Asking to Shadow

[Shirafune]

I go to a university with a medical school and affiliated hospital. I don't have any formal shadowing experience, though I have many clinical volunteering hours where observing cases is very frequent.

A few things:
1) I was going to just email physicians with my resume, transcript, and a blurb about why I want to shadow him/her. Is there a more effective way? Or I shouldn't worry about a lack of replies?

2) Any preference for shadowing physician scientists if I am interested in MD/PhD programs? Will shadowing physician scientists (vs. shadowing clinicians) be viewed differently at programs where I only apply MD?

3) Which is easier to get a shadowing opportunity: local private practice or the university hospital?

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[efle]

1) Try asking around at your prehealth office and where you volunteer to see if there are docs that have taken on shadows in the past
2) Doesn't matter if they're MD or MD/PhD, the PhD part is not relevant in the clinic
3) Private practice is easier in that there are less strict regulations (boosters, TB tests etc) but you'll probably have to email a bunch if you don't have an in with anyone in particular

 

[T1p]

If you know a medical student or resident, ask them to personally introduce you to an attending.

 

[NickNaylor]

1) @efle's post above - particularly with respect to trying to follow leads through your pre-health office - is spot on. You would be better off trying to use resources that have already been established over "cold calling" physicians to ask to shadow. Do the former before the latter.

2) This will not matter from an application standpoint but may matter from a personal enrichment standpoint, i.e., getting a better understanding for what the career of a typical physician scientist actually entails.

3) I imagine this depends substantially on the individual practices and the individual hospital, but if your undergrad has an affiliated medical center, then that would be a great place to start looking for shadowing opportunities. See #1 above. It's highly likely that there are relationships/opportunities already out there for you to get involved in obtaining clinical experience.

Keep in mind that you may have to take an indirect route in order to get clinical experience if there are no easy, well-trodden paths available to you. This might include, for example, doing some volunteering at a hospital and networking with physicians you meet in that role to then get shadowing or other clinical experiences.

 

[moemoekyun]

My experience has been a bit different.
1) I contacted the staffing services at the hospitals near me, said I was a premed student, asked if I could shadow. The staffing office asked physicians for me and told me several were willing, and went on from there. Process took a few months.
2) Can't tell you anything.
3)Private practices I've had no luck.

 

[chemist16]

With hospitals, you'll probably have more luck overall but the process is more tedious and there are a lot of bureaucratic hoops to jump through. Private practice will be harder to get since people are generally lazy and probably get a lot of these requests anyway, so it's easy to just say "No, sorry" or just not email back. So if you want to go through the private practice route, the key is to use your connections. This makes it more likely for them to say yes. Your family and friends are a good place to start - see if they have any doctor friends they can introduce you to. The next place would be alumni networking events. Alumni are usually really eager to help out students at their alma mater and you have that connection already, so they feel like you're not just some complete stranger.

 

[ChrisMack390]

I've have 0 success with cold calls, but 100% success asking doctors at institutions I'm already affiliated with in some way. Try going through your school and if that doesn't work start working/volunteering somewhere to get a slight "in" with the doctor. I swear that my success is just due to the fact that my email address has the correct institution at the end of it.