Clinical Hours Question

[velvetcoffee]

*deleted*

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[whenthelightsgo_OUT]

You obviously have clinical experience. It is now up to you to decide whether or not scribing will be beneficial to you. Application wise, it definitely helps. But if your heart is already set on medicine, I can see why you don't think scribing is necessary.

 

[chilly_md]

To be safe, you’d need more than that. 100 hours isn’t much and some admissions readers will write you off if your only experience was playing with kids in the hospital as opposed to something that is more pertinent to their healthcare.

 

[LizzyM]

Being with sick/injured children in an in-patient setting is a fine clinical experience. Usually at least 150 hours before you submit the application would be a minimum you should seek to achieve. In some cases, it may be best to apply as a graduating senior rather than a rising senior to maximize things like volunteering as well as (sometimes) giving the gpa a bit of a boost.

 

[chilly_md]

Such as? Volunteering and shadowing are really the only two things open in Texas beyond scribing and PCT which don't work for my school schedule

If you can, check to see if you can double up on how many times you volunteer during the week then. I would still try to scribe if you want to apply this upcoming cycle instead of waiting till next, though I understand they tend to be rigid about scheduling your shifts. If you’re in Texas, then TMDAS schools should understand the situation more and you have the high GPA they are looking for.

For another opinion, a former director thought having about 110 hours wasn’t enough over 8 months:

Q&A With a Former Dean of Admissions and TMDSAS Director

Session 431 Dr. Scott Wright and Rachel Grubbs join me for a live Q&A to answer questions on clinical hours, personal statements, GPA median,

medicalschoolhq.net

150 is the minimum and you’ll get that, but that tended to be the standard 5 years ago. Things have gotten more competitive

 

[chilly_md]

Yea, I was planning on scribing my senior year when I barely have any courses, but this is after my application... Im wondering if I should even apply since I have a lack of like a clinical job. This summer I could also scribe but I got offered to do research at like a top medical school and really want to do it. However, I feel like research is no longer helping my application.... idk.

I would focus on the MCAT with your time right now and try to scribe your senior year. Then, you’ve got winter and spring to get your ducks in a row with letters of rec, personal statement, activity descriptions on TMDAS.

Research, I think you’ve accomplished more than most students already. If you’re not interested in MD-PhD, I don’t think you need any more but the timeline works for you to do it if it’s something you enjoy. Baylor would at least appreciate it.

 

[LizzyM]

Oh, perfect! I think i'll hit 200 before I apply. Our hospitals around my school just wanted no one in them all of sophomore year (understandably). Is only 100 hours of shadowing okay? Working on that too --> trying to reach 150 but that's been hard as well. I think I've just mostly focused on research, grades, and outside volunteering so I lack the other two. Im not aiming for the stars here. I'm from Texas, just want to get in somewhere.

Thank you for your expertise!

50 hours of shadowing is fine .... 100 is too much! Spend your time doing something rather than just watching.

 

[chilly_md]

So should I just go ahead and plan for a gap year... or try to apply this cycle. I guess the MCAT might be the deciding factor. ALSO, it's funny you mention Baylor because they're one of the schools that offered me the research job HA!

Hahaha, if you’ve got Baylor high on your list, maybe getting an LOR from there would be good. Then I would definitely take the gap year.

When are you scheduled for the MCAT? And how’s it looking for the other things I mentioned like other letters, personal statement etc? Those things you need about 2 months for, letters are easier if you already know who’s writing them and you can e-mail them January or February.

 

[chilly_md]

I'm a junior so im just on the normal schedule taking it April or May. The Baylor research would be over the summer! Idk when all the LoR stuff happens not going to lie. I just know Im currently on track. I was just super worried about not having one million scribing hours because it DOES NOT work with my schedule and probably won't until senior year which is after the cycle. I know I can update/future predict tho. We do the committee letter and I know my school is starting that January. As for my other writers, I know who they would be but idk what schools need them and such.

Yeah as LizzyM said, 50 hours of shadowing with a few different specialities is good. You’ve got that down with your school giving you a scare about needed so much more than that.

I’d be comfortable with 250-300 hours of clinical experience. Scribing can get you there in a short time and that would help, but you can try to volunteer more to get around there if you want to apply this year. Make sure you can talk about specific experiences with kids (while maintaining privacy) in essays, those kinds of things make up why medicine a lot for the personal statement. If you’re drawing up a blank, then take the gap year. But if you can confidently talk/write about it, then here’s what you should do to stay on track:

If your school does a committee letter, then just check with them next month about what they need from you and if you need to provide them names of professors to attach their letters to it. Generally, you need 2 science lors and 1 non science like English, writing, history etc. You can throw a research one in too since you had 1000 hours already and I assume your PI must really appreciate you! The committee can tell you if they wanted anything else, so just keep contact with them to make sure everything is done right.

I mentioned a bit about the personal statement already. See if the committee wants that before writing your letter. Otherwise, you can do most of it while waiting for your MCAT score to come back in April. Also work on the descriptions. The character limits and format are available online and there’s probably a sdn thread about it.

 

[chilly_md]

OH wow. thank you so much; I am so grateful for your help. I have a tiny question. I know doctor's don't all do research, but I actually want to. I actually think research is a huge part of being a doctor, WHICH is why I like Baylor's mission (for example although a lot of schools push research). Is my personal statement not allowed to mention research. Basically, everything I've done involves cancer/the immune system. Started with my mom being diagnosed with lupus and wanting to find some kind of cure --> immunotherapy research for cancer. Volunteering in an oncology unit, shadowing oncologists (and then various others). But, I do have a theme and there's a reason I did so much research. I want to always do the clinical/translational research! Is think allowed?

No problem! There are varying opinions about mentioning research. You have a big theme that would be a great thing to base your app on and I will link a person’s application with their essays to give you an idea as you share a lot of similar aspects. She was an MD/PhD applicant but I think (and the reader says it too) the personal statement was a great balance of saying why medicine without randomly injecting her research qualifications/ignoring the person behind each patient.

That’s the mistake people tend to make, or that they have weaker GPAs or MCATs that make research oriented schools pass on them (I don’t mean like 3.7 vs 3.8, but something like having a 3.4 without an upward trend/post bacc work). You have an excellent track record and I think as long as you are in range with the MCAT score, they will love to hear your story.

 

[LizzyM]

You could focus your application on lupus and cancer....

"it was lupus that got the ball rolling. When my mother was diagnosed in [year], I wanted to understand what was going on and how, perhaps, someday I could be part of finding a cure and helping patients like her.

Although lupus got the ball rolling, it has been oncology that has kept me moving forward through research, shadowing and hospital volunteering. [insert a paragraph about each activity.]

Summary paragraph about the myriad specialties that touch on the care of patients with cancer and your hope to be a physician that makes a difference in the lives of individual patients and moves the ball forward in finding treatments and perhaps even cures for patients with cancer and done!

 

[chilly_md]

Thank you! Excited to watch that. Finally, do you have recommendations for other things I can do to get clinical experience. I guess I will try to basically stop shadowing and get as much clinical as I can so that I'm not super weak in that area!

I would say keep working with the kids in the volunteering opportunity you have now and see if you can do hospice/long-term care volunteering as well. That should be more flexible hours and a lower time commitment, but you get exposure to patients near the end of their lives. Admissions doesn’t get too many students who appreciate how emotional that can be, and typically these facilities are open to volunteers. I assume if the oncology wards are open, this should be as well.

Edit: just remembered, the video is AMCAS, so those bigger activity descriptions you see will have a much shorter character limit on TMDAS if I remember right. So that should give you more time to add those things to your personal statement and secondaries instead

 

[LizzyM]

You are so talented. Thanks haha. I think i’m just stressed about not scribing like I see everyone do on here. I know volunteering isn’t the best way to get exposed but i’ve met so many people and really loved it. Same with shadowing.

We often talk about cookie cutter applicants and scribing is one layer of those cookie cutter sandwich cookies.

Hausfreunde Recipe

Food & Wine’s chocolate-dipped hausfreunde are the perfect Christmas cookies.

www.foodandwine.com

Fancy with all the bells and whistles but all.the.same.
Having something a bit different is refreshing. 🙂

 

[candbgirl]

You don’t need scribing. Do what you like to do. You seem to like your volunteering so stick with it. Clinical experience can be paid or volunteer, so what you are doing is just fine. And I personally think you have far more interactions with patients and their family doing what you are doing. And you have enough Shadowing. Good luck on the MCAT.

 

[Goro]

Being with sick/injured children in an in-patient setting is a fine clinical experience. Usually at least 150 hours before you submit the application would be a minimum you should seek to achieve. In some cases, it may be best to apply as a graduating senior rather than a rising senior to maximize things like volunteering as well as (sometimes) giving the gpa a bit of a boost.

Agree 100% with my learned colleague.