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This forum frequently gets questions along the lines of Im a pre med. Should I go get an EMT cert to boost my application or do research or shadowing instead? To try to answer these questions, some time back, I wrote a FAQ page entitled "Will EMS Help My Med School Application? I put forward a few ideas which I still believe to be true:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=529768
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=538690
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=528683
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=482714
http://www.studentdoctor.net/blog/2008/01/09/forum-flashback-should-i-become-an-emt/
As always, good luck to everyone in their educational and professional goals and if you're on the streets stay safe.
- There are better ways to enhance a medical school application than by training and experience in EMS.
- EMS is its own distinct, challenging and rewarding profession. For med school hopefuls to treat it as an extracurricular activity such as volunteering or shadowing diminishes that profession.
- Students who take up training slots to get EMS credentials only for the sake of applying to med school are displacing other students looking to embark on careers in EMS.
- I am not saying EMS is not valuable. I am saying that for pre meds looking to enhance their applications EMS is a time consuming commitment that will not factor into a medical school acceptance as much as better grades and MCAT scores.
- I am not saying that those in EMS who decide to go to medical school will not have some advantages. I am specifically talking about pre meds looking around for ways to buff up an application.
- EMS experience does help once in medical school. It just does not make up for lower grades and scores when trying to get accepted to medical school.
- EMS experience may help when it comes to getting particular residencies such as Emergency Medicine. Thats not the same is getting into medical school in the first place.
Because this topic has generated so much discussion that it is detracting from the FAQ I am going to move the original post into the general FAQ thread. I will move the discussion posts from the FAQ into this thread and sticky this thread for as long as it stays active. Im going to leave the various other threads that discuss the same topic (links below) as separate threads. Use the links to peruse them at your leisure. Use this thread to discuss this issue and all the differing viewpoints.Most of the negative comments are due to people misunderstanding the intent of the article. This piece was originally written as a FAQ page for the EMS forum on SDN. It was intended to head off the very frequently asked question Should I get an EMS cert to help my chances of getting into medical school? I stand by my assertion that for students with the ultimate goal of going to med school investing time in EMS solely to enhance their CV is not the way to go. That time would be better spent in other ways and it takes up a spot in EMS training that could otherwise be used by someone who intends to practice EMS. Realize that I am talking about those who are on the med school track and looking for CV padding. Im not talking about people (like me) who got into EMS to practice EMS and then decided to go into medicine. I have a very high opinion of EMS and I am the medical director for an EMS training program teaching all levels, FR through EMT-P. I would think we can all agree that directing pre-meds with no goals other than CV building and med school acceptance into EMS training cheats them, the system and the legitimate students they displace.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=529768
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=538690
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=528683
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=482714
http://www.studentdoctor.net/blog/2008/01/09/forum-flashback-should-i-become-an-emt/
As always, good luck to everyone in their educational and professional goals and if you're on the streets stay safe.