Spring Break Abroad to Help Out?

[deleted238468]

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Hi!

I've been having this dilemma for weeks now, and the due date is closing in VERY CLOSE. I'd greatly appreciate it if you guys could help! Thanks in advance!

So,

I'm part of a club and I got accepted onto a trip to Nicaragua for Spring Break.

What I like about this is that the students who go, get to work in the clinics, and actually make diagnosis (that the doctor goes and of course does the examination himself as well and makes a diagnosis and examine it against yours) so you get really good experience about seeing what it is like to interact with a patient (questioning, medical history, etc) while helping them..


The problem is that the trip is almost 2000 for a week. If I push (credit cards, etc...) I think I can make it...

The problem is that I'm beginning to second guess it (whether the 1 week of experience is worth the 2000 or not). If money weren't an issue, I'd go. But I'm a student on financial aid and I've managed to save 1000+ and I don't know if it would be wise to spend it on this.

So I guess what I'm also asking is ... does it look really good for Med School? I mean it's something really great to talk about, but do you guys think it would be any sort of influence (also, my grades are so-so so I need to work on the extra-cirrics like no other)?

Any advice (thoughts, criticisms, anything ... even if its not answering the question) would be greatly, GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks again!

 

[Frazier]

Expensively blaaa...

Go to the beach for $500 and actually enjoy yourself.

 

[schrizto]

I wouldn't do it. IMO, to actually get a meaningful experience from this someone would have to be there for more than a week.

btw, I like your username.

 

[streudels]

you could spend $2000 and then some attending a decent university-related study abroad program for 2-3 months that does something similar AND puts your efforts in context through an actual class. one week is not enough time to understand and learn the area you're working with, and the people you're trying to help.

you need to be there long enough to start doubting what you're doing, and the system that put you in a developing country. does nicaragua really need more temporary volunteers? or do they need to build up local capacity to sustain those clinics instead? etc.

when you do one-week missions, you're basically just going in, doing the deed, and leaving. there is nothing remotely lasting about your efforts in the long run. you're basically just pleasuring yourself, at around $285/day. not a very efficient way to spend money and gain experience.

seriously though, don't do it. go abroad in the summer with a university-affiliated program. it may cost more, but you'll get SO much more out of it. i did it with my university and it was one of the most amazing and eye-opening experiences in my life. there was so much i didn't know.

 

[Catalystik]

Abroad medical volunteerism is common enough that it won't help you stand out. Even if you did it for three months full-time, it wouldn't stand on its own. You will get more benefit from 4 hours a week for a semester, spent in some local clinical venue for a semester at no cost to you (except maybe transportation), where you'll be exposed to a US-based clinic and American physicians. And you won't have to pay for the proper shots, malaria prophylaxis, and travel illness meds. Or a passport.

 

[ThaliaNox]

This trip looks a lot like volun-tourism. Therefore, the trip cannot be justified as being "worth the cost because it will look good." It would look far better to do an alternative spring break here in the US, and it would cost a small portion as much.

 

[Stewie32]

This trip looks a lot like volun-tourism. Therefore, the trip cannot be justified as being "worth the cost because it will look good." It would look far better to do an alternative spring break here in the US, and it would cost a small portion as much.

I agree. I was considering going abroad for spring break, but I decided that one week wasn't enough to accomplish what I wanted to do. Also, $2000 for one week is way too expensive in my opinion. I know of a program that would allow me to go to Tanzania for 8 weeks for about the same amount.

 

[mmikey]

I did a trip similar to that in Peru but was more educationally based, for a little over a week and it cost much, much more. It was an eye-opening experience, but I would have liked to be there longer. I would suggest a longer trip over the summer, as I would have liked to do that instead. However--I do not regret going on my week long trip, but I was financially able to do it..so don't stress yourself out just to put it on your app. You're better off working in an underserved area's med clinic or a headstart program.

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

I'm a little confused. You get to make diagnoses? What medical training do you have that allows you to do that? Or do you mean just running down an algorithm of the most common diseases of the area?

Either way, I agree with others that $2000 for one week is a waste. To be honest, I never really saw the point of going abroad to volunteer through programs. They always seem to cost a ton of money for basically handing out band-aids. I have heard of some people staying in remote areas of Africa for 2-3 years working with local surgeons and assisting/performing surgeries, etc. I don't know how you'd get involved with something like that though, but it seems much more interesting and helpful than what most of these programs appear to be advertising.

 

[mrpuff26]

I think 1 week is too short to make a significant difference to adcoms.

Personally, I spent a summer in Ghana volunteering at urban and rural hospitals to study maternal mortality, but I was actually paid by my university to do so.

I think you should probably do something that is within the US and make it a longer and more meaningful experience.

 

[pkpHawks87]

I did a similar trip in Peru over a spring break. It was about 2500 to go. Seeing as its already February this might not be an option but I raised all of the money required to go through various resources (family, friends, church, etc..) It was definitely worth it and I would do it again in a second. And whose to say that one week abroad doesn't make a difference to admissions? Are you on those committees!? What happened to doing it because you have a sincere desire to help others? My experience was great and it helped define a lot of the reasons why I wanted to attend medical school. Which in turn I was able to articulate in my interviews and personal statement. I say go for it.

 

[DrBowtie]

I did a similar trip in Peru over a spring break. It was about 2500 to go. Seeing as its already February this might not be an option but I raised all of the money required to go through various resources (family, friends, church, etc..) It was definitely worth it and I would do it again in a second. And whose to say that one week abroad doesn't make a difference to admissions? Are you on those committees!? What happened to doing it because you have a sincere desire to help others? My experience was great and it helped define a lot of the reasons why I wanted to attend medical school. Which in turn I was able to articulate in my interviews and personal statement. I say go for it.

With $2500 you can help a lot of people here rather than using that money to pay for your own airfare and lodging.

Given that you are not a doctor yet, you could have probably paid a local unemployed peruvian from your $2500 to do the same thing you did and HELPED MORE PEOPLE.

These trips are rightfully dubbed voluntourism. You are going to enjoy the experience first as the volunteering impact of your trip is minimal.

 

[deleted238468]

Thanks to all who responded! You guys have helped me decide that my money wouldn't be worth spent on a one week trip to Nicaragua. Thank you so much for that.

True, it would help me clarify why I want to be a doctor, but I think I'm going to put some effort into thinking about that instead of going on the trip...

Thank you guys so much again, you've saved me a lot of stress.

*thanks about my username - i like it too , tho i decided on it in like the 6th grade, so i understand it's slightly immature*

 

[nuneyah]

I agree with everyone else. If you can go to Kenya for two weeks for 3000 dollars (that's pretty much standard for programs like these), you shouldn't go to Central America for one week for 2000 dollars.

 

[pkpHawks87]

With $2500 you can help a lot of people here rather than using that money to pay for your own airfare and lodging.

Given that you are not a doctor yet, you could have probably paid a local unemployed peruvian from your $2500 to do the same thing you did and HELPED MORE PEOPLE.

These trips are rightfully dubbed voluntourism. You are going to enjoy the experience first as the volunteering impact of your trip is minimal.

Right.. because I definitely enjoyed staying in a third world country during my spring break while all of my friends were in cancun, panama beach, and colorado. There were so many sights to see in the towns we took our clinic to.. communities in the middle of the desert that lived in makeshift shacks constructed out of scraps of aluminum and wood.

"Voluntourism" my ass. That week was literally the only week out of the entire year that those communities got to see any kind of doctor. Id really like to hear your explanation of how me giving that money to a local unemployed man would have helped more people. Unemployed persons make GREAT doctors!

 

[RogueUnicorn]

Right.. because I definitely enjoyed staying in a third world country during my spring break while all of my friends were in cancun, panama beach, and colorado. There were so many sights to see in the towns we took our clinic to.. communities in the middle of the desert that lived in makeshift shacks constructed out of scraps of aluminum and wood.

"Voluntourism" my ass. That week was literally the only week out of the entire year that those communities got to see any kind of doctor. Id really like to hear your explanation of how me giving that money to a local unemployed man would have helped more people. Unemployed persons make GREAT doctors!

you're not a doctor.

 

[apoptosis123]

Do you go to UCI?

I went to Nicaragua last summer for a week doing the same thing. It was a pretty good experience. Yes you get to do diagnoses, which is kinda cool, but pretty much everybody that comes in has parasites of some form or another. Overall I actually learned quite a bit.

Everybody here's premonitions are correct though, it ended up being "voluntourism." When I went on the trip I was under the impression it would help more on apps than it actually does... though I think it does help a little bit.

In conclusion, its $2000... not worth it.

 

[apoptosis123]

you're not a doctor.

If he's talking about the same trip I'm thinking of, they have doctors accompany you to the clinics.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

my understanding of these trips is that you accompany the doctors, not the other way around

 

[pkpHawks87]

you're not a doctor.

When did I ever say I was? There were doctors, medical students, dentists, optometrists, and nurses on the trip as well as a couple undergraduates such as myself. If your'e going on one of these trips with the intent of just putting it on your resume for applying to med school then you are going for the wrong reason.

I went with Medical Ministry International. It was by no means voluntourism. I sweated my rear end off every single day from start to finish working to help everyone involved. Did I actually take teeth out, stitch people up, prescribe medicine? No. But I did my job and I did it well so the people qualified to do such things could function to help the most people possible. Every morning there was a line of people that continued out the door and down the street. We didnt take any side trips to see the sights, in fact if I were to pick a vacation destination Ica, Peru would be at the very bottom of my list. Its windy, hot, dirty, sandy, it takes forever to get anywhere and the food was less than desirable.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

When did I ever say I was? There were doctors, medical students, dentists, optometrists, and nurses on the trip as well as a couple undergraduates such as myself. If your'e going on one of these trips with the intent of just putting it on your resume for applying to med school then you are going for the wrong reason.

I went with Medical Ministry International. It was by no means voluntourism. I sweated my rear end off every single day from start to finish working to help everyone involved. Did I actually take teeth out, stitch people up, prescribe medicine? No. But I did my job and I did it well so the people qualified to do such things could function to help the most people possible. Every morning there was a line of people that continued out the door and down the street. We didnt take any side trips to see the sights, in fact if I were to pick a vacation destination Ica, Peru would be at the very bottom of my list. Its windy, hot, dirty, sandy, it takes forever to get anywhere and the food was less than desirable.

the term voluntoursim to me doesn't imply you're not doing work. it means that you're paying a large sum of money (like tourism) to go to a far away location for a short period of time (like tourism) mainly for your own benefit (like tourism). i'm glad you think you did meaningful/hard work, and i'm not saying you didn't; but let's be honest about who this experience benefitted most..

 

[pkpHawks87]

the term voluntoursim to me doesn't imply you're not doing work. it means that you're paying a large sum of money (like tourism) to go to a far away location for a short period of time (like tourism) mainly for your own benefit (like tourism). i'm glad you think you did meaningful/hard work, and i'm not saying you didn't; but let's be honest about who this experience benefitted most..

I didn't pay a single cent out of pocket. I was all raised through donations. And if I were to travel somewhere over spring break for my benefit it sure as hell wouldn't have been Peru. That 2000 would have gotten me a ballin' trip to panama city.

And as far as who it benefitted the most, like I said earlier if you're doing this because you want to put it on an application then you're doing it for the wrong reason. A week in Peru isn't going to get you in to medical school on its own.

 

[plauto]

Hi!

I've been having this dilemma for weeks now, and the due date is closing in VERY CLOSE. I'd greatly appreciate it if you guys could help! Thanks in advance!

So,

I'm part of a club and I got accepted onto a trip to Nicaragua for Spring Break.

What I like about this is that the students who go, get to work in the clinics, and actually make diagnosis (that the doctor goes and of course does the examination himself as well and makes a diagnosis and examine it against yours) so you get really good experience about seeing what it is like to interact with a patient (questioning, medical history, etc) while helping them..


The problem is that the trip is almost 2000 for a week. If I push (credit cards, etc...) I think I can make it...

The problem is that I'm beginning to second guess it (whether the 1 week of experience is worth the 2000 or not). If money weren't an issue, I'd go. But I'm a student on financial aid and I've managed to save 1000+ and I don't know if it would be wise to spend it on this.

So I guess what I'm also asking is ... does it look really good for Med School? I mean it's something really great to talk about, but do you guys think it would be any sort of influence (also, my grades are so-so so I need to work on the extra-cirrics like no other)?

Any advice (thoughts, criticisms, anything ... even if its not answering the question) would be greatly, GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks again!

I guess I don't really understand this. Is it right out of their brochure? What kind of diagnosis would you be making? Based on what knowledge? What kind of examination would you do besides pulse and RR and maybe BP? I think you're overestimating how much you can actually help. Your duties will probably be more clerical than anything else. I would not go, mostly based on the fact that at this point of your education you are not going to get much out of it medically, if anything. Just get a volunteer position in a US hospital and keep it for a while. That will actually be beneficial for your application IMO.

 

[WhizoMD]

I didn't pay a single cent out of pocket. I was all raised through donations. And if I were to travel somewhere over spring break for my benefit it sure as hell wouldn't have been Peru. That 2000 would have gotten me a ballin' trip to panama city.

And as far as who it benefitted the most, like I said earlier if you're doing this because you want to put it on an application then you're doing it for the wrong reason. A week in Peru isn't going to get you in to medical school on its own.

i think what he's trying to say is that the $2500 could have bought the people in Peru things that are a lot more useful than your presence there for week was. (food, water, medical supplies etc.)

 

[ThaliaNox]

Nobody should argue that these trips aren't a good experience which might make a pre-med think about medicine from a new perspective. What applicants should keep in mind is that these trips are far from the most cost-effective way to get that perspective. Therefore, their cost cannot be justified by their impact.

Applicants who cannot afford them should not worry that they will be treated negatively because of it, or use credit cards or loan money to go on them. On the other hand, if a pre-med gets an opportunity to go on such a trip because they come from a well-to-do family, or because they have attached themselves to a group which fund-raises to go, by all means, go. It's a good experience. Just don't expect it to count more for your application than someone who volunteered working in a disadvantaged community in Arkansas, and didn't pay anything for the opportunity.

 

[apumic]

I guess I don't really understand this. Is it right out of their brochure? What kind of diagnosis would you be making? Based on what knowledge? What kind of examination would you do besides pulse and RR and maybe BP? I think you're overestimating how much you can actually help. Your duties will probably be more clerical than anything else. I would not go, mostly based on the fact that at this point of your education you are not going to get much out of it medically, if anything. Just get a volunteer position in a US hospital and keep it for a while. That will actually be beneficial for your application IMO.

Agreed. Even if you possessed a low-level medical certification (EMT-B, EMT-I, CNA, LPN) your usefulness would be pretty limited. If you're just a premed, there's really nothing you can do except, perhaps, walk around advertising to villagers that you've set up a medical clinic nearby (assuming you speak their language) or, perhaps, assist in translation (once again, if you're natively fluent in their language). The reality is that w/o medical training (and some experience to go along with it), you can't do much.

OTOH, trips abroad to serve can be eye-opening and develop a heart in you for those people groups. If, at your interviews and in your PS, you seem quite passionate about, for instance, Latin America due to trips to Central and South America, this could be seen as a huge bonus (especially if you have other things to back that up -- fluent Spanish speaker, some Hispanic heritage, work with a Hispanic population back home, etc.). This is not going to develop after a single trip, though -- esp. not one of only a week or two. You're still honeymooning at the end of the few weeks there. It's not until you start questioning whether what you are doing is actually harmful to the host country (it often is harmful, btw) and begin to struggle with the culture you're in (and how it relates to your own experiences, etc.) that you are really moving toward an intercultural or global perspective. You simply won't reach that point in 2 weeks.

IMO, the value to yourself of volunteering internationally lies far more in gaining a global perspective and learning to interact with other people groups than it does in finding out more about your interest in medicine.

 

[DrBowtie]

When did I ever say I was? There were doctors, medical students, dentists, optometrists, and nurses on the trip as well as a couple undergraduates such as myself. If your'e going on one of these trips with the intent of just putting it on your resume for applying to med school then you are going for the wrong reason.

I went with Medical Ministry International. It was by no means voluntourism. I sweated my rear end off every single day from start to finish working to help everyone involved. Did I actually take teeth out, stitch people up, prescribe medicine? No. But I did my job and I did it well so the people qualified to do such things could function to help the most people possible. Every morning there was a line of people that continued out the door and down the street. We didnt take any side trips to see the sights, in fact if I were to pick a vacation destination Ica, Peru would be at the very bottom of my list. Its windy, hot, dirty, sandy, it takes forever to get anywhere and the food was less than desirable.

My point was that as a college undergraduate, your role could have been done by anyone. You have no medical training and are thus doing scut work. You could have raised said money and sent it down with the doctors and skilled labor for them to hire a local to do the same exact thing you did for much less.

It's a good experience, but let's be honest about your individual impact (not the teams) on the country and people.

 

[casillas]

I am usually the person who encourages people to go abroad, not that they will be extremely helpful as undergrads, but because the experiences can make a great impact on which direction you want your life to go.

BUT in this case as others I think that is way too much money for a week abroad especially considering that the money is kind of hard for you to come by. I would suggest that you look for a longer program aborad during the summer. There are lots of programs where you can pay the same amount or a little more for two entire months.

 

[lcr2108]

i spoke with a member of the adcom in cornell about this subject and he told me that you're better off volunteering in the USA at little to no cost than spending money to do something abroad. afterall, there are still places here that desperately need help.

 

[Morsetlis]

Volunteering in TJ from San Diego costs me about $80 a trip.

Oh, and I do laboratory chemistry/blood/urine analysis (spectrophotometer, glucometers, etc), along with kit tests (RPR, hemoccult, strep, a1c). It's actually kinda fun, and not any random person off the street can do it. I'll admit that pre-meds are actually not very useful, and there were actual medical students, interns, and residents on the trip also, further reducing pre-meds' relative usefulness. However, think about the manpower required to set up labs and examination spaces, keep the kids occupied while their parents stand in line, distribute food and donation, cook food, translate, and organize.

I'll agree with the prevailing sentiment that paying $2000 for 1 week's worth of voluntourism is not the best use of your money.