Boy's State OpportunityAnswered
I currently have the opportunity to attend Texas Boy's State but the program will be virtual due to COVID-19. Is the program still worth doing? It will require me to take a week off work to attend the online sessions throughout the day, and I am only allowed one week off. I am interested in policy and how politics work but am going to go premed in college so it does not really align with my "interests." Will colleges still care that I participated?
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I think @ToryRoberts' answer covered all the bases, and I agree—as long as you can manage the week off from work, I would definitely try to attend this. From an applications standpoint, Boy's State is a pretty prestigious program, and will still be so even in its online form (consider that most people won't even be able to do real summer programs this year), so yes colleges will still care about it. As for aligning with your interests—it does sound like it aligns with your interests, just not your career goals. Those can be very different things for the purpose of college applications, and in general for pre-meds or students interested in medicine, an area of interest or expertise outside of science can be really useful and beneficial (e.g., think about how interrelated medicine and the political process are right now).
That's also not to mention that pre-med isn't itself a major—pre-meds can major in whatever they want (including political science), as long as they take the set of courses (intro bio, intro and organic chem, intro physics, etc.) that med schools require for admission. So you could very well go into school as a political science pre-med if you wanted to.
Hello there! I decided to answer your question because we have a lot in common. I am also very interested in politics, have a job, and wish to pursue medicine as my career. I want to congratulate you on getting into the program and HIGHLY encourage you to attend. Most of the programs I got into this summer were canceled and are not offering a virtual version and I am very sad about that so you are lucky to have that opportunity so I would take advantage if I were you. In regards to work maybe you can work something out with them so you don't have to take off the entire week (maybe take on another shift) or possibly explain to them the opportunity and ask for a week off for the program and another week off for relaxation (hopefully they are understanding). Finally, in regard to "will it align" with your interests... well if you are interested in politics then most definitely! I know we may want to show that all we care about is medicine but doctors and other health professionals have other interests too so share that side of you, colleges will be interested to see all aspects of you. I hope this helped!!
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Thanks a ton! That cleared a lot up and I hadn't thought of it that way. I guess especially it aligns since I want to major in public health. Thank you again!