clinical hours for med school????

[deleted1004337]

Hello,

I plan to apply next cycle (2020-2021) but currently have 0 clinical volunteer hours (unless you count some patient lab help i did while i was a hospital volunteer). I applied to some clinical volunteer places and will probs start in october. which means, by the time i submit my application, i will have only have ~72 hours. Is this good? this is a volunteer place that is close to my heart and isnt meaningless or is not being "used" to just check the box for med school. But, i genuinely haven't been able to commit to a clinical place that i liked because i am a full-time researcher and i am still taking classes. but, now that i have found a place, i am afraid that med schools will think its being used as a last-minute thing and im afraid that ~72 hours is not enough.
Please help me think.

here are my stats:
cGPA: 3.3
sGPA: 3.0
MCAT: yet to take
non-clinical volunteer hours: 200
research hours: over 1000

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[Butters Stotch]

I wouldn't count volunteering at a hospital "clinical hours" although some people may disagree. Your stats are below average/average (knock this final year out of the park as well as the mcat) so I would highly recommend getting a lot of clinical hours as possible (EMT, scribe, CNA). This will give you a competitive edge as well (DO schools love clinical experience)and it will give you a lot of experience and wisdom to talk about in your essays/interviews which will help you stand out.

 

[deleted1004337]

I wouldn't count volunteering at a hospital "clinical hours" although some people may disagree. Your stats are below average/average (knock this final year out of the park as well as the mcat) so I would highly recommend getting a lot of clinical hours as possible (EMT, scribe, CNA). This will give you a competitive edge as well (DO schools love clinical experience)and it will give you a lot of experience and wisdom to talk about in your essays/interviews which will help you stand out.

Thank you! I will definitely try to get 100-150 hours of clinical volunteering before i apply. I also know its about the quality and not the quantity but i want to make sure i am at least hitting the marks. Will definitely try my best to do well in the final year and the mcat as well.

 

[Butters Stotch]

no worries but by a lot i meant at least 500 hours (although the more the better as you want to distinguish your app from other people that are applying)

 

[deleted1004337]

no worries but by a lot i meant at least 500 hours (although the more the better as you want to distinguish your app from other people that are applying)

oh man. 500 is A LOT! from now till applications open. that's like a part-time job 🙁 idk how i am going to manage with my classes and research. and not to mention, studying for the mcat with the goal of doing super duper well.

is it just me or does everyone experience the whole scheduling conflict??!!

 

[Butters Stotch]

if you get a clinical experience job you can replace it with your research unless you really need/want that job. 500 is a lot but it also puts you on the upper echelon of applicants in regards to clinical experience. yeah scheduling conflict is something everyone faces and it will continue to get harder once your in medical school. I asked a dean of a medical school for a piece of advice he can give me and he told me the best toolset to have in tackling medical school is time management.

 

[deleted1004337]

if you get a clinical experience job you can replace it with your research unless you really need/want that job. 500 is a lot but it also puts you on the upper echelon of applicants in regards to clinical experience. yeah scheduling conflict is something everyone faces and it will continue to get harder once your in medical school. I asked a dean of a medical school for a piece of advice he can give me and he told me the best toolset to have in tackling medical school is time management.

I don’t i guess “need” the research job. But I’m part of this project and it will get published soon (which will take a couple of months). And I do a lot of talks and presentations about my project, so I think it’s just good to continue.
I understand, it’s honestly so difficult. I tried getting a scribing job but couldn’t land that job because of my schedule.
Okay, I guess I’ll move things around a bit and try to get as close to 500 as possible. Thank you

 

[WAMCBURNER]

Disagree with the other poster. The adcoms on this site have said that clinical volunteering + shadowing is sufficient clinical exposure (and Goro has said that he doesn't think that highly of scribing). That said, you do need some shadowing. Try and get at least 50 hours, any over 100 is just excessive, and at least some of it should be primary care. If you can do that, and up your clinical volunteer hours to 150 by application season, you should be fine. But most importantly, get good grades and a strong MCAT. Good luck!

(Also, for future reference, don't post threads in the school-specific thread forum)

 

[deleted1004337]

Disagree with the other poster. The adcoms on this site have said that clinical volunteering + shadowing is sufficient clinical exposure (and Goro has said that he doesn't think that highly of scribing). That said, you do need some shadowing. Try and get at least 50 hours, any over 100 is just excessive, and at least some of it should be primary care. If you can do that, and up your clinical volunteer hours to 150 by application season, you should be fine. But most importantly, get good grades and a strong MCAT. Good luck!

(Also, for future reference, don't post threads in the school-specific thread forum)

That’s great. Thank you! I will for sure have around 100 clinical experience hours by the time I apply without my schedule being too hectic.
I have 56 hours of shadowing as of right now, but I’m still talking to some doctors to get a little more.
But, yes I really need to focus on my classes and the mcat!!

And sorry! I’m new to SDN, and still learning my way around.