<p>Is it? (ten char)</p>
<p>Absolutely not. At my school, over 60% of the students go on study abroad sessions at some point and it has helped every premed student I know get into medical school. Not only does studying abroad make you seem like a more well-rounded candidate for med school, but it increases your practical, "life experience" that can only help you really figure out why you want to be a doctor. It just takes some planning ahead.</p>
<p>I sure hope not, because my daughter is planning the same thing.
Pre-med is not a major. It is a subset of courses that get you prepared for med school. I don't see any reason why a student can't pick courses carefully, spend a semester abroad, and still be competitive for med school.</p>
<p>Try to avoid doing "core" sciences abroad if you possibly can. But plenty of premeds study abroad, and it's actually quite helpful.</p>
<p>Make sure to spend time in the hospital system wherever you end up going. Europe will yield valuable health economics insights, while everyplace else will demonstrate dramatic underservice.</p>
<p>I'm thinking of taking physics abroad. Is that ok?</p>
<p>I think physics would qualify as a "core" class.</p>
<p>I have heard of one case where going abroad did hurt a candidate, but it was from a friend who had suffered a personal attack himself from the same admissions director...I believe my friend, but it's hard to take the story at face value (ie that the only reason this other kid got rejected from med school X was that he had studied abroad.)</p>
<p>does it look bad or weird if you go abroad but don't do anything medically related (for instance you just take language immersion classes or non- premed classes)? I mean, it obviously looks better if you can expose yourself to the medical system in that country, but i don't even know how you would do that unless it was a special program designed especially for premeds. I do want to study abroad even if I won't be able to do anything medically related in the place I go to, I'm just wondering how big of a deal it is if you don't do something like that....</p>
<p>Any suggestions on programs in English speaking countries? (say Australia?)</p>
<p>I think study abroad can make the difference between getting into medical school or not. Though I havent gotten in yet so take that for what its worth. There are abroad programs specifically geared for premeds. There is one at the University of Sussex in England that offers the core premed requirements. There is one at DIS in Denmark that has a medical practice course that is focused on diagnosing and treating diseases. One satisfies requirements while the other would look orgasmic on a medical school application.</p>
<p>I would think a language immersion program would be a plus, especially one in a Spanish speaking country or with an Asian language. It isn't unusual in this country for a patient who speaks no English to be admitted to a hospital.</p>
<p>I actually don't see why it should be a disaster. If anything, it should benefit you.</p>