controversial ECs?

[katemonster]

so I have read that at certain (catholic? jesuit?) schools it will kill you to be pro-choice...I do not know how true this is...but it made me wonder...if a significant part of my volunteer experience is at Planned Parenthood...is that going to hurt me at certain schools, or if I get unlucky with conservative interviewers, or is it something that is not generally a big deal? to what extent is what I read true?

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[Mistress S]

Hey katemonster,
I have worked at a reproductive health care clinic providing services (including abortion services) to low-income/uninsured patients for about 5 years now, and in the years I have worked there several of my coworkers have applied to med school and all that I know of (4 so far) have been accepted. At least one interviewed at Georgetown, although she didn't get in there; not sure about the others. I think other than perhaps at Loma Linda, where everyone who isn't a 7th day adventist is at a disadvantage, you're unlikely to have many problems. The fact that you have strong beliefs which you can support with real-life experience and that you felt strongly enough about to become involved with should be a positive at most schools, as of course will be the exposure to the medical field you likely gained through such volunteer work and the service you provided to your community.

I assume if you spent a significant amount of time volunteering at Planned Parenthood, you probably feel strongly about pro-choice and reproductive rights issues, so you have to ask yourself if you would want to attend a school anyway that held those beliefs against you. I would probably not be a good fit at a school that was intolerant and saw my experience as anything other than an asset, so if certain schools did look at my work negatively it would probably be best for everyone involved if they turn me down. I want to go to a med school with open-minded students and faculty, not a place where religious principles guide policies. Good luck in the application process, let me know how it goes!

 

[matthew45]

Not to start the whole abortion debate thread, but did you all know that Planned Parenthood was originally founded to prevent minorities from breeding as much as whites?

 

[HollyJ]

Thanks, Matthew45! That's so, so relevant here! And it's so, so true and not at all propagandist crap!

 

[jlee9531]

Originally posted by HollyJ
Thanks, Matthew45! That's so, so relevant here! And it's so, so true and not at all propagandist crap!

 

[mlw03]

based on matthew's comment, quote, and location, i'd bet a shiny nickel that i can guess what political party he's a member of.... anyone care to take that bet?

to answer the original question, i'd be surprised if a school other than loma linda discriminated against a candidate for being pro-choice. whether they like it or not, abortion is legal in this country, and it'd be malpractice for an emergency physician to not perform the procedure if the mother's life were at stake because the physician was pro-choice. anyway, i don't think schools are allowed to ask about an applicant's abortion stance, so you probably wouldn't have to expalin yourself in an interview.

Originally posted by matthew45
Not to start the whole abortion debate thread, but did you all know that Planned Parenthood was originally founded to prevent minorities from breeding as much as whites?

 

[DD214_DOC]

All of my EC's involve stuff that is composed of (a) injuring people or (b) killing people, depending upon how you look at it. I don't see it that way, I see it as training to protect people and stand up for others. However, a hippy adcom might see it the previous way.

The point is that there IS bias when applying to medical school, and who interviews you and their personal beliefs may very well determine whether you're accepted or not. This is the "crap shoot" people refer to.

When an interviewer looks back at the past four years of my college career, I will have:

Trained in several martial arts styles.
Sparred on weekends to hone fighting skills.
Taken a CWP class and qualified to carry a concealed handgun.

Someone might perceive this as the complete opposite of who should be in medical school and reject me. Someone else might see it for the reason I do it, that I want to protect others. *shrug* I guess I could play it safe and do what 10000000 other premed students do. But, pardon the vulgarity, **** that.

The moral of the story: who knows what an adcom will think about your time in an oops clinic.

 

[katemonster]

Originally posted by matthew45
Not to start the whole abortion debate thread, but did you all know that Planned Parenthood was originally founded to prevent minorities from breeding as much as whites?

Shaddup.

Thanks, everyone else.

 

[KarateGirl]

Originally posted by mlw03
anyway, i don't think schools are allowed to ask about an applicant's abortion stance, so you probably wouldn't have to expalin yourself in an interview.

Schools can ask about anything they want. When my ex was interviewing he told me that he'd heard about interviewers asking things like, "Have you ever been/gotten someone pregnant?" or "How often do you masturbate?" The purpose is to force you to answer an uncomfortable question, as patients often have to do.

Legally, they can't reject you based on your answers to those questions, nor on your ethnic background, moral, political or religious views. But that doesn't necessarily mean you won't be. Like that recent thread about the dwarf who became a physician--most of those schools were discriminating against him based on his size, but I'm sure they came up with some other basis upon which to reject him that was technically legal to cover their a$$es.

You never know why an interviewer might take a disliking to you, but we can only hope that the majority at least try to give us a fair shot. I think most of the time it's not really what you answer, but how you answer that counts the most.

Good luck.

 

[Habari]

Schools can ask about anything they want. When my ex was interviewing he told me that he'd heard about interviewers asking things like, "Have you ever been/gotten someone pregnant?" or "How often do you masturbate?" The purpose is to force you to answer an uncomfortable question, as patients often have to do.

This has nothing to do with 'how a patient would feel' [completely devoid of context] or any other lame excuse; this is about the interview power heirarchy and some individual on said power-trip.

I encountered a question similar to this during my interview season last year at a top10 school; i thought it completely inappropriate, over the top, and reservedly declared the interview over and left. Despite this I was accepted, but I doubt people are usually rewarded for that sort of reaction; acceptance to a culture that promotes that sort of behavior, however, is hardly worth compromising ones values.

 

[matthew45]

MLW03, you lose.

 

[KarateGirl]

Originally posted by Habari
This has nothing to do with 'how a patient would feel' [completely devoid of context] or any other lame excuse; this is about the interview power heirarchy and some individual on said power-trip.

I encountered a question similar to this during my interview season last year at a top10 school; i thought it completely inappropriate, over the top, and reservedly declared the interview over and left. Despite this I was accepted, but I doubt people are usually rewarded for that sort of reaction; acceptance to a culture that promotes that sort of behavior, however, is hardly worth compromising ones values.

Yeah, I should have said the supposed reason. Often I think interviewers ask high-stress questions just to see what the person will do. That's probably what happened at that top 10 school; otherwise, walking out would proably have been an automatic rejection.

I think the most important thing is not to compromise your principles. Any school that would reject you for them is not worth going to.