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It’s on the low side, but it doesn’t paint the whole picture. Was the 150 over a certain amount of time, was it over a a couple of years?

15 shadowing hours is like two shifts.
 
The 150 was over about 6 months
You generally want a year or more and it has to involve patients. We often see that those who have 150 hours or less will have many hours in research instead. Which begs the question why don’t they pursue a PhD instead?
 
You generally want a year or more and it has to involve patients. We often see that those who have 150 hours or less will have many hours in research instead. Which begs the question why don’t they pursue a PhD instead?
Does the year need to be continuous? For example, would volunteering at a hospital for 4 consecutive summers (3 months each) be sufficient?
 
Does the year need to be continuous? For example, would volunteering at a hospital for 4 consecutive summers (3 months each) be sufficient?
Doing it over summers would be fine. Keep in mind that people who volunteer at hospitals sometimes end up as greeters or a similar role where they do not interact with patients. If you have 200 hours over 4 summers but you come away with little substance to talk about in the AMCAS descriptions or the personal statement, it will still be a problem.
 
Is only 150 hours patient exposure and 15 hours shadowing a red flag? Posting for a close friend who applied this cycle and hasn’t gotten any II’s yet, only some R’s. Their application seems good otherwise
150 hrs of patient exposure is OK, but 15 hrs shadowing is not. I've seen SDNers rejected for that little shadowing.
 
This problem is something that is able to be addressed and improved upon if that is indeed their only issue. However, by providing only those two details that doesn't tell us the whole picture for why they may not have received any IIs yet.
What other details can I provide and also remain anonymity?
 
Fill this out or have your close friend fill it out if they really want good information and advice.

 
Is there anything they can do now that they already submitted everything? They've been shadowing since applying.
Not really. You really are expected to have a complete application by the time you hit submit, and while you can send an update mid-season with your new hours it's just not going to be as impactful as if it had been there on day one. Obviously if they get interviews they should highlight their continued shadowing in their interviews.

Ultimately, it all depends on the whole package, you can't take one data point in a vacuum. 150 hours and 15 hours of shadowing might be plenty for a 3.9/520 applicant with significant biomedical research, and not sufficient for a 3.6/510 applicant without research.
 
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