Will being a AFS Argentina foreign exchange(Summer community service) student, help me get into med school?

Question

I am a senior at high school planning on traveling aboard to Argentina for 2 months. I am planning on participating in community service where can do one of the following:
- Volunteer in orphanage
-Help teach soccer to children with disability
-work on environmental projects restoring parks.

Which activity would be best for medical school? Do you that med school would like the fact that I went aboard to Argentina or not really since I did it during senior year at high school?

Answer 1

Not really if you do it in high school because you don't get credit. Colleges have international study offices that offer exchange programs related to the field you are interested in so choose something in the medical field. Check out the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students for help. This will help you a lot.

Answer 2

I've always heard that you aren't supposed to list high school accomplishments(aside from scholarships and the like) on a grad school application. But something like this would obviously look good on any application. Do it for your own good and the good of the children of Argentina, and if it may help you out in the future, good things have a way of coming back around :) Even if you don't list it on an application, you could always talk about it briefly in an entrance essay or as part of an answer for an interview question. Out of all the activities, I would say working with children with disabilities would be the best because you could talk about the various types of disabilities, and maybe even get a little inspiration about what type of medicine you want to pursue. Good luck and have fun in Argentina :)

Answer 3

Find out! Phone or mail a couple or med schools - check on their curriculum, ask at the community service your going with. I would suppose that , by obvious deduction, volunteering in orphanage is best for general med while as working with disabled children is more interesting if you are entering that line of medicine.
Glad you're coming. Good luck

Answer 4

Yes, having the chance to study abroad is something phenomenal. Recently I attended a medical school conference in Columbia, SC, and we actually had to chance to speak to the admission panels. They told us that during your interview, tell them something interesting because if you don't, you are just like the rest. So having the chance to study abroad is something that many people refuse to do, but it looks awesome on you resume and you could tell them about your experience. I actually plan on studying abroad in either Costa Rica or Spain because I'm a Spanish minor. I'm planning on studying abroad a year from now. So anyone should take the opportunity to study abroad.

Answer 5

it will certainly be an asset on your resume, and on applications into good schools.

but I hope you are volunteering for the good you can do, not solely to score points later.