A Choice - Advice Please

[Anastasis]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I posted this first in pre-allo but I didn't get alot of love over there. I thought maybe in non-trad you guys would understand the plight of trying to fit this all into a year. Thanks for any help:

Okay so I know these threads are everywhere but I kinda wanted alittle personal advice.

I just recently decided to go the med school route so up to this point I have no clinical experience whatsoever. The closest thing I have is working as a lifeguard at a Lion's Camp for kid's with disabilities and babysitting for a CP kid in HS. (My mom is an OT so she always used to volunteer me to her patient's families as a trustworthy babysitter for their kids with disabilities).

I do have a ton of volunteer work in other areas (Habitat for Humanity, Rotary Club, etc.) and I spent a year abroad doing Peace and Reconciliation work in N. Ireland (a big part of why I'm going into medicine but it's a long story and I won't bore you with it here).

I have the opportunity to shadow a bunch of doctors; my dad is a doctor and has the hook-up with the doctors in the area so I could probably get 100+ hrs shadowing if I really wanted to go that route.

I had been trying to get into one free clinic and that fell through so I tried somewhere else and they said that would be happy to have me to work in triage and do a bit of shadowing there as well (as long as other stuff they need done with I don't mind doing so I can get the clinical exp at other times, not to mention i think it would really help them out).

So my questions are: Is that shadowing experience enough or how much is enough? Is a free clinic better/worse/equal to hospital exp? How will Adcoms look at my non-medical volunteer work? Is using my dad to meet up with doctors to shadow alright or is it cheating the system in some way?

Any other advice would be great, thanks.

 

[ShyRem]

Hmm. I think you'll get all kinds of questions across the board on this one. I personally think a free clinic is great. How you meet the docs to shadow is inconsequential - the point is you shadowed one. Try to get a LOR from them. As for volunteer work, anything that shows a dedication to serving the community, which is what most med schools look for, is good.

I'm not on any adcoms, this is just my opinion and what I've gleaned from talking to other folks. Any other opinions?

 

[mshheaddoc]

Get what you can and how you can get it. ADCOM's want to see a commitment to medicine not that the month before you applied that you decided to shadow a few doctors. If you aren't applying for a while, do what you can. Your whole life doesn't need to be medicine but patient exposure is important. The more patient contact the better. I think clinic would be better that hospital (depends on the clinic) becaues it might be more hands on. I was advised hospice is a great route as well.

 

[Anastasis]

Sweet - thanks for the advice. I admit the clinic appeals more to me because it feels more grassroots and community groups like that appeal to me.

 

[mamadoc]

Here's my take on it: with your experiences and extracurrics, AdComs are looking for two things. One, do you have a commitment to serve your community? Two, do you know what medicine's about?

Medically-oriented volunteering can provide an affirmative answer to both these questions - kinda "kill two birds with one stone" - but you don't HAVE to do it that way. Your past volunteer experience is very interesting and I would strongly encourage you to emphasize your experience in Northern Ireland when it comes time for you to write your PS. It'll make you stand out as interesting and shows an impressive depth of commitment.

You need to show that you know what you're getting into. You've got a dad who's a doc - that counts for something although less than you'd think. Shadowing would be OK but I truthfully think it's overrated unless you end up following a doc who's encountering such interesting stuff that you can write eloquently about it in your PS. I disagree with one previous suggestion in that I do NOT think shadowing mentors are good LOR sources. They can't attest to your academic strength or your dedication ("He showed his interest in neurology by showing up to my clinic on time the day he worked with me."). Shadowing is kind of a shallow experience if you ask me.

The clinic, OTOH, sounds like it has great potential to show you more about what medicine's about and especially about its many problems and challenges. Shadowing you'll get to hear lots of doctors griping about the system and how it sucks; working in a free clinic you'll find out how people are working around this system to provide health care anyway.

Good luck!

 

[Truth_seeker]

I've spent some time w/ a spinal surgeon from Duke. He sat on the adcom for Duke and said shadowing is very very low in the matrix. I think for the very reason mamadoc said. I've heard from various sources, pre-med advisor, current med students and others that volunteering in medicine is optimal for obvious reasons and second, volunteering in the community is very good. The reason is first medical volunteering shows you have gotten into the trench and you've seen what it looks like. Community volunteering shows you're commitment to people and working with them in a day to day environment. Shadowing, while useful in seeing the day to day life of a physician is not beneficial from the viewpoint that you're experiencing patients The surgeon I spent time with put it this way, he said you're PS should be a story of you leading up to med school. It should be well told story pointing to your desire to be a doctor. He said this should include actual evidence that support your story. I thought that was pretty good advice.

 

[Beau Geste]

If you are volunteering or getting paid to do work, you aren't shadowing. Therefore, your work supervisor could possible write a LOR about your work in the healthcare area you do it in. Shadowing is simply that - being a shadow and just soaking up the info. You really don't play an active role... maybe sometimes answering questions, but usually you keep quiet and let the doctor do his work. So, if I were in your shoes, I would take the spot in triage since it appears open to you, and then you can work and maybe even shadow ER docs all at once. You can also try again for the free clinic spot, or even volunteer more at your dad's office to get more experience to get the free clinic job?

 

[Anastasis]

If you are volunteering or getting paid to do work, you aren't shadowing. Therefore, your work supervisor could possible write a LOR about your work in the healthcare area you do it in. Shadowing is simply that - being a shadow and just soaking up the info. You really don't play an active role... maybe sometimes answering questions, but usually you keep quiet and let the doctor do his work. So, if I were in your shoes, I would take the spot in triage since it appears open to you, and then you can work and maybe even shadow ER docs all at once. You can also try again for the free clinic spot, or even volunteer more at your dad's office to get more experience to get the free clinic job?

Sorry I just realized when I said "work" it was alittle misleading. It's not paid. I guess I should have said, "volunteer" in triage. Sorry about that. Thanks for the advice though - will Adcoms really look at me volunteering at my dad's office as experience?

 

[Beau Geste]

Sorry I just realized when I said "work" it was alittle misleading. It's not paid. I guess I should have said, "volunteer" in triage. Sorry about that. Thanks for the advice though - will Adcoms really look at me volunteering at my dad's office as experience?

I would think so.... it's one of the benefits of having a physician for a parent. My mom is an FP, so I've got about a zillion hours of shadowing. In my case, I've got some other stronger areas, but at least it will show that I know what's coming, i.e. not jumping into med school without seeing it firsthand.

Also, if you work for your dad instead of just follow him or his partners around (although it is good), it will show some initiative and drive. I wouldn't solely work at your dad's office, but use it as a supplement to your other experiences.

There's lots you can do, and if you need to, you can PM me... we seem to have some stuff in common!