General advice that you wished you should have known

[DietSexy5000]

One more step towards socialism

Agreed.

Realistically, I would have liked to know that the entire practice of shadowing is essentially useless compared to finding a clinical opportunity that allowed me to interact with patients and have more than zero responsibility for them. As a freshman I shadowed for a year at the university's hospital in surgery and emergency medicine then moved on to working in an actual clinic where I spoke with patients and provided basic services (blood pressure, flu shots, vision and hearing, etc.). Even though the latter may seem like nothing, I learned infinitely more about the practice of medicine as an art having some responsibility for patients compared to watching the docs do their thing and talking to them/standing and watching them talk to patients.

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[Omppu27]

Agreed.

Realistically, I would have liked to know that the entire practice of shadowing is essentially useless compared to finding a clinical opportunity that allowed me to interact with patients and have more than zero responsibility for them. As a freshman I shadowed for a year at the university's hospital in surgery and emergency medicine then moved on to working in an actual clinic where I spoke with patients and provided basic services (blood pressure, flu shots, vision and hearing, etc.). Even though the latter may seem like nothing, I learned infinitely more about the practice of medicine as an art having some responsibility for patients compared to watching the docs do their thing and talking to them/standing and watching them talk to patients.

Shadowing is honestly considered clinical experience?? Nothing is even expected from you...

 

[DietSexy5000]

Shadowing is honestly considered clinical experience?? Nothing is even expected from you...

As you can see, I don't feel it really is but I won't speak for everyone out there or for how medical schools view this activity. I didn't even bother listing it on AMCAS because it was so minimized by my later endeavors but this is just my advice to young pre meds. Take it for what it's worth.

 

[NYCMS2]

Agreed.

Realistically, I would have liked to know that the entire practice of shadowing is essentially useless compared to finding a clinical opportunity that allowed me to interact with patients and have more than zero responsibility for them. As a freshman I shadowed for a year at the university's hospital in surgery and emergency medicine then moved on to working in an actual clinic where I spoke with patients and provided basic services (blood pressure, flu shots, vision and hearing, etc.). Even though the latter may seem like nothing, I learned infinitely more about the practice of medicine as an art having some responsibility for patients compared to watching the docs do their thing and talking to them/standing and watching them talk to patients.

I shadowed maybe 40 total hours, but logged several hundred hours in a free clinic where I did patient interviews, took histories, managed their followups. I soon realized that shadowing was relatively worthless, but I wanted to be sure I had done at least some to put on the AMCAS.

Shadowing is definitely overrated by premeds, and some shadowing is downright worthless. Get some exposure to what takes place on the medicine wards - eye opening, and a preview of what you face in med school. If what you see gives you pause, you might want to reconsider med school...just sayin'

Shadowing more than one surgery is useless; hell, seeing any surgeries is useless.

 

[thlaxer]

I wish I had kept an open mind earlier in college and explored opportunities outside of my major. Looking back, I didn't get as much out of college as I could have.

Application-wise, I'm glad I kept an open mind when visiting schools, as there were definitely some pleasant surprises. Some schools didn't seem like a good fit on paper but they ended up being one in person.