National Youth Leadership Forum?

[creekland]

Has anyone done this? Specifically their medicine one, but info on any would be appreciated.

 

I'm really divided on it. On the one hand it seems like money grubbing junk mail, but on the other hand, IF it's what they say it is, it could be good for my middle son who's not yet certain if he'd like to be a doctor or researcher. Is it any better than shadowing at the hospital (which he's going to be doing this upcoming year)?

 

The advertisement said they had 700 kids at one in Houston. That seems like a really high number to me - for better or worse. And, of course, they don't mention cost yet.

[creekland]

Never mind... google is a wonderful thing. I should have done that first as all my questions would have been answered including the cost > 2300. The consensus seems to be that it's not worth it, though there are a few that say otherwise.

 

I think we'll pass.

[MBM]

They sent a letter to my husband asking him to attend. LOL. He's in his 50s. I strongly suspect they are sending out mass mailings.

 

Shadowing at the hospital would be a wonderful experience for your son. A friend of mine from college did that, and it helped her decided whether she wanted to become a doctor. (She did.)

[MomsintheGarden]

Dd went to NYLF-Med, Washington, D.C., last summer. It was at the University of MD College Park campus for ten days. There were 300 students at her session. For background, we are a conservative homeschooling family and live in the country near a very small town.

 

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Pros:

 

- Visiting a medical school, which included attending lectures (special for NYLF students), visiting the cadaver lab, and interacting with professors.

 

- Learning about what medical school profs are looking for, from visiting the med school. Because of her interest and questions at the lectures, the professors she met all encouraged her to become a doctor. She was sad that a lot of the students were embarrassed to ask questions because it's not cool to do that in their schools.

 

- Visiting the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It's huge!

 

- Meeting some of the students, many of whom were from all over the country and world. She felt this was especially unique to D.C. because it's a very attractive location. Dd still keeps in touch of several of her friends from NYLF.

 

- The dress code, although a lot of the students had problems with it. It was challenging for the leaders to enforce it. She was so glad I had bought her sensible shoes and sent band-aids! She gave all of her band-aids away to girls who had blisters from their shoes.

 

- Meeting the leaders, who were from many walks of life.

 

- Group activities, including leadership building, sightseeing, and a dinner cruise. They spent much time on med-type tasks, but it was nice to have fun, too.

 

- Staying in a college dorm, so she could wrap her brain around what it would be like in the future.

 

- Learning about allopathic medicine, which helped her decide it really wasn't for her. She has researched osteopathic medicine, which she believes she will pursue.

 

 

Cons:

 

- Behavior of many of the students. They exhibited quite a lot of immature behavior (which was dealt with). Dd thought it was funny that some students asked if she was Amish because she's rather conservative.

 

- Cost, although I feel it's the going rate for an almost-all-inclusive camp. Dd also had to buy a couple of meals while sightseeing. For comparison, dd is attending Greg Landry's anatomy camp at Appalachian State U. this summer. Full price for a week at this camp is $1500, but there are not expensive bus trips or sightseeing involved. There were plenty of kids there from wealthy families (we're not!), but also some from very limited means who had sacrificed to come.

 

- The attitude of many of the students, who wanted to be doctors so they could have power and money. Few wanted to go into medicine because they felt they were called to, and no one else wanted to do missions medicine.

 

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Dh, dd, and I felt this was a good experience for her culturally. She still wasn't sure about becoming a doctor, and wasn't encouraged by the attitudes of many of the students. It was a great topic for discussion for our whole family.

 

Dd feels that comparing NYLF to shadowing is like comparing apples to oranges. The camp provides more of a broad picture of the field of medicine than a day-to-day experience, as well as an extra focus on leadership. Dd is going to shadow a doctor at a family practice this summer before she decides if doctoring is for her.

 

What really excited her about becoming a doctor was touring the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) later that summer. I don't think she would have appreciated that experience if she hadn't done NYLF first.

 

An NYLF rep called her this past fall asking her to give more feedback. They are conscientiously working to improve the program, and have been nice to deal with.

 

As an aside, have you and your son looked into MD/PhD or DO/PhD programs at medical schools? It is very hard to get into these, but they are great for students who want to do medical research. I believe the student's medical degree is paid for by grants from the NIH. The number of students in these programs is tied to NIH funding as well.

 

HTH! Feel free to PM me with more pointed questions.

 

Blessings,

GardenMom

[creekland]

 

HTH! Feel free to PM me with more pointed questions.

 

Blessings,

GardenMom

 

Thanks for the well thought out response! It gives us a bit to think about, but in general, with the cost the way it is, I'm pretty sure it isn't in his future for this year anyway. He's still not really certain which science area he wants to go into. Over the years he's considered becoming a Dr, but now he's heavily leaning toward researcher. Then it was bio-medical, now he's wondering about chem or biochem.

 

Our plans for next year are to have him take Advanced Bio & Chem at home + Microbio at our local cc (if we can afford it). Then we're going to sign him up for the shadowing program at the local hospital. We're hopeful he'll find himself leaning one way or the other with the multiple courses and exposure. If he's thinking Dr at all after that, then maybe this conference would fit in well the summer of his Junior year. We might be able to afford it better then too - assuming the economy is really picking up.