<p>i've been reading up alot on some Summer Medical and Dental Education Programs (SMDEP),i'm trying to plan next summer while i still have a little extra time. Are these programs helpful or useful in getting into a good medical school. or should i strive to find a good lab to work at for the summer? will Medical schools even like seeing one of these programs on your application?</p>
<p>Uh... can you describe the program more clearly?</p>
<p>Let's frame it this way. Patient contact is good. Shadowing doctors is good. Medical exposure where you can be helpful is good. Going to a class and sitting around watching slides of gingivitis at work are not so good.</p>
<p>there is about 8 hours a week of shadowing for this 6 week program... here is a link to Yale's website dedicated to the program which has alot of information <a href="http://info.med.yale.edu/omca/programs/mmep_officialguide.htm%5B/url%5D">http://info.med.yale.edu/omca/programs/mmep_officialguide.htm</a> </p>
<p>yale is not the only school to offer this program either, it's just the one with the best website... here are some the other schools to offer it:</p>
<p>Case Western Reserve U. Schools of mediciine
Columbia University college of Physicians and Surgeons
Yale University School of Medicine
Duke University School of Medicine
University of Louisville School of Medicine
David Griffin School of Medicine (UCLA)
University of Virginia School of Medicine
University of Nebraska Medical Center
UMDNJ
University of Texas Medical Branch in Houston
Howard University</p>
<p>Duke is one of the top 3 medical schools that i want to apply to so would they give extra consideration to someone who went through their program?</p>
<p>Duke would not give you extra consideration because you went to THEIR program. Obviously everybody might give you extra consideration for going to Duke's program, but I can't imagine that Duke Med would care more than Penn Med or whatever just because it's under Duke's auspices.</p>
<hr>
<p>That description sounds... hm. How to explain? It sounds like it will help you through the application process, but not because you did it. That is, it will help you write good essays, interview well, etc.</p>
<p>Schools will not give you extra consideration BECAUSE of this program, but they will give you extra consideration because of the better essays and other things that sound like they'll result from this program. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>My medical school hosted this program for the very first time this summer, and several of my friends were counselors. Basically, b/c it was the first year here, it was very disorganized but I think it will get better in the future.</p>
<p>The participants did get to do alot of stuff. They generally had some sort of clinical thing most afternoons. They had classes in the morning with some recitations during the afternoons without clinical stuff. Some students even came to our student run clinic and shadowed the med students. </p>
<p>The experiences are probably what you make of them and how you present them.</p>
<p>
[quote]
In 1988, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation established the Minority Medical Education Program (MMEP) to increase the number of highly qualified medical school applicants from minority groups that were underrepresented in medicineprimarily African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians. MMEP supported six medical schools in offering a free, six-week medical school preparatory program. The Association of American Medical Colleges assumed the role of National Program Office for MMEP in 1993.</p>
<p>Over the years, MMEP's intensive academic preparation program expanded to 11 campuses. In addition, the program broadened its initial focus on specific minority groups to include students who were from rural areas, economically disadvantaged, and came from groups that have historically received substandard health care regardless of their racial or ethnic background.</p>
<p>In 2003, the program changed its name to the Summer Medical Education Program (SMEP), reflecting the inclusion of students representing a wide range of economic, cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity. The new Summer Medical and Dental Education Program (SMDEP) builds on the lessons learned from those earlier programs. It is now expanding to include pre-dental students who face challenges similar to those of pre-medical students, and it focuses on students in the first two years of their college education because the experience of previous programs indicates that this is when students derive the most benefit.
[/quote]
<a href="http://www.smdep.org/background.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.smdep.org/background.htm</a></p>
<p>The SMDEP program looks potentially valuable for some medical school candidates. Well-qualified, under represented minority medical school candidates with clinical experience fare well in the admissions process. (The mean scores and indices for successful URM vs. non-URM candidates have been quoted elsewhere on the board.)</p>
<p>If the SMDEP program can bolster skills, provide clinical exposure or facilitate planning, it could enhance a URM application substantially. In addition, attendance at SMDEP could yield a letter of recommendation from a prestigious institution.</p>
<p>In the above excerpt from the SMDEP website, the program no longer calls itself the Minority Medical Education Program and now wants "a wide variety" of students and whatnot Does this mean that non-minority students can apply? And, more importantly, can non-minority students actually get in?</p>
<p>(Forgive me for saying this, but looking at every pre-med opportunity that looks exciting and then seeing "For underrepresented minorities" has gotten pretty annoying. Damn, being white sucks.)</p>
<p>for people who attended SMDEP or heard of it…is it worthwhile/good to put on an application? Or is volunteering in a hospital or doing bench research more valuable ways to spend a summer?</p>
<p>D1 attended SMDEP at UWashington a couple of years ago. Don’t know whether or not it helps with Med school apps, but UW did tell them that they would get an interview if they applied there. Which, unless your a WA or WWAMI resident, is not particularly helpful. But for her it was a worthwhile experience, and they seemed to be very good at matching students with mentors, at least she got a mentor who was doing exactly what she is interested in. BTW, she is interested in primary care, not research, so that may be a factor as well.</p>