Clinical Hours

[premed12324]

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If I start my clinical hours right now and apply in June. Would that be okay if I aim to get 150-250 hours of clinical work by the time I apply? Plus, another 300-500 projected.

 

[KnightDoc]

If I start my clinical hours right now and apply in June. Would that be okay if I aim to get 150-250 hours of clinical work by the time I apply? Plus, another 300-500 projected.

Are you still in school? If so, you need to realize that 2/3 of all matriculants take at least one gap year. If you haven't done anything to date, 150 hours accumulated over 5 months prior to applying, with several hundred more "projected," are going to pale in comparison to competitive applicants. Projected hours just don't receive the same weight because, well, they're projected and can and often do change, especially if people become less motivated if As start rolling in.

If you have a 3.9+ and a 520+, and spectacular other ECs, you might be able to get away with it. Otherwise, you might need more than 5 months of 30-50 hours per month just before applying to be competitive. JMHO as a fellow future applicant, but I have way more than that, accumulated over 3 years, and felt it wasn't enough to apply this cycle! 😎

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

JMHO as a fellow future applicant, but I have way more than that, accumulated over 3 years, and felt it wasn't enough to apply this cycle! 😎

You have more than 100 clinical hours and didn't apply?, must be listening to wrong people 🙂 it all depends on you complete app, high stats and very meaningful but around 100 hrs is sufficient for lot of schools but you see people recommending hundreds of hours.

 

[KnightDoc]

You have more than 100 clinical hours and didn't apply?, must be listening to wrong people 🙂 it all depends on you complete app, high stats and very meaningful but around 100 hrs is sufficient for lot of schools but you see people recommending hundreds of hours.

Yes, I have more than 100 clinical hours (I also have plenty of non-clinical hours) and didn't apply, and the people I listened to are the experts on SDN!!!! 😎

As you keep saying, it depends on a complete app. I had no research due to COVID, and, although I am never going to be a research stud, I didn't want to destroy my chances at schools that consider it important.

The biggest thing for me, though, was the whole MCAT thing in the spring. That f***ed everything up by not allowing me to have a score until mid August. It also interfered with my ability to focus on apps between April, when I was supposed to take the test, and August, when I finally did after another false start in the beginning of June.

I took all the wise adcoms' advice not to rush it because schools weren't going anywhere. Under the circumstances, given the huge increase in applicants, I probably dodged a bullet this cycle.

 

[LaughingGas10]

Yes, I have more than 100 clinical hours (I also have plenty of non-clinical hours) and didn't apply, and the people I listened to are the experts on SDN!!!! 😎

As you keep saying, it depends on a complete app. I had no research due to COVID, and, although I am never going to be a research stud, I didn't want to destroy my chances at schools that consider it important.

The biggest thing for me, though, was the whole MCAT thing in the spring. That f***ed everything up by not allowing me to have a score until mid August. It also interfered with my ability to focus on apps between April, when I was supposed to take the test, and August, when I finally did after another false start in the beginning of June.

I took all the wise adcoms' advice not to rush it because schools weren't going anywhere. Under the circumstances, given the huge increase in applicants, I probably dodged a bullet this cycle.

I agree with @EdgeTrimmer , that if you have good stats and 100-200 clinical hours it is worth applying. there are some schools which value number of hours more (Rush is one of them).

If you have a worthwhile year, doing something constructive and growing up, it is Ok to take a gap year.

 

[KnightDoc]

I agree with @EdgeTrimmer , that if you have good stats and 100-200 clinical hours it is worth applying. there are some schools which value number of hours more (Rush is one of them).

If you have a worthwhile year, doing something constructive and growing up, it is Ok to take a gap year.

Thanks!! I wasn't worried about my clinical hours. As I said, I had other, COVID induced gaps (research and MCAT) that I decided to address rather than rushing to stick to a schedule. I wasn't planning on the gap year, but here it comes!! 😎

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

If you have a worthwhile year, doing something constructive and growing up, it is Ok to take a gap year.

Not sure how much are those can be accomplished during Covid restrictions.

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

Yes, I have more than 100 clinical hours (I also have plenty of non-clinical hours) and didn't apply, and the people I listened to are the experts on SDN!!!! 😎

As you keep saying, it depends on a complete app. I had no research due to COVID, and, although I am never going to be a research stud, I didn't want to destroy my chances at schools that consider it important.

The biggest thing for me, though, was the whole MCAT thing in the spring. That f***ed everything up by not allowing me to have a score until mid August. It also interfered with my ability to focus on apps between April, when I was supposed to take the test, and August, when I finally did after another false start in the beginning of June.

I took all the wise adcoms' advice not to rush it because schools weren't going anywhere. Under the circumstances, given the huge increase in applicants, I probably dodged a bullet this cycle.

I can see MCAT delay as valid reason, but not sure about research part. Do you think you would have been a strong candidate for T20s with one summer research? I am not an expert to have an opinion on that.

 

[Catalystik]

If I start my clinical hours right now and apply in June. Would that be okay if I aim to get 150-250 hours of clinical work by the time I apply? Plus, another 300-500 projected.

Is there any verifiable activity you plan to list on your application that would suggest you've considered medicine as a career before December 2020?

 

[KnightDoc]

I can see MCAT delay as valid reason, but not sure about research part. Do you think you would have been a strong candidate for T20s with one summer research? I am not an expert to have an opinion on that.

???? Strong?? I dunno. I guess that is relative. I was told I'd need SOME research to have a viable application. My interest isn't strong enough to support 4 years of research, consequently I don't have it. I understand it's possible to be admitted with no research, but that is a very long shot at some schools. So, the plan was to have the summer, plus this year, plus a senior thesis. If that wouldn't have been enough, then I guess I wouldn't have been a strong candidate. As it is, I'll have even less now, since I don't have anything going right now other than the senior thesis.

But, I WILL have the gap year, and my expectation is things will begin to go back to normal by next summer. I know, projected activities aren't the same as completed ones, but, COVID. I also don't think schools will be in a position to be as picky about this for the next year or two, because I am not the only person impacted in this way. The same way they made MCAT accommodation due to the critical mass of people affected, schools will either adjust EC expectations down due to the COVID impact, or they will limit themselves to reapplicants from the past few cycles, who already have the hours, until things go back to normal and people have an opportunity to re-engage in in-person ECs.

I'm betting on schools being unwilling to do this for the same reason the adcoms here weren't right, even though med schools weren't going anywhere, and AAMC moved heaven and earth to make the MCAT happen so as not to exclude tens of thousands of people from the 2020-21 cycle, thereby forcing the schools to be limited to people who took the exam before last March. If I'm wrong, I'll be a reapplicant.

There is no need to dissect this, because it wasn't one thing, it was everything -- no research, no MCAT until late, and no ability to get an early or "on time" start on apps due to continuing overhang of MCAT. Again the gap year wasn't planned, but it is never a terrible thing, notwithstanding certain parents' issue with a year of lost wages.

Knowing what my app would have looked like under the circumstances, and now seeing the huge increase in applicants (which was never part of my calculus), I am not unhappy with how things worked out. In a perfect world this wouldn't have been the year a once in a lifetime pandemic struck, but, there's never really a good time for that (is there?) and this is where I find myself.

 

[premed12324]

Is there any verifiable activity you plan to list on your application that would suggest you've considered medicine as a career before December 2020?

I have started an organization on campus to host free clinics in diabetes and hypertension screening. (Over thousands of people who have had not had access to such screenings and doctor's visits were able to do so). At these clinics, we brought in cell phone providers to see if some people qualified for a free cell phone, in which they were able to track their health visits. We also worked with the food bank to help provide food at these clinics. Most of the time has been doing this and also summer research within the pharmaceutical industry in patient engagement and advocacy. We have also held multiple educational seminars at the high school level to improve healthcare literacy of hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

 

[deleted1076141]

Clinical hours are important, but not the be all end all of applying. I had about 150 or so on my app, plenty of interviews and an acceptance to my top program.

 

[Putkernerinthehall]

Clinical hours are important, but not the be all end all of applying. I had about 150 or so on my app, plenty of interviews and an acceptance to my top program.

I tend to agree with this. 150-200 hours of truly clinical exposure is probably sufficient if the rest of the app is strong. Exceptions to this might be the 4-5 Jesuit schools, Rush, and maybe a few others I'm not aware of.

 

[deleted1076141]

I tend to agree with this. 150-200 hours of truly clinical exposure is probably sufficient if the rest of the app is strong. Exceptions to this might be the 4-5 Jesuit schools, Rush, and maybe a few others I'm not aware of.

For what it’s worth, I received IIs from Loyola and Creighton