Does working at a hospital increase your chances of getting accepted?

[Readinglevelup]

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I already do volunteer work and I've been asked to work at a hospital. I live in the same street as the head of the hospital and he told me I could get a job at the hospital if I wanted. I'm already going to be volunteering at this hospital, so will this help out my resume even more?

He says that I can work almost anywhere and I said inside would be great. Then, he told me I could possibly work with patients!

This sounds like it can improve my resume quite well, but I just wanted StudentDoctor's input.

 

[toff4l]

I already do volunteer work and I've been asked to work at a hospital. I live in the same street as the head of the hospital and he told me I could get a job at the hospital if I wanted. I'm already going to be volunteering at this hospital, so will this help out my resume even more?

He says that I can work almost anywhere and I said inside would be great. Then, he told me I could possibly work with patients!

This sounds like it can improve my resume quite well, but I just wanted StudentDoctor's input.

I've got about 7 years of experience in a hospital, I hope it helps. I think it's marginally useful though. I know plenty more people in med school who never worked in a hospital.

 

[Propylene]

Paid clinical experience is great! Keep in mind that it's not an instant acceptance to med school (there are very few things that are). Any job that you can get life experience from, and speak about in your interviews, can help your application.

 

[NoMatterWhat]

What kind of jobs can you do in a hospital, (except clerkship)? I was looking, but no place would hire an undergrad = /

 

[Helen Wheels]

It all depends. Will you get a job with patient contact such as a nurses's aid or patient transporter? Or are they going to stick you in medical records doing clerical stuff where you never see a patient? The value of the job depends on whether you have direct contact with patients.

Another factor to consider is do you have time for a job? Are you a full time student? Will the hours the job requires interfere with your grades? You don't want your grades or MCAT prep to suffer.

 

[fightingillini]

I'm sure most competitive applicants do have many hours of volunteering or work experience to bolster their applications. It seems as though having many hours has been set as a standard.

 

[Readinglevelup]

@Propylene

Yes, of course, this is just a job that will allow me to speak to the interviewer about my experience with hospitals.

@NoMatterWhat
I'm not sure, I talked to him quickly enough, so I didn't get to go in detail. He did say working with patients, though.

@FuturePittMed
On top of volunteering at the hospital and working, I might be transporting patients to other hospitals via airplane with a nurse. But I know that it depends what kind of work. Like, my first year of volunteering wasn't really super hands-on. I only brought patients to their rooms and helped clean stuff, etc...

Humm, I won't be working during university. We also don't have MCATs here. haha

 

[rHinO1]

I already do volunteer work and I've been asked to work at a hospital. I live in the same street as the head of the hospital and he told me I could get a job at the hospital if I wanted. I'm already going to be volunteering at this hospital, so will this help out my resume even more?

He says that I can work almost anywhere and I said inside would be great. Then, he told me I could possibly work with patients!

This sounds like it can improve my resume quite well, but I just wanted StudentDoctor's input.

This made me

Clinical experience will definitely help your app, whether it is paid or volunteer it doesn't matter. However, having worked in a hospital for 5 years, I can tell you that it is easier to get meaningful patient contact as a paid employee. Additionally, as a paid employee, you have a certain level accountability that you won't experience as a volunteer. I think both of these things provide valuable talking points for interviews.

@Propylene

Yes, of course, this is just a job that will allow me to speak to the interviewer about my experience with hospitals.

@NoMatterWhat
I'm not sure, I talked to him quickly enough, so I didn't get to go in detail. He did say working with patients, though.

@FuturePittMed
On top of volunteering at the hospital and working, I might be transporting patients to other hospitals via airplane with a nurse. But I know that it depends what kind of work. Like, my first year of volunteering wasn't really super hands-on. I only brought patients to their rooms and helped clean stuff, etc...

Humm, I won't be working during university. We also don't have MCATs here. haha

Where do you live??


Also, if you're transporting patients with a nurse, I hope you're at least a flight medic. Something sounds kooky here...

 

[NoMatterWhat]

^ lmao

 

[Readinglevelup]

This made me

Clinical experience will definitely help your app, whether it is paid or volunteer it doesn't matter. However, having worked in a hospital for 5 years, I can tell you that it is easier to get meaningful patient contact as a paid employee. Additionally, as a paid employee, you have a certain level accountability that you won't experience as a volunteer. I think both of these things provide valuable talking points for interviews.

Yeah, when you're a volunteer, there's so many things you can't do.

Where do you live??


Also, if you're transporting patients with a nurse, I hope you're at least a flight medic. Something sounds kooky here...

In Canada, but it's not because of where I live, it's because I'm French and (for some reason) we don't have MCATs. The universities I'll be applying to are very different then English universities and the US. Our GPA doesn't even matter, it's how well we do in a class compared to others. It's also harder for us to get into medical school (from what I've heard). Finally, I can only apply to a few schools. There are some schools that don't even look at your application if you don't rank them as your first choice. I'm not sure if it's like that in the US, but I'm guessing not because some people apply to 30 schools...

 

[NoMatterWhat]

(for some reason) we don't have MCATs.

So jealous
Yea, you can apply to as many schools as you want in the US.

 

[halethsonofhama]

Paid experience is where it is at. You will put in more time as than you would volunteering so you get more exposure and more responsibility and more meaningful of an experience.... not to mention you get paid.

If this job gets you more involved with patient care than you have as a volunteer then take it.

 

[NickNaylor]

Guaranteed for residency + fellowship as well.

 

[LabMonster]

Clinical experience will definitely help your app, whether it is paid or volunteer it doesn't matter. However, having worked in a hospital for 5 years, I can tell you that it is easier to get meaningful patient contact as a paid employee. Additionally, as a paid employee, you have a certain level accountability that you won't experience as a volunteer. I think both of these things provide valuable talking points for interviews.

Agreed - and if you're a valuable employee, you can get letters of recommendation from supervisors, which in my case were a Lab director and a pathologist (among others.)

Good luck - but make sure you can handle the workload and be honest with yourself whether you can or not. Work/education/MCAT prep can get unmanageable quickly.

 

[ceasefire]

It depends. If you cleaned sheets, probably not. If you were a unit coordinator or researcher or something, probably...but not always.