Worth mentioning as an EC? Confused - help!

[chillinillinkillin007]

After my senior year of high school I wanted to determine if I should study business like my dad or biology (premed) like my mom who's an ophthalmologist (private practice)

I went to my mom's office probably 15 times over that summer and mostly shadowed her and did a little useless grunt work. I really didn't interact with patients or doing any legit work but it reaffirmed my interest in medicine and i learned a lot more than I did from normal shadowing. I have done some shadowing with other doctors last summer but my experience with my mom was a bit unique. Should I mention I "worked" in her practice for a summer (didn't get paid) or should I say I "volunteered"? OR should I even mention this - does it look like a worthless ec since the contact info will be my mom? input and experience would be awesome

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[BurberryDoc]

After my senior year of high school I wanted to determine if I should study business like my dad or biology (premed) like my mom who's an ophthalmologist (private practice)

I went to my mom's office probably 15 times over that summer and mostly shadowed her and did a little useless grunt work. I really didn't interact with patients or doing any legit work but it reaffirmed my interest in medicine and i learned a lot more than I did from normal shadowing. I have done some shadowing with other doctors last summer but my experience with my mom was a bit unique. Should I mention I "worked" in her practice for a summer (didn't get paid) or should I say I "volunteered"? OR should I even mention this - does it look like a worthless ec since the contact info will be my mom? input and experience would be awesome

You should mention it in your personal statement, but not as an EC.
1. You have stated in your post that there is no merit in what you did after you graduated high school at your mothers practice.
2. This was before you started college - the rule of thumb for EC's (with some exceptions) is that anything before college doesn't exist.
3. The point of contact will be your mother - while most programs will not call the contact person listen on your application, if they catch the common last name, it will likely get scoffed at.
4. Do you not have any other shadowing experience that you can list in place of this? This may be something you want to work on before you apply to medical school.

Good Luck!

 

[chillinillinkillin007]

yeah I have over 50 hours of shadowing experience from last summer and i read that this shadowing doesn't fall under the clinical section on amcas but the other section. So if if the only medical activity I have is shadowing is that going to suffice for clinical exposure? the hospital in my small campus is always full (no volunteer spots available)

 

[BurberryDoc]

yeah I have over 50 hours of shadowing experience from last summer and i read that this shadowing doesn't fall under the clinical section on amcas but the other section. So if if the only medical activity I have is shadowing is that going to suffice for clinical exposure? the hospital in my small campus is always full (no volunteer spots available)

I don't think you necessarily need clinical volunteering so long as you have some kind of meaningful/substantial clinical exposure, but an application devoid of any kind of volunteer experience is probably going to be a tough sell.

 

[mik30102]

I personally don't think that is enough clinical experience. You mentioned the hospitals near your are full. Any hospices or free clinics near you? How about a nursing home? You should try these places.

 

[VisceralFlame]

I would definitely mention it in your PS. It shows dedication to the medical field even before starting college. I don't think it would hurt you to include a sentence or two about it and it may help

 

[plumhill]

2. This was before you started college - the rule of thumb for EC's (with some exceptions) is that anything before college doesn't exist.

I was under the impression that any time after you graduate high school (summer before college) is fair game for apps.

 

[BurberryDoc]

I was under the impression that any time after you graduate high school (summer before college) is fair game for apps.

I'm not suggesting this a hard and fast rule, just a guideline. That's what I was told by a number of people when I was applying, so just passing it on I guess.

 

[Catalystik]

After my senior year of high school I wanted to determine if I should study business like my dad or biology (premed) like my mom who's an ophthalmologist (private practice)

I went to my mom's office probably 15 times over that summer and mostly shadowed her and did a little useless grunt work. I really didn't interact with patients or doing any legit work but it reaffirmed my interest in medicine and i learned a lot more than I did from normal shadowing. I have done some shadowing with other doctors last summer but my experience with my mom was a bit unique. Should I mention I "worked" in her practice for a summer (didn't get paid) or should I say I "volunteered"? OR should I even mention this - does it look like a worthless ec since the contact info will be my mom? input and experience would be awesome

Why not include the ophthalmology shadowing with the other shadowing you'll list on your application? Including a relative is fine.

 

[papi89]

I'd think since it's your mom the value of the EC is a little less, since no matter how many hours you claimed it's not like they could really verify even if they wanted to