Prejudice And Faith Based Goups

[Neoo]

Hi All,

 

I was just wondering if anyone may please advise me on whether I should include involvement in faith based groups on my application. Do you think that this would be a good idea, or should I avoid doing so to prevent my application from being dismissed due to a reviewer's potential internal bias/prejudice?

 

For example, I am worried that it would not be a good idea to mention that I've spent time on the Muslim Student Association due to the current negative perception of Muslim's around the world.

 

Thank you very much!

[Bambi]

My gut is that you will not find prejudice, however, I am aware of one situation this past cycle where the interviewer did change the script with a Muslim. I am positive he will never interiew again! I think it would be rare indeed to find prejudice in academia and I would include it. Good luck! 

[ellorie]

I think it depends on your comfort level and how much you think it adds to your application.

 

I am a member of a faith against which there is very little prejudice/bad feeling, but I did not mention it in my application because the volunteering that I did in that context was relatively minor and I just felt more comfortable not having to worry about it.

 

If your work with the MSA says something important about you and demonstrates things that you want interviewers to see, it should be totally fine.  But I'm a pretty anxious person and even the tiny chance wasn't worth it to me personally.  But there are people of all faiths and nationalities in medicine and most people are really open-minded and not prejudiced as far as I have seen.  That being said, I am a white woman and I can't speak for the experience of my colleagues.

[Edict]

Honestly, I think its not going to be a big deal at all. I'm going out on a limb here and assuming you are a Muslim here, even if there was a bias there would be very little extra bias towards a Muslim vs a Muslim who is part of the Muslim Students Association. In addition, 99% of reviewers will have no bias against Muslims and in fact you might have a Muslim reviewer who might think of it even more positively (much more likely than someone with a bias). 

 

Judging by the number of students of Muslim faith in med schools across Canada i'm pretty sure there isn't any significant or serious bias. 

 

To a neutral reviewer its another EC that you put a lot of time and effort in, and that outweighs the risk of a biased reviewer (which is very small). Remember, it really is a special kind of person to feel that being a Muslim or being part of a Muslim Students Association, hinders you from being a doctor. Unfortunately, you will find people out there, even in academia who will have negative views towards Muslims, but few of those people will look at a Muslim applicant and consciously discriminate. Unconscious discrimination likely won't be affected by you being part of the MSA. 

[Neoo]

Hi All,

 

Thank you for your responses. I agree with what has been said and feel much better about including that in my application. I'm also curious to know if your perspectives on this issue are true for all med schools across Canada, or if some med schools are known to show more prejudice than others. I guess it's hard to know for sure, and sometimes you just get unlucky with who's reviewing your app. 

 

I appreciate your time. Good luck to all those applying!

[ralk]

Hi All,

 

Thank you for your responses. I agree with what has been said and feel much better about including that in my application. I'm also curious to know if your perspectives on this issue are true for all med schools across Canada, or if some med schools are known to show more prejudice than others. I guess it's hard to know for sure, and sometimes you just get unlucky with who's reviewing your app. 

 

I appreciate your time. Good luck to all those applying!

 

There are religion-affiliated groups at many medical schools, it should be no surprise to anyone involved in medical school admissions that many applicants are/were involved in religious groups, especially fairly standard ones like a Muslim Student Association. The only times I could see religious activities being a negative during an application would be if there was some clear signs of intolerance/prejudice towards those of different beliefs or rejection of scientific principles, which certainly doesn't sound like the case here. I would expect that including your involvement in the MSA would only improve your application, and I would include it if I were you.

[Neoo]

There are religion-affiliated groups at many medical schools, it should be no surprise to anyone involved in medical school admissions that many applicants are/were involved in religious groups, especially fairly standard ones like a Muslim Student Association. The only times I could see religious activities being a negative during an application would be if there was some clear signs of intolerance/prejudice towards those of different beliefs or rejection of scientific principles, which certainly doesn't sound like the case here. I would expect that including your involvement in the MSA would only improve your application, and I would include it if I were you.

Hi,

 

Great points! Yes, it is probably expected that many students will be involved in faith groups, and reviewers are trained to evaluate applications without bias. But, like mentioned in the post above, sometimes these biases come out (consciously or subconsciously) and a reviewer’s perception may become clouded. For the most part, I guess applicants don’t have to worry about including affiliation to religious groups, though some religious groups are met with more discrimination than others and you’ll never know when you’ll face the one rotten apple (as described in the first post on this thread).

Having that said, I probably will include the activity on my application and hope for the best.

 

Thank you for your time!

[fastrunningfish]

I would include it! If you were in the Students Union being a leader vs the Muslim students union being a leader , you're still showing your Canmed attributes!

[BernieMac]

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[Bambi]

Absolutely include it, you are good to go.