Can shadowing be a meaningful experience for the AMCAS primary?

[Blue Lion]

Posted in another topic on here, but I did four weeks of shadowing last month for a total of 100 hours. It was very worthwhile experience getting to work in my hometown again, which is categorized as a medically underserved area. Getting to talk to patients during this time, while seeing how physicians come to prescribe treatment & medication, as well watch some procedures be conducted, allowed me to learn about the social conditions that are present in a clinical setting, and the necessary steps one needs to take to have successful interactions with patients.

That being said, I wanted to know if it was okay to list this as a meaningful experience. Or if it is okay, if it is seen in a positive light?

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[Lifeblood_20]

Shadowing is conventionally a passive, observing experience. Hence, generally it is not best suite for "most meaningful" where you would preferably play a bigger role. Were you doing anything besides observing, that resulted in this experience being the most meaningful? If so the nature of the activity might be described as something other than shadowing and writing more about it would be nice.

 

[Blue Lion]

Shadowing is conventionally a passive, observing experience. Hence, generally it is not best suite for "most meaningful" where you would preferably play a bigger role. Were you doing anything besides observing, that resulted in this experience being the most meaningful? If so the nature of the activity might be described as something other than shadowing and writing more about it would be nice.

Got to translate for some patients, fetched them water/snacks/blankets,
helped walk them to check-out, among other miscellaneous tasks (all ideas that came from the physicians I worked with and were promoted by them).

 

[gyngyn]

Got to translate for some patients, fetched them water/snacks/blankets,
helped walk them to check-out, among other miscellaneous tasks (all ideas that came from the physicians I worked with and were promoted by them).

Are you a native speaker?

 

[Blue Lion]

Are you a native speaker?

Yep!

 

[gyngyn]

Yep!

Emphasize how this enhanced your understanding of the patient experience and made use of your talents...not the shadowing part.

 

[Blue Lion]

Emphasize how this enhanced your understanding of the patient experience and made use of your talents...not the shadowing part.

Definitely would do so for the MME, thank you. But ultimately, would it be fine if shadowing is seen as an MME. Like I'd describe it well and all in the actual prompt, but am wondering if just having it checked as one would be a red flag.

 

[gyngyn]

Definitely would do so for the MME, thank you. But ultimately, would it be fine if shadowing is seen as an MME. Like I'd describe it well and all in the actual prompt, but am wondering if just having it checked as one would be a red flag.

As a rule, shadowing is a pretty weak MME. Given what you have shared here, it appears to have been more active than would be expected, though.

 

[Blue Lion]

As a rule, shadowing is a pretty weak MME. Given what you have shared here, it appears to have been more active than would be expected, though.

Gotcha. Here's a better question: I already had three strong MMEs from my time applying last June (clinical research, clinical volunteering, and non-clinical volunteering). Unfortunately didn't get to do much this past year since I was busy with secondaries until August, had family issues to deal with from September to December, January was when I began post-bacc classes then once February came about the pandemic happened, so I don't really have any new experiences besides the shadowing (had a great clinical position lined up but that fell through...)

Would I be better off keeping the old three? Or swapping one out for shadowing?

 

[gyngyn]

Gotcha. Here's a better question: I already had three strong MMEs from my time applying last June (clinical research, clinical volunteering, and non-clinical volunteering). Unfortunately didn't get to do much this past year since I was busy with secondaries until August, had family issues to deal with from September to December, January was when I began post-bacc classes then once February came about the pandemic happened, so I don't really have any new experiences besides the shadowing (had a great clinical position lined up but that fell through...)

Would I be better off keeping the old three? Or swapping one out for shadowing?

If the previous 3 were strong, use them.

 

[Blue Lion]

If the previous 3 were strong, use them.

Got it, well thank you very much for your help, I really appreciate it.

 

[gyngyn]

This shadowing experience motivated me to switch paths and pursue medicine.

Changing an entire career path based on a single experience may give some members pause.
Generally speaking, a career decision that grows organically, with layers of development substantiated by multiple experiences (both positive and even negative) will be well received.