<p>I received a letter in the mail saying that I was nominated by a teacher to attend a medical conference in D.C. The only thing that is keeping me from thinking that this is a scam is the list of speakers who will be at the conference. Two Harvard professors, two Nobel Prize winners, the winner of the 2012 Intel Fair, and a bunch of others will be "mentoring" us. So, is the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists Award legit? Could it be beneficial to spend $1000 to attend? Would it be foolish to include this on my college app? If my teachers nominated me, then it must be serious, right?</p>
<p>I’m not sure if it’s a scam (though there are almost certainly better things you could be doing with your time and your parents’ money), but here’s a recent discussion about it on another forum:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/other-major-scholarships-competitions/1562490-national-academy-future-physicians-medical-students-award.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/other-major-scholarships-competitions/1562490-national-academy-future-physicians-medical-students-award.html</a></p>
<p>I got the letter too! From what I researched (and talking to seniors who received it), it’s a real thing, but it won’t really benefit you or your college app. It’s like one of the NSLC programs…they advertise as prestigious and something amazing to put on college apps, but most really aren’t.</p>
<p>You’re not really being “mentored”, just listening to them give a short talk. I personally wouldn’t pay $1000 for it.</p>
<p>Usually programs that cost a lot of money aren’t prestigious. I’d recommend looking for free summer programs…the really prestigious ones are usually free, and you don’t lose anything by going to a non-prestigious free program.</p>
<p>I doubt that will be the last one you see. My daughter has no interest in med school, but last year, we received several mailings whose main purpose seemed to be to lure the parents of premeds into spending 1000+ dollars on programs of very questionable value in hopes of getting some kind of edge on med school admission. Think about it. Do you really think a med school will care what you spent a few days doing in high school? </p>
<p>Real premeds do things like volunteer in hospitals or become certified EMT’s and volunteer for rescue squads.</p>
<p>Just wanted to add, out of curiousity, I visited the site, and they do have a few highly respected big name speakers. But they also mention thousands of participants. With all that warm fuzzy talk about “mentoring”, do you really believe your contact with the speakers is going to be anything more than sitting in a huge lecture hall listening to them talk, or perhaps, if you’re lucky, shaking their hand?</p>
<p>The program to award $100 of aid to students who recruit another paying student is kind of shady sounding to me…</p>
<p>I got that too. </p>
<p>I don’t think this is a scam, it’s just really expensive. I’m surprised I even got it because my goals lie in veterinary medicine.</p>
<p>I got the same invitation a few months back and I’ve made the decision to attend the congress. And honestly, it’s been a pretty good decision because since I said yes, the U.S. surgeon general is now coming to speak and they are offering one college credit if you attend the Congress. I’m really interested in becoming a doctor one day, and I think that this Congress, like everything, is what you make of it. I think I can really make a lot out of it and meet a ton of interesting like-minded people. I’ll be sure to let you know how the event went after I attend.</p>
If you receive one of these letters stating that a specific teacher nominated you, check with that teacher to verify this. It could be that they’re using your teacher’s name without authorization which is illegal in most states.
I went to this conference twice and I liked it a lot. I went the first time around because they had a lot of big name speakers (J. Craig Venter, Jill Bolte Taylor, etc), so I thought it would be cool and my parents were willing to pay for it. It was a fun experience, but it really wasn’t worth the money.
I went the second time around because it was a 1/4 of the price for “alumni” and I had a much better time because there were more opportunities to talk one-on-one with the speakers.
If you’re really interested in medicine, this could be a really good experience for you because they are very inspiring speakers that will probably motivate you even more. They had broadcasted a live laproscopic surgery where you could talk to the surgeon and ask questions as he was working, which was pretty awesome. That was pretty much the highlight.