Does anyone here have any experience getting interviewed after getting faith-based education? I am trying to figure out how to best sell myself with my seminary education. I have seen a few physicians with MD, MDIV after their name and I know a few who were ministers before going to med school. My faith is important to me and I was wondering how some Adcoms looked at faith.
I don’t have an MDiv, but I do have a degree in Religion and it was looked upon very highly by Adcoms.
I think any way you can stand out from the premed crowd is a very good thing!
Adcoms look upon it favorably UNLESS you come off as some kind of zealot. Expect to deal with abortion & DNR type questions.
Pre-seminary BA, Master’s in Engineering Science. My faith is very important to me. As a result, Grace is very important to me…not just saving grace, but sustaining grace…you know, that grace that I know exists in spite of my sins, failures, flaws. That acceptance by God despite what I’ve done. If God does that for me, I will do no less for anyone else. I will love them as they are, where they are! 
Thus your faith should make you all the more capable of being a physician because you will exhibit and give to your patients: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Isn’t that what everyone is seeking?
Hope this helps. If want to E-mail me directly, send it to snowflake0446@verizon.net and I can speak more specifically.
- snowflake0446 Said:
Pre-seminary BA, Master's in Engineering Science. My faith is very important to me. As a result, Grace is very important to me...not just saving grace, but sustaining grace...you know, that grace that I know exists in spite of my sins, failures, flaws. That acceptance by God despite what I've done. If God does that for me, I will do no less for anyone else. I will love them as they are, where they are!
Thus your faith should make you all the more capable of being a physician because you will exhibit and give to your patients: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Isn't that what everyone is seeking?
Hope this helps. If want to E-mail me directly, send it to snowflake0446@verizon.net and I can speak more specifically.
Thus your faith should make you all the more capable of being a physician because you will exhibit and give to your patients: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Isn't that what everyone is seeking?
Hope this helps. If want to E-mail me directly, send it to snowflake0446@verizon.net and I can speak more specifically.
I agree with all the above. The only caveat is during an interview I would not use the words God nor sin. If anything I believe an MDiv gives us an "advantage." We have the priviledge of having put feet to our faith in humanity. When the first person a patient wants in the room before they are given news on their condition is their minister and we have to minister to them when they are given the news that the chemo didn't work...that is humbling and powerful. To know that the most important thing we can do is just be there, ministry of presence, or have to deal with their anger and its directed at you, or the anger of their loved ones... having to call the family and ask them to come visit their loved one and be the one to give the news... Break the news to their daughter who just graduated high school and is about to attend Brown University that her father has days to live, the father is your childhood friend and asks you to preach his eulogy...
Those are valuable experiences that can help in your compassion as a physician but ultimately as a human being. I regret my MDiv at times and other times I am awed by the immense responsibilities it offers to share in the lives of others.
- croooz Said:
The only caveat is during an interview I would not use the words God nor sin.
I disagree with not mentioning God, it certainly never hurt me. But I agree the word "sin" is LOADED!!!
Can’t speak for Adcoms – but I did put down on my application that I had been a volunteer youth pastor for 3 years…and was asked about it.
Bottom line – I got tired of only being able to minister with physical needs (gas, transportation, groceries) and presence and wanted to be able to do more and serve people in a more tangible way, period.
As far as mentioning God or sin – I’ve always been a “repent or burn, heretic” kind of guy – JUST KIDDING!..never really got into that…but let me warn you ----
As a person of faith, you WILL have God ordained moments/opportunities to minister to people at the last few moments of their time on earth which will shake you to the core – you WILL have an opportunity to pronounce people that you have treated, prayed with and really gotten to know and care about, including their families — be sure you’re ready for it…it’s easy to say, “Sure, bro’ I got this” until you’re there…chew on this – it will test your faith – you will find yourself screaming,“Why him, God?!” on your way home and really asking,“Do I really believe a carpenter from a small desert town out in the wilderness some 2000 years ago is God in the Flesh and He and only He can atone for my sins, inadequacies and failures? Do I really believe that I will be something more than worm food when I take my last breath? Assuming those 66 books are real and we’re not just looking at the societal tales of a bunch of drunk fishermen with no Xbox, movies or girlfriends, can I really be sure that I’m not going to need a fire-retardant suit?”…
Be prepared, people — you’re about to get into the game for real…they’ll look at you to do something to alleviate the suffering, cure the dying and make the badness that just happened go away – and now that you have MD or DO behind your name, you can’t hide behind the Reverend rig and “offer prayer” which, depending upon their faith, they may humor you and bow their heads, unless you’ve had physical miracles happen as a result of your prayers recently and they know about it (like limbs growing back, dead coming to life, blind seeing, deaf hearing, lame walking, etc.)…get ready
And realize this – part of taking a patient into your practice or on your service is the unspoken covenant (yeah, I used that word) that you WILL NOT abandon that patient, no matter what…this especially becomes true in the dying…you won’t cry that it’s too hard and leave them to die alone…if no one else is there with them, you will be, even if it’s to hold the hand of the comatose patient as they breathe their last and slip into eternity…
If you can’t do that, pick another profession…
Our new chief resident is MD/MDiv, took a year off in medical school to complete his MDiv. He is one of our best in terms of temperament and leadership, and his patients absolutely love him. I can’t speak for the ADCOMs, but I would sure entertain the idea of having another MD/MDiv in the residency program.
This is just my opinion. I am part of a retrograde-style organized religion and some of my entries under Activities made this clear. I did not, however, “go there” in my personal statement, and it didn’t come up in interviews. I hate to characterize fear of God as an extracurricular, but I, personally, would leave it at that. I do feel a clear religious mandate to help the poor, but I put it in secular terms. HOWEVER. YMMV.
I don’t think an MDiv from a mainline institution could possibly harm you…I just wouldn’t make it the center of my “pitch,” personally.
Also, at most DO schools, a mention of God or a MDiv degree would tend to be positive if anything as the philosophy of the profession includes as a central tenet that the person is a union of body, mind, and spirit.