Study Abroad Is the New Black

Ben Ferguson -- Actually, it’s the new research, or the new volunteerism, or the new 4.0. I’ve noticed a growing trend in medical school applications, at least to my school, of people studying and working abroad. When I applied, study abroad wasn’t necessarily an extraordinary activity, but it wasn’t as if everyone you knew was doing it, either. I personally went on a trip in college to volunteer at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic, and while it was one of the most fulfilling -- and helpful, to be sure -- experiences I’ve ever had, I was also proud to have that on my application to medical school. I felt as though it helped me to stand out.

These days, it seems everyone is taking trips like this. Some study at foreign universities. Some get jobs overseas after college either with the intention of applying to medical school shortly thereafter or with goals entirely outside of medicine, only after which they decide on medicine as a career. Some go on mission trips, medical or otherwise, for weeks or even months at a time. Some simply travel for want of a new outlook on life, choosing to immerse themselves in new cultures and experience the world. Some combine these activities or pursue other interests altogether while abroad. I can’t say whether it’s become more common in the premedical community than it has in the rest of the college cohort, but it certainly seems that way on the surface.

Indeed, since the start of the interview season here, I’ve personally met several of these types. Two went on volunteer trips to Quito. Another shadowed physicians in a large Delhi hospital. One person traveled to Tijuana to build homes. Another frequently commuted to London and Paris for work. Others have done research in Paris, Madrid, Panama, and Nigeria. Others have participated in study abroad programs in Moscow, Prague, Nice, Australia, and the UK.

I realize I’ve written at length previously about how increasingly impressed I am with applicants to medical school these days, but this is one area that has really caught my eye. It seems that everyone I meet is a world traveler! Whether this is a crucial prerequisite to have for one’s admission to medical school is debatable, but it’s definitely on the rise. The New York Times has an interesting feature this week about the growing numbers of students participating in study abroad programs and the increasingly creative destinations to which they flock.

I’d say premedical students are at the forefront of this movement. This is not to imply that study abroad is becoming necessary to gain admission into medical school; it most certainly isn’t, and there are a number of students I’ve interviewed over the past several years who haven’t left their home state and yet are quite cognizant of other cultures. But, it’s hard to ignore the sense that where “volunteerism” and “research” were such buzz words for things one absolutely needed to do to even have a shot at getting into medical school, study abroad may slowly be taking their place as the hip new thing to do to make oneself stand out among the sea of picture-perfect premeds. After all, once we’re doctors, many of us will never have the opportunity to travel as freely as we once did. There’s no time like the present, and why not make yourself a more interesting person while you’re at it?