<p>Hiya, I'm a 2nd year premed student majoring in bio and psych and Ive done a bit of shadowing (Best. Experience. Ever), volunteering, research, and I also work as a pharmacy technician. My gpa is decent and everything seems to look ok but, should I also study abroad this summer to look good for the med admissions committee? We are all broke college students unfortunately and studying abroad for the summer requires a good chunk of change. Don't get me wrong. I'd love to go somewhere and learn new things but will it really make or break my admission? What do y'all think?</p>
<p>Studying abroad isn’t necessary for admission to med school.</p>
<p>Studying abroad is so unnecessary for med school. Probably doesn’t even get a second glance from Ad-coms. </p>
<p>And, if you’re broke, then doing so would be silly. Spend your summer doing shadowing and volunteering in medically related areas…and studying for your MCAT.</p>
<p>Studying abroad is not necessary - period. It is at best a nice life experience and at worst a costly long vacation.</p>
<p>DS did not study abroad and he did just fine in his application cycle.</p>
<p>We heard that just because his college requires 4 more classes than comparable college does in 4 years, and essentially all AP credits are useless in terms of the number of credits required for graduation, relatively fewer students study abroad except for those in a really easy major (i.e., those who only need to be graduated with any major and their family connections will likely take care of the rest, unlike the rest of us. These students more likely won’t do premed anyway in the end. DS once said the premeds at his schools are mostly those who were graduated from the relatively competitive public high schools. I think DS’s current life style in the 3rd year rotations, with up to 14 hours a day and perpetual sleep starvation (like 6 to 6.5 hours of sleep), is not the life style those students would look forward to.)</p>
<p>I’m trying to imagine what adcoms think when they see Study Abroads mentioned at activities…lol</p>
<p>That must have been fun</p>
<p>Other applicants spent that time volunteering, this student was traipsing thru Europe. </p>
<p>Times sure have changed. When I was in college, a few rich kids did Semester at Sea or similar. </p>
<p>I can’t imagine any of them thinking…Well these two kids have similar stats, let’s choose the one who spent a semester abroad.</p>
<p>Save your money. Continue with the volunteering and research.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the advice everyone :)</p>
<p>Just to add another thought…our D did a medically-based study abroad in a third world nation. While there, she worked in their hospital and conducted research on environmental factors indigenous to this locality for this specific disease. In addition, she volunteered a considerable amount of time in the schools there in effort to educate students and parents on prevention; she even wrote medical-oriented curriculum for the teachers to use. I guess my point is that not all study abroad programs are created equal. She gained a lot of insight into medical practices in underserved international areas – even if adcoms don’t consider this noteworthy, it’s irrelevant…the experience was meaningful to her.</p>
Normally, mom2collegekids, in other threads, I completely agree with everything you say. However, studying abroad is not only a great experience, but it would set you apart from other applicants, especially if you go to a prestigious college abroad and do other extracurricular activities. That being said, just because you go abroad doesn’t mean you should dick around, but it certainly won’t hurt your application. I went to Copenhagen U for a semester and did research there and even volunteered as an EMT at the Danish Red Cross. Most of all, I experienced so many things, and I can truly say that I am a better person because of it. I say do it if you can, but then again Agree to disagree
Going on a medical mission trip or doing some of the things @jc40 and @northcarolinakid did - that is a totally different story than what many have for study abroad. If one is financially tight, just get the best experiences one can get, and do well on your MCAT.
Do not resurrect old threads; use for research only. Closing.