<p>Person X goes for a low wage job and is chosen simply because he can do the job and not because he has helped the poor or gone to Africa to treat people.</p>
<p>When does somebody in the medical doctor career path become like person X? Or does this never happen?</p>
<p>I’m talking about applying to med school, applying to residency, applying to fellowship, and applying for a job.</p>
<p>Well, it might happen when you can convince every single person not to do those things, and the med schools will have to pick people who didnt do those things but good luck making that happen</p>
<p>Having great stats, indicating a concentration and full purpose in your goals, and passion for Science should suffice.</p>
<p>I don’t think you should feel compelled to spend a year in Namibia in poverty stricken areas just to get into a good medical school.</p>
<p>My cousin’s S went to Africa for some clinical exp abroad, got sick with Malaria. Poor kid nearly died! </p>
<p>Not everyone is cut out for this kind of work. If you are not, I think getting involved in some biomedical research as an EC should suffice. Just do one or two ECs that show your dedication for Medicine… You don’t have to go to Africa to show your purpose driven life.</p>
<p>
It may happen if medicine becomes a low wage job. But I have a feeling that’s not what you were looking for in a response.</p>
<p>@curmudgeon</p>
<p>Thats the response I think I was looking for.</p>
<p>@pharmagal</p>
<p>Those were just examples. I was talking about subjective aspects of an application.</p>
<p>There are always going to be subjective aspects because medicine is not a strictly technical profession. It is a social and humane profession that requires social and humane characteristics that cannot be demonstrated by numbers alone. </p>
<p>If you want a more objective (numbers based) application process, then you can go abroad. Many medical schools abroad choose matriculants based on test scores alone.</p>
<p>Or law school.</p>