Are there any schools that favor clinical experience more than others?

[bretonnia]

I'm a non trad student with loads of clinical experience -- probably 4000-5000+ hrs -- which I feel is one of the biggest strengths of my app. Are there any schools that would place more weight, or value clinical experience more than another?

Thanks.

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[Nymphicus]

I'm a non trad student with loads of clinical experience -- probably 4000-5000+ hrs -- which I feel is one of the biggest strengths of my app. Are there any schools that would place more weight, or value clinical experience more than another?

Thanks.

Not really. Some schools might have slightly different metrics that they use but none really prefer it more or less than other schools.

I do know that many PA programs have a rigorous clinical experience hour requirement however.

 

[plumhill]

...All of them?
I mean at the end of the day, med schools want people who will make good doctors. You can't (usually) be a good doctor if you have no idea what a hospital or clinic is like, and if you want to be there all day, (almost) every day...

 

[Lamel]

All of them will love that you have so much clinical experience.

 

[getdown]

...All of them?
I mean at the end of the day, med schools want people who will make good doctors. You can't (usually) be a good doctor if you have no idea what a hospital or clinic is like, and if you want to be there all day, (almost) every day...

You also can't be a good doctor if you can't pass your preclinical years or the boards, so that's why they prefer kids with high GPA/MCAT scores. You just need enough clinical experience to get an idea of the sacrifice/time commitment needed but everyone will get enough during the M3-M4 years regardless of what you start off with. Plus most people, and those applying to med school, will do what they must so they'll adjust to the work or they'll just leave the profession.

 

[Geebeejay]

I'm gonna go against the current here and say yes. There are schools out there that seem to interview (I dunno about accept) more nontraditional students, and schools that seem to place more weight on clinical experience. A few of these schools are BU and GW. I am a non traditional student (24 at the time of my interviews) and at least half of my interviewing group at both schools were older than I was, and many of them had full time clinical jobs (as do I - about as many hours as you have). Not all of them, but a significant amount.

My interviewer at GW actually told me explicitly that they care a lot more about clinical experience than research experience and that based on my application alone he thought I was a good fit for the school (this was at the very beginning of the interview). I did get waitlisted so keep that in mind, but I did not send in any supplemental letters of interest or anything, and I hear GW likes to see applicants show interest.