Study abroad?

[Elysium]

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I wanted to take an informal poll of people on SDN that have done study/volunteer abroad. What did you do, where did you go, did you enjoy it, etc?
Also, did it come up at interviews? Do you think it helped your overall application? (Not that that's the reason to do it, I was just curious).

I'm doing a study abroad program through MSU this summer in London about medical ethics and international health policy. I'm incredibly excited. It's the only thing that's going to help me survive finals and the evil AMCAS.

What have you guys done?

😀

 

[rajneel1]

part of a summer volunteering in a clinic in west africa. amazing! interviewers were happy about it. i was very glad i went because i learned sooooo much! you would be surprised at how many pre meds do the travel aboard thing now.

 

[SarahL]

Wow, sounds like such a fun program. I have studied abroad twice, first in Germany during high school, then in Australia during college. I'll probably try to do one clerkship abroad during med school, too. While in Australia I tutored a Greek-Australian high school student in biology; in Germany I pretty much ate pastries the whole time (gained at least 20 pounds!).

Probably it will come up a lot in your interviews. I know it did in mine. It does seem like a fairly common experience among pre-meds now, but it's what you do with the experience and how you stress it in your application that count.

 

[vyc]

i spent my junior year studying at Oxford University. oh my god, let me tell you that it was probably one of the best experiences i've had during college. i wouldn't trade it for the world.

it always came up during interviews as something positive.
but it does mean that i didn't have any letter grades for junior year, only credit for the courses i took (biochemistry and genetics) on my transcript. so basically, i only had like 2 years of grades for the admissions committees to go on.

i'm not sure how much that hurt me but it was worth it!

 

[jhug]

i went to england, scotland, ireland, and wales on a student ambassador program just after high school. Spent two months on a study abroad in Israel, Egypt, and Jordan. Did a 2 yr volunteer mission in argentina, and later a study abroad in Costa Rica. I was suprised how little we talked about these experiences. Most asked a general-- what have you learned from all this?? kind of question which you really can't answer in one or two sentances.

 

[Asclepius]

I spent a year studying at the University of Durham, England. I will make my first round of applications to medical schools this summer, so I do not know how the abroad experience will affect my interviews. I can say for certain, however, that the study abroad experience certainly affected me and my decision to apply to medical schools. While you are abroad just make sure to be aware of your differences, what you take for granted at home, and try to learn as much about yourself as the others you are living with. You might find some nice foils to explicate your intentions to persue medicine and demonstrate to admissions committees that you can evaluate and learn from your experiences.

 

[TXchick]

I studied in London at University College of London my junior year. I think it helped my application because of the way their university system works over there. I took a full course load of all upper-level science courses both semesters, so it was somewhat similar to the first two years of med school. Of course, it depends on how you emphasize your experience on your AMCAS and secondaries, but it should come up in your interviews.

 

[CoffeeCat]

I'm on my way to Russia with the peace corps, so I can't yet tell you how it's affected my applications, but I hope that it will be in a positive light. Also, I wanted to say how impressive it is that all of you traveled abroad...I should have done that in my ugrad years but always had excuses...good job!

 

[lola]

I spent a year at King's College London. During the second semester, I participated in a pre-medical program that consisted of seminars about public health/the NHS and shadowing doctors for 3 weeks. It was great!! I'd highly recommend studying abroad even if it means having to delay your application for a year.

 

[mpp]

Like CoffeeCat, I was a Peace Corps volunteer. I taught math and science in rural Zimbabwe for two years. That experience was the main topic of conversation at the two interviews I had at my top choice school. I was accepted and I'm almost certain that my Peace Corps experience was a factor.

 

[Nik]

Spent a semester in Cambridge, England after high school. Also did humanitarian EMT work in Honduras and a clinical clerkship in the Himalayas. Will be going to England, Netherlands, and Switzerland with SU on a Health Policy Program this summer. It was great and was mentioned in my interviews. I'll be going to my top-choice school this fall. I'd recommend it for anyone.

 

[Southern Gentleman]

How long is a peace corp "mission"? Are they always for a year or two or do they offer a short term stay?

 

[mpp]

Peace Corps assignments are always two years plus training which ranges from 5 to 15 weeks. You can extend for a third or fourth year.

All returned Peace Corps volunteers are eligible for another program run by the Peace Corps called Crisis Corps. These are shorter 3-month to 6-month assignments that address more critical needs (i.e., acute conditions like disaster relief/reconstruction). Unfortunately the program takes returned Peace Corps volunteers only.

If you are young (i.e, less than 30), don't have family responsibilities, and are interested in Peace Corps, I don't see any reason not to do it. Two years is nothing in the grand scheme of things and it flies by. I served when I was 27 years old and I met volunteers in their 50's and 60's and as some as young as 21 (although the minimum age is 18).

If you are not willing to commit the two years there are lots of other programs out there. Most, however, require you to pay your way with other fees as well. Peace Corps pays your way there, educational expenses, and all living expenses. You are given a $5,500 (it's more than that now actually) readjustment allowance when you return to the states after your two years. The cultural, technical, and language training is a top-notch full immersion educational program (mine was 8 hours a day, 6 days a week for 13 weeks).

Go Peace Corps! You can't go wrong. It can easily become the best two years of your life. If it sounds like I'm recruiting...I am...

 

[Cdc28p]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by mpp:
•Go Peace Corps! You can't go wrong. It can easily become the best two years of your life. If it sounds like I'm recruiting...I am...•••••I concur. My brother did it. He taught math and English in Gabon, a wonderful French-speaking country in West Africa. He had two awesome years there... even had a chance to eat monkeys. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> Not sure if it helped him much during the application process, but he's an internal medicine resident now...

 

[CoffeeCat]

I swear, mpp and I should be paid for being peace corps recruiters!! Seriously though, it's a great opportunity and although I haven't yet let for my assignment, I've talked to plenty of current and returned volunteers and it's a great program....if you can get through the paperwork 🙂