Do medical schools verify clinical experience hours?

[deleted688779]

Background: I started to work with the medical center of my university this past June, which was the "official" start date of that term. However I was able to start earlier and got about 50 hours in before the "official" start date, doing the exact same work type of work and interacting with patients in the same way. Unfortunately since I did those hours prior to the "official" term, they didn't accept or record those 50 hours. I'm wondering if I can still report those hours on my application, since I did the exact same work but not credited due to how the system works.

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[NotASerialKiller]

50 hours will not make or break your application. If a med school decides to check your references and calls and asks them how many hours you did, and they say exactly 50 less than you claimed, you'll be auto-rejected. Absolutely no reason to risk it.

 

[Cookie04]

They might. I'm assuming that you're applying through AMCAS, and if I remember correctly you have to input contact information. Although 50 hours might seem like a lot, it isn't that significant when looking at your application as a whole.

 

[Azete]

I'm going to go against some of the other advice and tell you to include the 50 hours. The chances of them verifying are extremely small, and if they do you can offer the same explanation you did here. AMCAS asks how many hours you've worked, not how many hours they recorded.

 

[tenblackalps]

I'm going to go against some of the other advice and tell you to include the 50 hours. The chances of them verifying are extremely small, and if they do you can offer the same explanation you did here. AMCAS asks how many hours you've worked, not how many hours they recorded.

+1

You can include future hours in amcas, and those 50 hours you have already done are more legitimate than tentative future hours. Just because those hours have no paper trail doesn't mean a lot in my opinion.

I ran a volunteering program and was the person who logged everyone's hours including my own. What's the difference between my verification in this instance and your own undocumented hours OP?

 

[wasteofspace323]

50 hours will not make or break your application. If a med school decides to check your references and calls and asks them how many hours you did, and they say exactly 50 less than you claimed, you'll be auto-rejected. Absolutely no reason to risk it.

For people applying with 200-300 hours of clinical experience, its a good 1/4th to 1/6th; if he has significantly below average hours it could even be a half or so. Additionally, as has already been said, the chance of them actually verifying is obscenely small. Thirdly, he actually did them and could probably verify it in some way if he was really pressed to. If they do decide to contact the facility, I doubt they'll ask for an exact record of his time working there; its more likely verification of employment/volunteering.

 

[deleted688779]

Thanks for the replies everyone. By the time I apply I will have about 350 documented hours (assuming no screw up happens) so the 50 here will push it up to about 400, and that's why I'm even considering this. However, I'm still a bit uneasy about the off chance that they do happen to check because I am almost certain my university will reject the claim to those hours (the ones responsible for recording the hours are planning to leave pretty soon).

 

[deliciouscookies]

Thanks for the replies everyone. By the time I apply I will have about 350 documented hours (assuming no screw up happens) so the 50 here will push it up to about 400, and that's why I'm even considering this.

350 hours is already an impressive amount of time that the difference between 400 and 350 is pretty inconsequential. At this point, you'll have to weigh if you value an extra 50 hours more so than peace of mind that come with knowing that no one can question the validity of your app.

 

[ivorypearls]

You could potentially add that in when describing the activity, but I agree with the above. 50 hours is not worth the consequences.

 

[LizzyM]

Because this is somehow tied to your university record, there is the risk that one of your letters of recommendation will "helpfully" include accolades for your 350 hours of volunteer service. If you list 400 on the AMCAS application, the discrepancy might raise eyebrows whereas if this were not connected and documented by your school, you could say 350 or 400 and it would be highly unlikely to be verified by AMCAS or any adcom. Given the circumstances, you should just forget about those 50 hours. No one can take away what you learned from those hours or the good feeling you have from having been of service, but you aren't getting brownie points for them. Altruism!

 

[gyngyn]

There is no perceived difference between 350 and 400 hours.