Volunteering Abroad, Joseph Kony, and Why You Shouldn't Do It

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

I don't disagree with your main points, but a couple of thoughts:

1) My understanding is that LizzyM is an ADCOM at a highly ranked, research-focused medical school on the East Coast. Her opinion matters, but it can hardly be extrapolated to every medical school in the country. What impresses a random, physician ADCOM member at the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine might not impress a non-physician ADCOM member at Yale, Harvard, or Johns Hopkins. That's the nature of every aspect of the application, and this one is no different.

2) If schools really feel this way about mission trips and global health, they should stop being such damn hypocrites. Every school I applied to this year has the opportunity to do international electives and at least half of them have some variation of a "global health track." These are certainly different from an alternative spring break trip to Peru, which I agree is almost always a waste of money and resources, but these schools also recognize that the vast majority of students who participate in international electives will not continue doing meaningful global health work during residency or beyond. Residency schedules, loan payments, and personal obligations make doing so extremely difficult and unlikely for all but the most passionate and dedicated. Yet schools still offer these opportunities and publish breathless press releases on the SoM website, complete with pictures of MS-4s flanked by a group of grinning dark-skinned children. Schools use these opportunities as recruiting tools, often giving them more space on their admissions websites than domestic research opportunities. My point is that if medical schools actually think short-term international health work is useless, disingenuous, or unimportant, then it should not be advertised as part of the medical school curriculum.

On the contrary, I think most people agree that global health work, when done right, is extremely beneficial to the host community. Learning about health disparities and how to practice in international healthcare environments should be part of the medical school curriculum for those who are interested, but that does not automatically mean that it should be excluded from the pre-medical curriculum.

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[Spinach Dip]

This thread is excellent. It is also very long, so this post will probably be lost in the haze.

As a result, I will reiterate the most concise argument about these "fakers" that I have ever heard:

Never have I heard someone ask "how can I help more people?" Instead, they ask "how can I make myself look better?"

 

[Noggin]

I agree that the premed student who goes on a medical mission trip and then does nothing else to lend a helping hand to anyone in the United States will be looked down upon. On the other hand, if a student had numerous examples of providing service to the needy in the United States, and also happened to go on a medical mission trip, I find it hard to believe that it would be considered a "negative."

 

[Quizlet04]

If by obscenely hot you mean the same temperature at which Starbucks sells their coffee and McDonald's still sells their coffee, then yes, life threateningly hot. Here I was worrying about nuclear weapons when in fact the true danger is in my backyard.

Let me know when you undergo safety training to adjust your pillow before you go to sleep at night

You shouldn't get first degree burns from a cup of coffee. Also, I feel like you're a regenerated troll, so I'm going to report you. :troll:

 

[Jennyfishy]

Great read; summarizes a lot of what I've felt about those medical missions all my friends went on and uploaded pictures with the "locals they helped" to validate their experiences.

Although I would say a lot of this advice applies to anything you do - if it really means something or supposedly changed your life, what else did you do that reflects that?

 

[Pseudonymity]

You shouldn't get first degree burns from a cup of coffee. Also, I feel like you're a regenerated troll, so I'm going to report you. :troll:

That's like saying cars shouldn't drive over 20 mph because they can hit people. Some things just happen and no amount of handholding, certifications, or courses can change that.

If all new members are given this kind of respect I'm glad I joined.

 

[BLACKMD]

I decided to do a Costa Rica trip for three reasons. 1) I get to see a side of medicine I haven't seen before. We are so spoiled with medical care in the United States it's ridiculous once you compare it to a country like CR 2) it's my summer vacation 3) it's my summer vacation

But... I still have an experience to talk about. And it doesn't count for anything compared to the countless hours I volunteer at my local free clinic.

 

[climbouthole]

That's like saying cars shouldn't drive over 20 mph because they can hit people. Some things just happen and no amount of handholding, certifications, or courses can change that.

If all new members are given this kind of respect I'm glad I joined.

You're just wrong. The coffee was way too hot and was literally weaponized, heated well beyond what McDonald's corporate mandates it should be.

http://www.jvmlaw.com/McDonaldsCase.htm

We're a litigious society, but this example was way over blown.

 

[medschoolmyname]

Just wondering if someone could chime in on a particular experience of mine? I had gone over to a third world country because that is where a good number of my family happens to be. It just so happened that I meet a man who was good friends with the family who was also a doctor and next thing you know it I was shadowing him in the hospital. Stayed there for about 3 months and felt like it really gave me some perspective on the type of care we have here in America. I would also note that i have had extensive volunteer activities throughout my community here in CA and so this experience wasn't exactly planned.

 

[aspiring20]

Just wondering if someone could chime in on a particular experience of mine? I had gone over to a third world country because that is where a good number of my family happens to be. It just so happened that I meet a man who was good friends with the family who was also a doctor and next thing you know it I was shadowing him in the hospital. Stayed there for about 3 months and felt like it really gave me some perspective on the type of care we have here in America. I would also note that i have had extensive volunteer activities throughout my community here in CA and so this experience wasn't exactly planned.

sounds like a solid experience to me. definitely include it

 

[amazing tekkers]

Kony and the invisible children was largely a scam.

Good thread nonetheless.

 

[dbeast]

I had an interviewer tell me he sees lots of people going to Peru or whatever for 2 weeks.
He doesn't give a ****

Met some undergrads while I lived in Peru last summer. Apparently this service org flies in American pre-meds to do street repair/infrastructure construction in the poor neighborhoods of Lima which actually takes away local jobs. No me gusta.

 

[Recon_13999]

Reason #4 is so true. Considering the travel expenses, your typical, un-skilled pre med would help some indigent population so much more by just donating the money in aid.

 

[LizzyM]

Reason #4 is so true. Considering the travel expenses, your typical, un-skilled pre med would help some indigent population so much more by just donating the money in aid.

In countries that offer opportunities for tourism, being a tourist and purchasing meals, lodging, entertainment and items to use there and items to bring home, you are injecting cash into the local economy. The restaurant owner can pay his child's school tuition (many schools abroad have required fees or require uniforms), the teacher can pay someone to repair his bicycle, and the bicycle repairman can buy food for his family and the woman in the market stall can buy .... around and around the money goes...