Medical Should I include a student org that has a component of service trips on application?

[GoSpursGo]

Hi!

I am the president of a student org at my college that also has a national component. The national organization has opportunities for service trips to other countries.

Now I don't personally believe in these service trips and have never taken part in one, but it is still something that is associated with my club.

As a club we have focused on volunteering within our local community and providing support and resources to our students during COVID. I am worried about including this on my application due to the stigma associated with it, but the leadership I have had within the organization and within my community are different from what the national org wants. Anyway I'm just wondering if including it will be looked down upon or if I could explain it within my activities section?

Thanks for the help!

Based on the way you describe it, it sounds like these service trips have some sort of religious component that you don't want to be associated with, but even if you went on the service trips, I'm not sure why that would be looked on unfavorably? Plenty of applicants do good work through organizations that are affiliated with their religious beliefs, and at the end of the day what matters is what you did and what you got out of the experience.

Bottom line, as long as this organization is affiliated with a well-recognized religious group (ie not a cult), yes definitely include this leadership experience on your app. What you write in the activities section will mean a lot more than the name of the organization.

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[GoSpursGo]

Ah sorry it was not my intention for it to come off in a religious way! I was mostly trying to avoid explicitly giving out the name of the organization, but to elaborate on it. They work with communities to set up clinics using physicians and nurses already within that community (that is they don’t bring in physicians) and then conduct things like patient follow ups and increase access to routine healthcare. But what concerns me is bringing in college students to shadow those physicians, they also like do a service project and teach basic health like dental hygiene and stuff. But I don’t want it to come off as me promoting voluntourism if that makes a difference in the answer?

Regardless, I think you're overthinking this. If this was a major leadership experience, then list it and explain what you did.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Blowing this way out of proportion.

If you have held a leadership experience, list it and explain what you did and what you learned from it.