Hello everyone. I was hoping to get some feedback on how much my faith as a Christian should be discussed in my application process, interviews, etc. A typical applicant might not mention that type of thing as much, but I feel like I should since it has essentially shaped my life over the past few years, and in many ways led me to want to pursue medicine. Let me give a little background info.
I graduated from college with a B.S. in Kinesiology with a minor in Spanish in Spring 2015 with a GPA of 3.90. In the few years prior, I had become a Christian and knew that at some point I wanted to pursue being a minister in some way. Upon graduation I had the opportunity to intern at a church near where I grew up. I worked that job and was soon trained up to be the student pastor, which is what I have been doing up until now. I knew the whole time that this was not something I wanted to make a career out of, but it was a good opportunity at the right time in life. My experiences working as a minister have been huge in my maturity and overall growth as a person. Not to mention my increased communication skills because of the demand of the job. Working at a church has also meant getting a lot of experience in community service and helping underserved populations.
My faith is a big driving force in wanting to become a physician as Christianity is rooted in serving others. I’ve been able to help people spiritually and emotionally as a minister, but I look forward to helping people in a tangible, physical way as a physician. I’m hoping to blend those things as a doctor one day.
During the past three years I have also gotten married and had a child.
Back to the earlier question: Would there be any reason to shy away from talking about my faith? Would it create any negative bias or stigma on my application that might hurt my chances? Thanks for the input.