Telling Medical Schools You Want to Work Abroad

[Sheemu]

A lot of medical schools have secondary applications that ask about your ambitions and plans after graduating, and what you would do to further the school's mission of promoting healthcare etc.

I worked for my university's chapter of MSF (Doctors Without Borders), so part of my dream after receiving my medical degree is to serve with MSF in impoverished countries. But I wonder if that may not be the best thing to tell a school? Would they care that you would rather work abroad? I imagine if you are applying to a state school they would want their students to remain to practice medicine for the people of that state. What are your opinions on this? Should I change my focus for my essay responses instead to working for impoverished communities in the united states?

Thanks

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[anonymoose1640]

I think this is going to depend a lot on the school. Like you said, some state schools want to keep their students practicing in the state to give back to the community there. For me, I only mentioned that I was potentially interested in a specific speciality (one that might give the opportunity for work abroad). When prompted about my desires to go into that field at interviews, that's when I mentioned my desire to potentially spend some time abroad (1-2 months out of the year, not permanently). That seemed to go over fine.

You can mention a desire to give back to the underserved throughout the world, but I would not say that you only want to practice abroad. I think saying that you're interested in working in the US for x months of the year and working abroad for 12-x months of the year should be fine.

Also, that's just my intuition. I'm just an accepted medical student, not an adcom so hopefully someone with more expertise can comment. Either way, good luck with your applications

 

[Catalystik]

A lot of medical schools have secondary applications that ask about your ambitions and plans after graduating, and what you would do to further the school's mission of promoting healthcare etc.

I worked for my university's chapter of MSF (Doctors Without Borders), so part of my dream after receiving my medical degree is to serve with MSF in impoverished countries. But I wonder if that may not be the best thing to tell a school? Would they care that you would rather work abroad? I imagine if you are applying to a state school they would want their students to remain to practice medicine for the people of that state. What are your opinions on this? Should I change my focus for my essay responses instead to working for impoverished communities in the united states?

Thanks

Are you free of a need to earn income to pay back med school loans? Can your family afford to support you for your lifetime while helping the poor in impoverished countries? Who will pay for the medical supplies you need to help such patients?

If you (or your family) are not independently wealthy and able to afford all of the above, you might consider someday joining a practice where members spend time abroad in rotation staffing clinics, then covering each other in a US practice to maintain an income stream. Unless you have no problem with proclaiming your wealth on applications or during interviews, this more moderate approach might be perceived as a more realistic answer to the type of Secondary prompt you asked about.

 

[Sheemu]

Thanks for the insight folks