<p>My daughter, a rising junior and perhaps future doctor, has been "nominated" to participate in the Congress of Future Medical Leaders in Washington DC in Nov. sponsored by the National Academy of Future Physicians. Has anyone heard of this group or participated in it? Can't really gauge if it would be valuable to my daughter. I appreciate your input.</p>
<p>No. Just another marketing ploy. </p>
<p><a href=“Congratulations! You Are Nominated. It’s an Honor. (It’s a Sales Pitch.) - The New York Times”>Congratulations! You Are Nominated. It’s an Honor. (It’s a Sales Pitch.) - The New York Times;
<p>My daughter, who has never indicated ANY interest in any medical field, was also ‘nominated.’ Just marketing.</p>
<p>HS Junior? Physician here, never heard of it. Just googled it- junk organization despite any college or organization references. Don’t waste your money. Your D will choose her college/university based on the one that best fits her (any college will suffice for premed). Her college will most likely have a premed club or advice on courses to take for medical school and whatever else that can be helpful.</p>
<p>It’s not anything prestigious or something that will help in college admissions or anything like that.</p>
<p>BUT…our kid attended a National Student Leadership Conference also in DC when she was in high school. Hers was also medicine, and she really enjoyed it. The lectures were interesting, she thought, and for her, it was a welcome change from her music camp from previous summers.</p>
<p>It was costly, but so are most summer camps. </p>
<p>We didn’t send her at all with the idea that it would benefit her future career or college choice.</p>
<p>Oh! Now it’s the “Congress”. They must have shifted their name.</p>
<p><a href=“national academy of future physicians and medical scientists award of excellence - #12 by T26E4 - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums”>national academy of future physicians and medical scientists award of excellence - #12 by T26E4 - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums;
<p><a href=“Question. Really dont know where to put this. - #3 by T26E4 - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums”>Question. Really dont know where to put this. - #3 by T26E4 - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums;
<p>I’ve been nominated nearly every year in high school and once when I had already started college. They want your money. </p>
<p>All those 4 letters organizations should be forced to use only these:</p>
<p>S C A M </p>
<p>I heard about this from some folks we met last month. Their son is a junior who went for this conference in Feb. Dad is a dentist and he said that all of them enjoyed the conference a great deal, especially the son. Apparently, there were some very interesting speakers. My first reaction when I heard about this was SCAM too, but according to this family, they found it to be an interesting experience.</p>
<p>You can pay a lot of money for all kinds of “interesting experiences”. But these types of programs ARE scams because they falsely suggest that the student has been chosen because of some special abilities and that attendance will be a plus in college admissions and career. The owners of these companies prey on the egos and desperation of students and their parents, and they make a boatload of money doing so. A student considering entering the medical field can listen to tons of interesting lectures for free at Ted.com, shadow a local practitioner, volunteer at a hospital or even train as an EMT, all better uses of time than some silly “congress”. </p>
<p>My D received many of these “offers” thru high school. She always thought they looked really fun, and wanted to go, but I had to tell her that the price was just too high. </p>
<p>Here’s an example of how they operate. This is from their OWN webpages:</p>
<p><a href=“News - National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists”>http://www.futuredocs.com/in-the-news/</a></p>
<p>It’s a list of published articles on invitees to their conference. The company sends press releases to the small town news outlets and BAM – a lazy editor bites at the opportunity to get free text on a feel-good story about a local kid. Click on the links to the actual stories. While nice, imagine how difficult it would be for one of these kid’s families NOT to send their future doctor to this obviously prestigous, once in a lifetime event? After all, the org even ISSUED A PRESS RELEASE about their kid’s honor! I can imagine whole towns rallying together to fund the local superstar’s journey to DC.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that an actual participant to the conference gets nothing. I’m sure being sent to DC and hearing speakers is cool (versus staying in your hometown and just going to class). But this is an example of how oily this group is, IMHO. Send a boiler-plate “press release” to the local news outlets and watch the checks come in.</p>
<p>Some of the language is amazing:
<a href=“http://www2.wataugademocrat.com/Community/story/WHS-senior-attends-gathering-of-future-medical-leaders-id-014200”>http://www2.wataugademocrat.com/Community/story/WHS-senior-attends-gathering-of-future-medical-leaders-id-014200</a></p>
<p>“Student X was nominated by Dr. Connie Mariano, the medical director of the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists, to represent Watauga High School based on her academic achievement, leadership potential and determination to serve humanity in the field of medicine.” ** A 3.5GPA**</p>
<p>"The National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists was founded on the belief that prospective medical talent needs to be identified at the earliest possible age and to help these students acquire the necessary experience and skills to take them to the doorstep of this vital career, academy officials said. " At the cost of attendance to their conference: ~$1,400</p>
<p>“Based in Washington, D.C., the academy was chartered as a nonpartisan, taxpaying institution to help address this crisis by working to identify, encourage and mentor students who wish to devote their lives to the service of humanity as physicians, medical scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians, officials said.” ** Taxpaying institution. Read: they lost their tax-exempt status because they are clearly a for-profit organization.**</p>
<p>I googled this sentence: “was nominated by Dr. Connie Mariano, the medical director of the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists” </p>
<p>8,690 results came up of the EXACT same press release, just add the name of the starry-eyed nominee from the marketing list.</p>
<p>**What</p>
<p>a</p>
<p>load </p>
<p>of </p>
<p>crapola
**</p>
<p>^^^^^^^^^^^^^ YEP!</p>
<p>My son is going to be a future doc, he has just finished his third year of medical school and this “stuff” is a scam.</p>
<p>I have been on these boards for 10+ years and it was a scam back then…just operated under different names when they were non-profit and that was revoked.</p>
<p>SCAM.</p>
<p>Kat</p>