Class of 2019!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Hahahah my favorite part is when they grab the baby's head and just pull, it was such a "wtf, babies are delivered like this?!" moment oh my goodness.
Uh oh, what did you see?
With the OB or endocrinologist?
With the OB, I realized child birth is a beautiful thing... but not really a beautiful thing... OB's are cool but I am not interested in any specialties where I have to work on or see children on a regular basis. I love kids, I want kids.. just hate to see them sick or injured... there's nothing worse than that.

The endocrinologist.. idk I got the vibe he hated being an endocrinologist. He was bored himself and we read journals and saw no patients. Then we looked at slides and talked about endocrine diseases. He even told me I "should've shadowed a cooler specialty because nothing interesting happens here."
 
Yea that's something I am also interested in. Namely sports med. The idealist in me wants to pursue ortho, but realistically I know it's a hella competitive residency. So I've been looking into physiatrics (PM&R), gen surg, and my pre-med interest in surgery makes me think aneesthesiology could be really cool even if you aren't doing the surgery itself.
I'm even debating doing the athletic trainer route, even though it would be hella different then my plan a
Have you guys shadowed an orthopedic surgeon before?
 
With the OB or endocrinologist?
With the OB, I realized child birth is a beautiful thing... but not really a beautiful thing... OB's are cool but I am not interested in any specialties where I have to work on or see children on a regular basis. I love kids, I want kids.. just hate to see them sick or injured... there's nothing worse than that.

The endocrinologist.. idk I got the vibe he hated being an endocrinologist. He was bored himself and we read journals and saw no patients. Then we looked at slides and talked about endocrine diseases. He even told me I "should've shadowed a cooler specialty because nothing interesting happens here."


+1 on the not really a beautiful thing, but pretty amazing 😀

Oh no, that's awful... it's the most depressing thing to shadow a physician who doesn't want to be a physician. It's also really frustrating when you talk to older docs about how they got into medicine and their reasons would completely not pass muster today.. One--granted, a really good professor and physician--said she was 50/50 between large animal veterinary and human medicine, applied to both and got into both, and chose medicine because it was during an economic downturn and job security for large animal vets was nil. Can you imagine saying that during an interview...
 
Hey y'all,

Long time lurker here, will be applying this summer to schools. Quick question - I took the MCAT July 2012 and wanted to use this score for my application (The idea of studying and relearning everything again after undergrad sounds like a nightmare). I know the AMCAS website says scores are usually valid for 2-3 years, but is there anything more specific, like at which schools, and is it 2-3 years before application (Summer 2014) or before matriculation (Fall 2015)?

I know it's a lot, but hopefully someone can shed some light and let me know if I have to take it again before the summer.
 
Hey y'all,

Long time lurker here, will be applying this summer to schools. Quick question - I took the MCAT July 2012 and wanted to use this score for my application (The idea of studying and relearning everything again after undergrad sounds like a nightmare). I know the AMCAS website says scores are usually valid for 2-3 years, but is there anything more specific, like at which schools, and is it 2-3 years before application (Summer 2014) or before matriculation (Fall 2015)?

I know it's a lot, but hopefully someone can shed some light and let me know if I have to take it again before the summer.

3 years before matriculation. I think you're good, but you will have to retake if you apply in 2015. I took it in 2010, and I'm re-taking it this May. I definitely don't have that intuition for chemistry/physics/orgo anymore, so studying is much more difficult than back then.
 
...no shadowing of any specialty?
Nope, none. But I volunteer in a hospital, in PT right next to the prosthetics dept. so I see what physiatrists do on a regular basis (at least in prosthetics). Plus I often see the mass of surgery MD students/residents rounding or in their 8-person team pimping or w/e talking about such and such conditions/treatment options.

In my volunteer experience in high school in the recovery room I was able to listen as the surgeons gave like a verbal summary/recollection of the entire procedure on the phone (to what I assumed was some kind of scribe -ish?).

Plus I've watched like 100 episodes of scrubs.

But like I said, the obvious "flaw" (aka missing checkbox) in my app atm.
 
Nope, none. But I volunteer in a hospital, in PT right next to the prosthetics dept. so I see what physiatrists do on a regular basis (at least in prosthetics). Plus I often see the mass of surgery MD students/residents rounding or in their 8-person team pimping or w/e talking about such and such conditions/treatment options.

In my volunteer experience in high school in the recovery room I was able to listen as the surgeons gave like a verbal summary/recollection of the entire procedure on the phone (to what I assumed was some kind of scribe -ish?).

Plus I've watched like 100 episodes of scrubs.

But like I said, the obvious "flaw" (aka missing checkbox) in my app atm.

Does your university have an associated med school and/or teaching hospital?
 
Tsk tsk. And cramming chem requirements too... Rough.
It falls somewhere between March 24th and June 5th in case you're wondering. The first date is based on a fleeting hope in which I'm focusing all my energy, but would prefer not to discuss in the event it turns out badly; and the second date is the day I plan to submit my AMCAS.
 
I loved shadowing as well and was fortunate to have only good experiences... but I found it so incredibly difficult to find a physician to shadow (none of my family/friends know any health professionals at all).

In an odd stroke of luck, I ended up meeting a vascular surgeon while taking my car in for repairs. It was a long wait, so we just sat around the waiting room, making idle small talk. Long story short, after chatting with the surgeon for a while I asked if he knew of anyone that I could shadow. He was kind enough to let me come in on some of his surgical case-heavy days and hooked me up with other colleagues that wouldn't mind having a lowly undergrad trail along. That rounded out to be an awesome summer.

tl;dr: talk to strangers at auto dealerships, b/c you may end up shadowing them

But my university pre-health office and hospital volunteer gig were horrid at suggesting shadowing options. They basically said "Well, you must know someone who knows a doctor! Or shadow your own doctor!" (The HMO I go to actually forbids shadowing). I wish I knew of a sure-fire way to secure a shadowing opportunity, but if I had not been so stupidly lucky I doubt I would have gotten any substantial shadowing in.
 
tl;dr: talk to strangers at auto dealerships, b/c you may end up shadowing them
I was always taught not to talk to strangers 😛

I agree, shadowing was difficult for me at first as well but once I met the right people things workout.

I hated hearing "you should know at least one doctor, shadow them" thing because at one point the only person I knew in the medical field here was my old roommate who had just got accepted to med school a couple years ago...

OMG.. I just got your name:smack: now i'm hungry lol
Edit again: I just realized the nutella is in your avatar... i'm slow forgive me lol
 
I was always taught not to talk to strangers 😛

I agree, shadowing was difficult for me at first as well but once I met the right people things workout.

I hated hearing "you should know at least one doctor, shadow them" thing because at one point the only person I knew in the medical field here was my old roommate who had just got accepted to med school a couple years ago...

OMG.. I just got your name:smack: now i'm hungry lol
Edit again: I just realized the nutella is in your avatar... i'm slow forgive me lol

Ugh, ditto to that. I'm glad you were able find the right people!

Yes. Nutella is always the answer. (Except when you spontaneously gain 10 lbs in the span of a summer and realize that you may need to stop eating nutella-smothered French bread every morning for breakfast...).
 
I loved shadowing as well and was fortunate to have only good experiences... but I found it so incredibly difficult to find a physician to shadow (none of my family/friends know any health professionals at all).

In an odd stroke of luck, I ended up meeting a vascular surgeon while taking my car in for repairs. It was a long wait, so we just sat around the waiting room, making idle small talk. Long story short, after chatting with the surgeon for a while I asked if he knew of anyone that I could shadow. He was kind enough to let me come in on some of his surgical case-heavy days and hooked me up with other colleagues that wouldn't mind having a lowly undergrad trail along. That rounded out to be an awesome summer.

tl;dr: talk to strangers at auto dealerships, b/c you may end up shadowing them

But my university pre-health office and hospital volunteer gig were horrid at suggesting shadowing options. They basically said "Well, you must know someone who knows a doctor! Or shadow your own doctor!" (The HMO I go to actually forbids shadowing). I wish I knew of a sure-fire way to secure a shadowing opportunity, but if I had not been so stupidly lucky I doubt I would have gotten any substantial shadowing in.

Hahaha that's such a crazy story!!! Wow, that's awesome. I'm impressed.

None of my experiences have been like awful or anything, but some have just been okay. Like I shadowed a neurosurgeon, and he never said a word to me ever other than, "Stand there and don't touch anything" and, "Bye" at the end of the surgery. He didn't explain what they were about to do or anything. So it was cool, but not very interesting because I had no idea what was happening, haha. A few of my experiences were GREAT though -- the physicians engaged with me by asking me questions about what I thought the diagnoses were, how I would go about figuring them out, etc. They gave me literature to read regarding the diseases of the upcoming patients. It was awesome. And, of course, I feel very strongly that scribing is the best shadowing experience there is, as it is active observation.

But I need a PCP to shadow....
 
Hahaha that's such a crazy story!!! Wow, that's awesome. I'm impressed.

None of my experiences have been like awful or anything, but some have just been okay. Like I shadowed a neurosurgeon, and he never said a word to me ever other than, "Stand there and don't touch anything" and, "Bye" at the end of the surgery. He didn't explain what they were about to do or anything. So it was cool, but not very interesting because I had no idea what was happening, haha. A few of my experiences were GREAT though -- the physicians engaged with me by asking me questions about what I thought the diagnoses were, how I would go about figuring them out, etc. They gave me literature to read regarding the diseases of the upcoming patients. It was awesome. And, of course, I feel very strongly that scribing is the best shadowing experience there is, as it is active observation.

But I need a PCP to shadow....
Docs like that are awesome!
One of the older surgeons I shadow pimps me in the OR... The questions are extremely hard but he teaches me cools stuff and lets me see a lot. The trade off is he hurts my feelings when I get the questions wrong 😢
 
What happened to your sig line @Agent B? Hmm why does the top post only have the sig line lol.
 
@nOchemallday You might be surprised by who knows someone! One doc I shadow is that father of one of my mom's Chinese school students... and another one is the college (undergrad) classmate of my dad's coworker 😀 It takes some devoted sleuthing if you are pretty distant from any medical peeps.
 
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