chances of getting into med school with little work history?

[cantstopwontstp]

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it looks bad, but what if you have the necessary volunteer work, clinical experience... but very little job/work history, or haven't worked in a very long time? how will this make you look, especially an older, non trad applicant? it might make you look unappealing like lazy or doesnt take work/career seriously.... so if someone would ever get asked at an interview, would it be better to be honest and ruin your chances or jsut lie and say i did dome cashier and factory jobs. do they/will they go out of their way to confirm?

 

[xnfs93hy]

Just tell them straight up.

Don't lie about ANYTHING.

 

[Vicviper]

If you've been a student for a long time, I don't see that not having much work experience would make a difference. If you've been out of school for a while, and not really doing anything substantiate, it might make a difference, but probably not a big one. As long as you have an explanation for what you were doing in a big educational gap (even if it was "soul searching"), I don't think it's a big deal.

I mean, were you literally just sitting at home all day?

 

[FutureCTDoc]

Are you a high school student? It appears as if this may be better posted in the pre-allopathic or pre-osteopathic forums. If you are a high school student work experience is not a huge factor in college admissions. It is the same for med school admissions extra-curricular activities like shadowing, research and volunteering matter more, especially long term commitments.

 

[MilkmanAl]

It is the same for med school admissions extra-curricular activities like shadowing, research and volunteering matter more, especially long term commitments.

That isn't necessarily true. In fact, for just about every non-traditional student, that isn't true at all. Work experience can be an extremely valuable asset if you use it correctly. If your work was in a field related to health care, you're even better off. That said, you don'tneed work history to get into med school, but most of the activities that will give you useful experience are jobs. Sure, you could volunteer in the hospital gift shop and have it count as clinical experience just to meet the requirements, but if you want to actually have something that informs your decision to practice medicine on your resume, get a job.

 

[FutureCTDoc]

That isn't necessarily true. In fact, for just about every non-traditional student, that isn't true at all. Work experience can be an extremely valuable asset if you use it correctly. If your work was in a field related to health care, you're even better off. That said, you don'tneed work history to get into med school, but most of the activities that will give you useful experience are jobs. Sure, you could volunteer in the hospital gift shop and have it count as clinical experience just to meet the requirements, but if you want to actually have something that informs your decision to practice medicine on your resume, get a job.

This person is not a non-trad or at least they haven't stated that. I do think however this is better placed under pre-allopathic or pre-osteopathic. This is not really an HSDN question. Most if not all traditional premeds have relatively little or no work experience they may have at most done work study or an internship. This is not generally considered a major problem. I will reiterate that this is not really an HSDN question and should be moved to another portion of the forum.

 

[TheMagicCookie]

This person is not a non-trad or at least they haven't stated that. I do think however this is better placed under pre-allopathic or pre-osteopathic. This is not really an HSDN question. Most if not all traditional premeds have relatively little or no work experience they may have at most done work study or an internship. This is not generally considered a major problem. I will reiterate that this is not really an HSDN question and should be moved to another portion of the forum.

What a very large generalization to make with incorrect information. I think the percentage of employed undergrads is much higher than previous generations (whether clinical or not). With the higher costs of education and living, I think a very large percent of undergrads now work while obtaining a degree.

 

[FutureCTDoc]

By relatively little I mean most people's work experience is not what I would consider substantial i.e. full time for multiple years. PT/Work Study and summer do not substantial experience make. I have worked 0 hours and was accepted to my top choice dual admit program. I can assure you it was not an issue. They cared a lot more about clinical shadowing/volunteering than whether you worked. If someone came from a full time multi-year job it would have credence however most traditional students went from hs-> university-> med school.

 

[MilkmanAl]

You're confusing admission to a BS/MD program with MD admission again. I assure you that the standards are very different. You're not expected to be an adult and fully experienced as a combined program applicant. You're 16-18. When you're applying to med school, you're up against people with Ph.D's and careers and the smartest college students in the nation. You're comparing apples to oranges. It's great that you got into a combined program, but don't make the mistake of assuming you were held to the same scrutiny or had to meet the same requirements as med school applicants. You weren't and didn't.

 

[FutureCTDoc]

You're confusing admission to a BS/MD program with MD admission again. I assure you that the standards are very different. You're not expected to be an adult and fully experienced as a combined program applicant. You're 16-18. When you're applying to med school, you're up against people with Ph.D's and careers and the smartest college students in the nation. You're comparing apples to oranges. It's great that you got into a combined program, but don't make the mistake of assuming you were held to the same scrutiny or had to meet the same requirements as med school applicants. You weren't and didn't.

A) Getting into the BS/MD or BS/DO is often times more selective than the MD or DO program. Fewer people get accepted into the med by this route percentage wise than applying to our med school. It is at my school much more selective.

B) This is in HSDN so I think that it is only right to assume that this is a BS/MD or BS/DO question. BS/MD & BS/DO programs tend not to care.

C) Many people I know who were admitted to great med schools i.e. Cornell, KUMC and JMC didn't ever hold a job.

D) I spoke to a family friend who is on the AdCom of a private medical school who stated that barring truly exceptional work experience it has very little effect on the committees decisions.

E) I had a better CV coming into my program than many med school (MD or DO only, not combined) applicants do, in terms of shadowing, research and volunteering. According to my source it is that school's AdCom preference to be impeccable in those over having held a minimum wage job in college, however if someone worked for 5 years afterwards and rose through the ranks that would count for them (this usually only mattered for non-trads).

F. This applies to the average traditional applicant (i.e. straight out of college, decent gpa/mcat, non-urm), there are always outliers.

G. If this is about MD or DO applicants this is miss-posted and should be in pre-allo/pre-osteo.

 

[TheMagicCookie]

A) Getting into the BS/MD or BS/DO is often times more selective than the MD or DO program. Fewer people get accepted into the med by this route percentage wise than applying to our med school. It is at my school much more selective.

B) This is in HSDN so I think that it is only right to assume that this is a BS/MD or BS/DO question. BS/MD & BS/DO programs tend not to care.

C) Many people I know who were admitted to great med schools i.e. Cornell, KUMC and JMC didn't ever hold a job.

D) I spoke to a family friend who is on the AdCom of a private medical school who stated that barring truly exceptional work experience it has very little effect on the committees decisions.

E) I had a better CV coming into my program than many med school (MD or DO only, not combined) applicants do, in terms of shadowing, research and volunteering. According to my source it is that school's AdCom preference to be impeccable in those over having held a minimum wage job in college, however if someone worked for 5 years afterwards and rose through the ranks that would count for them (this usually only mattered for non-trads).

F. This applies to the average traditional applicant (i.e. straight out of college, decent gpa/mcat, non-urm), there are always outliers.

G. If this is about MD or DO applicants this is miss-posted and should be in pre-allo/pre-osteo.

OR you can have impeccable EC's, work full time in a hospital, and then not care about proving yourself on an internet forum... like me...booyah!

 

[MilkmanAl]

A) Getting into the BS/MD or BS/DO is often times more selective than the MD or DO program. Fewer people get accepted into the med by this route percentage wise than applying to our med school. It is at my school much more selective.

The competition is weaker in high school. The people you're battling for spots aren't as vetted or as qualified as the ones you would face applying the "normal" way, on the whole. A lower acceptance percentage does not necessarily make a more competitive program, just like a higher acceptance percentage doesn't make a less competitive program. You have to account for self-selection, and not a lot of that has occurred at the high school level. I don't have any statistics on hand about how many people who start college thinking they're going to be pre-med and abandon the plan somewhere before applying (due to grades, the MCAT, change of heart, or whatever), but I'd be willing to bet it's well over 90%. I'm not saying that BS/MD programs are easy to get into; they're certainly not. However, that doesn't change the fact that it's a different game in which you're held to different (lower) standards.

B) This is in HSDN so I think that it is only right to assume that this is a BS/MD or BS/DO question. BS/MD & BS/DO programs tend not to care.

He pretty clearly asks about "non-trad" applicants and careers, and I don't think either of those apply to combined program applicants. Again, combined programs don't expect you to have work experience because the applicants are teenagers.

C) Many people I know who were admitted to great med schools i.e. Cornell, KUMC and JMC didn't ever hold a job.

I never said you needed a job to get into med school or even that you should have one.

D) I spoke to a family friend who is on the AdCom of a private medical school who stated that barring truly exceptional work experience it has very little effect on the committees decisions.

It sounds like you're asking the wrong questions. Work experience (probably) isn't valuable in and of itself. It's what you've done and what you've gotten out of it - and how you present that information - that matters.

G. If this is about MD or DO applicants this is miss-posted and should be in pre-allo/pre-osteo.

If it's posted by a high school student, it's right where it needs to be. 😉

 

[DrYoda]

By relatively little I mean most people's work experience is not what I would consider substantial i.e. full time for multiple years. PT/Work Study and summer do not substantial experience make. I have worked 0 hours and was accepted to my top choice dual admit program. I can assure you it was not an issue. They cared a lot more about clinical shadowing/volunteering than whether you worked. If someone came from a full time multi-year job it would have credence however most traditional students went from hs-> university-> med school.

I partially agree.

To give a personal example: I went HS-->college-->med school. However, in almost all of my interviews my job (which had nothing to do with healthcare or science) ended up being a big topic of conversation. I own (well, co-own) a small company and it kind of stands out on applications even though it was just a one line blurb. I know some other people with other unique jobs that would probably make them stand out as well. I do agree with you with regards to run-of-the-mill minimum wage type jobs though.

 

[FutureCTDoc]

I partially agree.

To give a personal example: I went HS-->college-->med school. However, in almost all of my interviews my job (which had nothing to do with healthcare or science) ended up being a big topic of conversation. I own (well, co-own) a small company and it kind of stands out on applications even though it was just a one line blurb. I know some other people with other unique jobs that would probably make them stand out as well. I do agree with you with regards to run-of-the-mill minimum wage type jobs though.

That's exactly what I meant most people don't co-own companies or have a job that entails a lot of responsibility those can impress an AdCom. If you have done that and can show how you lead that can be a major plus. The job demonstrates not just that you can do a specific job but can A) Lead B) Take Initiative C) If you have a history of promotions or increasing responsibility that you can handle a challenge.

 

[ZeusonRoids]

it looks bad, but what if you have the necessary volunteer work, clinical experience... but very little job/work history, or haven't worked in a very long time? how will this make you look, especially an older, non trad applicant? it might make you look unappealing like lazy or doesnt take work/career seriously.... so if someone would ever get asked at an interview, would it be better to be honest and ruin your chances or jsut lie and say i did dome cashier and factory jobs. do they/will they go out of their way to confirm?

I worked for 3 summers...quit once school started. Never worked during school in college. Never did research... Decided to go into medicine my junior year in college. Very little clinical volunteer stuff...no huge life-events...not a minority. "Average" MCAT and gpa...

And I got accepted to 5 med schools.
Dude you are in HS...if you are really that worried about it just get a job and spend a couple hours a week working.

 

[JJMrK]

So the applicant with the research job who's worked on experimental design, presentations, and publications is out of luck? What about the student who worked 15 hours/week as an ER tech? The one who works in the front office of a PCP? How about the girl who taught at an elementary school?