Clinic experience/ECs/shadowing for a non-trad?

[sunshinegirl0808]

Getting clinic experience/patient contact/ECs/shadowing hours/volunteerism as a non-trad student can be difficult. Non-trads often have a family to support, a job, a mortgage, etc.. So besides the time spent taking classes and doing MCAT prep, there is not much time left for these other elements. Do admission committees acknowledge this? Or are they still expecting hundreds of hours of volunteering, shadowing, getting clinic experience for non-trads just like a traditional student? Interested in hearing everyone's thoughts on this. Thanks

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[PapaGuava]

Thread moved to the Nontraditional Students forum.

 

[Campana]

I can't speak for adcoms, but being the type of non-trad you describe, I can tell you that I didn't expect to be treated differently.

I volunteered in a variety of clinical settings before beginning my post bacc and then again after my post-bacc ended and I was studying for the MCAT and working on my application (primary/secondaries). My post-bacc was at nights five days a week for two years. And, as described, this was in addition to my full time job and parenting responsibilities (lots of food, lots of laundry, lots of sports, lots of scouts, lots of kids HW, etc.) I kept up my previous community based volunteering from long before starting down this path as well. I slipped in a bit of shadowing here and there.

But, I think our experiences look very different than the traditional applicant. I don't think we tend to have leadership exemplified as president of a club. Instead, we have a career where perhaps we've managed a team of employees or served on the PTA or Foundation. Perhaps we volunteer at a homeless shelter, a domestic violence service - which I suspect is very similar to the regular undergrad.

My understanding is that these extra experiences are meant to ensure to adcoms a few important attributes that future physicians should have:
1 - clinical volunteering shows that you give back and that you have an awareness of the messiness of medicine and patients
2 - shadowing shows that you understand the doctor role, including the mundane tasks
3 - non-clinical volunteering shows compassion, that you like to give back to the community and recognize your role as someone who can make a difference in society

So, perhaps it won't look the same as a traditional applicant, but I do see value in these activities and what they convey as part of an application.

 

[deleted967981]

I was out of school 15 years raising kids. I have thousands of hours of volunteering on my application, and a large portion of it is due to my kids: PTA, school committees, coaching little league, fundraising for band, sports teams, and clubs, volunteering at our church, etc. I added some hospice volunteering when I went back to school and did a shadowing program for two summers where I got in 100+ hours. The only thing I couldn't manage to fit in was research, but I chose a mission-based school that didn't care about that.

It's not hard to rack up over 100 hours volunteering in the course of a year...just do a few hours every week, consistently. Choose something where you both volunteer and get patient contact (why I chose hospice), and you kill two birds with one stone. If you need nonclinical volunteering and you have kids, either volunteer with their activities, or find something you can do as a family (animal shelter, providing meals to the homeless shelter, packing boxes at the food bank, etc). If they're too young to participate and still need constant supervision, you'll have to find a way to trade babysitting or have a significant other or family member help out for a while. Also, medical school isn't going anywhere...you can stretch things out another year if necessary to get everything done. Think marathon, not sprint.

 

[stayathomemom]

I was out of school 15 years raising kids. I have thousands of hours of volunteering on my application, and a large portion of it is due to my kids: PTA, school committees, coaching little league, fundraising for band, sports teams, and clubs, volunteering at our church, etc. I added some hospice volunteering when I went back to school and did a shadowing program for two summers where I got in 100+ hours. The only thing I couldn't manage to fit in was research, but I chose a mission-based school that didn't care about that.

It's not hard to rack up over 100 hours volunteering in the course of a year...just do a few hours every week, consistently. Choose something where you both volunteer and get patient contact (why I chose hospice), and you kill two birds with one stone. If you need nonclinical volunteering and you have kids, either volunteer with their activities, or find something you can do as a family (animal shelter, providing meals to the homeless shelter, packing boxes at the food bank, etc). If they're too young to participate and still need constant supervision, you'll have to find a way to trade babysitting or have a significant other or family member help out for a while. Also, medical school isn't going anywhere...you can stretch things out another year if necessary to get everything done. Think marathon, not sprint.

Basically exactly my experience, too. Are we the same person? LOL

Do something you enjoy, that helps others, that perhaps you can also do as a family or with friends. Just do it consistently. I also recommend getting out of your comfort zone. It will be...well, uncomfortable, but it will help to embiggen your perspective.