Medical Do I have enough clinical hours?

Status
Not open for further replies.

tantacles

Full Member
Moderator Emeritus
Lifetime Donor
10+ Year Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2009
Messages
9,225
Reaction score
3,794
Hi! I was wondering if I should be concerned for my AMCAS application in regards to my clinical hours.

Here's what my application will show - In 2017 (my sophomore year of college), I worked as a trauma scribe for 103 hours (two months). In 2019-2020, I volunteered for 89 hours in a pediatric oncology and hematology unit of a hospital where I played with the pediatric patients while they were doing their treatments or waiting for their doctors.

For the volunteering, it was cut short by coronavirus, and I would've had at least 150 hours if not for the semester ending early. Also, my application is more focused around pediatrics and primary care as I have other experience with children and teens, and I shadowed a pediatrician for 100 hours in 2018.

I'm concerned that my hours from scribing may be somewhat disregarded due to the fact that I quit after a short period, and my reason for quitting was because I couldn't handle the reality of the job with 17 credits hours at unis. In hindsight, I have learned a lot more about balancing my time and persevering since then, but I wonder how much you see this experience as affecting my application, especially since it's 1 of only 2 clinical experiences.

Anyways, my question is - what do you think when you just see those two as my only clinical experiences (besides the peds shadowing which doesn't really count)? Do you see it as a red flag that I included my scribe job despite its short term? Am I in bad shape for applying? My GPA (3.87c, 3.82s), MCAT (514), non-clinical volunteering (1000+ h), research (800 h)and leadership (Pres of sorority among lots of other positions) are not really a concern for me, but I know clinical experience is super super super important so I wonder if it's a glaring red flag to AdComs and I shouldn't bother applying this year.

Thank you for your help in advance!!

It's a little sparse, but I think the other wealth of experiences you have could make up for it. The real question is when are you applying and what can you do about it? If you're applying this year, too late! Too bad!

If you're applying next year, find some more clinical experience, maybe some shadowing if you can swing it, and go for it.

By the way, you don't need to say why you quit your job on the application, and if asked, just say you had a great experience and left so you could focus on school. Many college students never get jobs at all.
Thank you for replying! I'm applying this cycle so you're right in that I can't do much about it besides pursuing more clinical volunteering and shadowing this year in anticipation of potentially having to reapply or sending updates to schools.

Although I wish I had calculated all this sooner like some time last year, I never really thought about my involvement in terms of the number of hours I was racking up. Anyways, I really appreciate your time and advice :)

Members don't see this ad.
 
I can't really say you're in a bad spot, but it will be challenging against the rest of the application pool where there will be applicants who have racked up more experiences than you have (but there will be some where you have more hours too). It's good you didn't try to stick it out at the cost of your academics or personal health.
Thanks for replying! That makes sense. Unfortunately, I actually ended up withdrawing from orgo 1 that semester because I was so behind from not studying while I had the job. Not great, but I took it the following semester and earned an A.

I'm currently applying during my gap year, and I'm working at my family's business (a school) full time for the year. The way I see it, if I get into a medical school, it would be my last opportunity to help my family in a big way as my mom is chronically stressed and my dad is having surgery soon and will be out of commission for a while. I was planning on searching for more clinical volunteering in the area, and I already have some other shadowing lined up. However, now I'm also thinking about working as a scribe again once things settle down in like September because the school will be more settled. I guess I'll just re-assess in August since everything should be submitted on my end by then for this cycle.

Thank you for your insight!
 
As stated above, clinical experience is lacking, but I think you have a very strong application otherwise. Are you dead-set on MD or are you open to DO? Are you interested in peds? If so, DO may be a good backup option for you as you would get many DO interviews with your application.
 
Thank you for your reply! Honestly, I've been going back and forth about whether I should also apply DO or not this cycle. I'd prefer MD because until recently, I was only planning and prepping for MD so I would have to re-work my app for AACOMAS. Also my friend in DO school said that DO comes with having to take another 2 big exams (COMLEX, I think), and she advised me to just focus on AMCAS this year. I fear over-extending myself and not putting forth my best in either app since I intend to apply to 30 MD schools. Do you know how late would be considered late for DO? For example, with AMCAS, I usually read gonnif saying that complete with secondaries by labor day is good, but I know that AACOMAS opened earlier.

Also, do you think that by the time I get a scribe job for more clinical experience in the fall, it probably won't be useful for my chances at an acceptance for this cycle?
Yeah, you would have to take COMLEX 1,2, and the PE in lieu of Step 1,2, CE (although many DOs take Step 1/2 as well).
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Thank you for your reply! Honestly, I've been going back and forth about whether I should also apply DO or not this cycle. I'd prefer MD because until recently, I was only planning and prepping for MD so I would have to re-work my app for AACOMAS. Also my friend in DO school said that DO comes with having to take another 2 big exams (COMLEX, I think), and she advised me to just focus on AMCAS this year. I fear over-extending myself and not putting forth my best in either app since I intend to apply to 30 MD schools. Do you know how late would be considered late for DO? For example, with AMCAS, I usually read gonnif saying that complete with secondaries by labor day is good, but I know that AACOMAS opened earlier.

Also, do you think that by the time I get a scribe job for more clinical experience in the fall, it probably won't be useful for my chances at an acceptance for this cycle?

A scribe job is something you could talk about at interviews, but if you acquire the job that late, it most likely will not affect you getting an interview.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top