communities, and I am certainly interested in schools with a social justice bent. My concern is if the vast majority of the student body belongs to the religion, or if the school is in any way preachy I think I could be turned off by that.

Thanks for your insight.

 

[Depakote]

I am a non-religious person interested in a couple schools that have a religious affiliation. I'm not talking Loma Linda here. I am thinking more like Albert Einstein, New York Medical College, and Georgetown. I have a couple of questions.

1. Does the religious affiliation affect the curriculum or student life at all? Do you even know you are going to a religious school?

2. What other schools besides those listed above have an affiliation?

3. Does the religious issue come up in interviews or have any effect on admission?

Although I am not religious, I think going to a religious school could be a real positive in the sense that it could mean more opportunity for working with disadvantaged communities, and I am certainly interested in schools with a social justice bent. My concern is if the vast majority of the student body belongs to the religion, or if the school is in any way preachy I think I could be turned off by that.

Thanks for your insight.

NYMC doesn't play their religious aspect very strongly. They did (don't know about now) have issues where the campus gay/lesbian club was essentially disbanded. I also believe the affiliated hospitals won't perform elective abortions, but this is something most med students won't see unless they seek them out. When I interviewed there, I asked about how the religious affiliation affected the curriculum and they said that it allowed them to serve a lot of the underserved community.

G-Town, from what I've heard, is very non-religious, but they're not big on embryonic stem cells, I'd avoid that issue unless you're of a similar mind. Otherwise, pretty much a standard med school.

Don't know anything about the religious impact at AECOM, sorry.

 

[spospo]

2. What other schools besides those listed above have an affiliation?

St. Louis, Creighton, and Loyola are all under the same affiliation as Georgetown

 

[boyz of 4d]

I go to NYMC, and I can honestly say there is no effect. With the LGBT group, they are now a group on campus who does get funding. Also with the abortions, from what I have heard the only hospital that does not teach abortions is st vincents, but if you ask a doctor at other hospitals you can learn it. I know that at least some hospitals do teach this, because my friend who is now a 4th year has learned it. Any other NYMC students feel free to correct me on which hospitals dont do abortions.

 

[BigKurz]

I should probably not bringing up the fact that im an atheist at GT and Loyola....

 

[Law2Doc]

I should probably not bringing up the fact that im an atheist at GT and Loyola....

I think the word at those schools is heathen. 😀

 

[mvenus929]

Anyone have any insight on AECOM? Beyond the school being required not to have classes on Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, and Passover, I haven't seen anything on the website that would suggest a distinct religious identity.

 

[TMP-SMX]

When a school has the word "God" in their mission statement you can assume it's important. (St. Louis).

Either way I pushed the Jesuit angle and a unique perspective I've had from one of my classes.

 

[SpenserKuntz]

I should probably not bringing up the fact that im an atheist at GT and Loyola....

I'm an atheist, but I could fake-the-funk if it meant getting into a good medical school.

 

[spo01]

i'm an agnostic who graduated from xavier and am going to georgetown.

i didn't plan on it being this way, honestly. when i was younger i heard about g'town b/c allen iverson went there, then when i was older i realized it provides an excellent education. but its a rather awesome combination of schooling to go to i suppose, basically same institutions but a step up with the latter. and my god (no pun intended), the education is expensive. i didn't know jesus was so expensive...

it is a quiet, peaceful atsmosphere. this maybe obvious considering the sizes of the school, but from what i've noticed when visiting local public schools, is that these larger public schools have awesome facilities and recreation for the students. everytime i went to the university of cincinnati it was like heaven: a new $112 million sport center, huge book stores, so many places to go, new computers, many food chains around campus, a movie theatre on campus, etc. for xavier, it was more low key and quiet. when i visited georgetown, i must say i was disappointed in the campus (ie: the rec center was small and the bball courts were divided from the weight room with curtains!). but i haven't really got an in depth view so i won't judge it just yet. i realize i'm at the school for an education, so this doesn't really bother me.

however, if there is one thing i liked about my undergrad, it was there were NO fraternities/sororities! granted there were small things like business fraternities or whatever, but there were no groups of guys wearing this 'alpha omega delta gamma gamma beta zeon planet nebulon' s*it with annoying sorority 'sisters' flocking the campus either.

xavier was very big on diversity and the education is different from other schools, but this is given considering it's a liberal arts college. for example, a lot of our classes were philosophy and theology, then we had many other classes such as a few semesters of foreign language, history, ethic/diversity class, sociology, etc. it was nice, and annoying at the same time especially when you are trying to focus on your major and these classes take up so much time.

i dont think it would make much difference where you went on whether or not you wanted to work with disadvanted communities. where there's a will there's a way, you will have no problem finding places to do this at. nor do i think the education would be much different at the medical school. but from what i heard, g'town for instance, is against stem cells and abortion, so if you want to work or do research in these areas or something perhaps its not your best choice?

anyways i'm interested to see if anyone else has anything to say

 

[DoctaJay]

Anyone have any insight on AECOM? Beyond the school being required not to have classes on Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, and Passover, I haven't seen anything on the website that would suggest a distinct religious identity.

My fiance is doing summer research at the medical school and she says that all the food served in the school and hospital are kosher. Also, since Jews don't believe in mixing dairy products and meat, you will never be able to buy a Philly Cheese Steak, just a Philly Steak. She also told me that you see some of the Othordox Jews with lows skirts walking around, but you also see non-orthodox jews with mini-skirts. Also, just like at Loma Linda, during the Sabbath hours of sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday, it is very very hard to find anything open in the school or around it. But besides the kosher food and the observance of the Sabbath, it didn't sound too bad to me.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

I'm an atheist, but I could fake-the-funk if it meant getting into a good medical school.

I damn near became a minister, so I could definitely fake being religious if I felt it would help my case.

 

[Mace]

But besides the kosher food and the observance of the Sabbath, it didn't sound too bad to me.

Why do you see the kosher food as a negative? I am not familiar with Einsteins's facilities but I can tell you that in general, kosher food can be just as delicious as non-kosher food. Besides excluding for bacon, seafood and one or two other varieties of meat , kosher meat is the same as any other meat except it has been prepared in accordance with jewish tradition. I would be suprised if there is anything that you miss in your daily menu while attending AECOM.

 

[Triggity02]

bacon wrapped scallops. that's what you would miss out on. those are essential to a good medical education.

 

[mvenus929]

bacon wrapped scallops. that's what you would miss out on. those are essential to a good medical education.

That sounds disgusting. Might be because I'm not a big fan of bacon and I don't like scallops. Meh... whatever suits you.