Drexel Mini Med School Spring Break...How much will it help

[dank204]

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Hello, this is my very first post.


I am a 28 year old non traditional student. I am actually finishing up my undergraduate degree in accounting. I am going to apply to a post bacc program once I have completed my degree because I felt that splitting the course work up would allow me to focus on each one better. Plus, accounting would be my emergency plan B.

Anyway, I wanted to know if the Drexel mini med school spring break course would be worth the $1500 price tag. I went to a mini med school at UMDNJ and it was a series of lectures and some tours. The Drexel program is a real five day shadow program. You follow the residents around for five days morning to evening. It is a lot of money and it sounds exciting but I wanted to know if this is something that really stands out on your transcript?


Thanks,

 

[didanawisgi]

Hello, this is my very first post.


I am a 28 year old non traditional student. I am actually finishing up my undergraduate degree in accounting. I am going to apply to a post bacc program once I have completed my degree because I felt that splitting the course work up would allow me to focus on each one better. Plus, accounting would be my emergency plan B.

Anyway, I wanted to know if the Drexel mini med school spring break course would be worth the $1500 price tag. I went to a mini med school at UMDNJ and it was a series of lectures and some tours. The Drexel program is a real five day shadow program. You follow the residents around for five days morning to evening. It is a lot of money and it sounds exciting but I wanted to know if this is something that really stands out on your transcript?


Thanks,

There are lots of things that can stand out on one's application, and this would be one of them, though I think you could get other things to stand out without having to invest so much.

How do you stand on your other ECs? Do you have many volunteer hours? Many shadow hours? When do you plan to apply and could you bolster your clinical experience between now and then? Is money an issue?

The last question may be the most pertinent. If money isn't a big deal, then by all means go for it. Things such as this will never hurt you. If you're scraping pennies to pay for it, though, go volunteer at a your closest level 1 trauma ER, be diligent and inquisitive, befriend ER docs, and go from there. For free.

 

[dank204]

Thanks for the reply,

As far as other EC's, I used to work in radiology for seven years as a clerical worker part-time. I volunteered in my HS days. I don't have any patient contact.

The unique characteristic I can offer right now is that I've been a patient myself for the better part of the last eight years and I wear a medical device.

I have about three semester left of my undergraduate work and then I would like to apply to the Rutgers Newark Post Bacc program. Hopefully I can also apply to UMDNJ one day. I believe the Rutgers program is linked to UMDNJ but only for the most qualified.

From now until that time, I would like add some meaningful experiences that demonstrate I can handle a career in medicine. I thought the Drexel program was interesting but if something can be equally beneficial for no money on my part, I would be interested.

 

[DrMidlife]

...if something can be equally beneficial for no money on my part, I would be interested.

Usually premeds find doctors who allow shadowing, and clock at least a week doing so before applying to med school. The more fancy premed postbacs (Bryn Mawr, Goucher) want you to do this shadowing before you apply to their programs.

Shadowing opportunities aren't always to be found for the asking. Hit up anybody and everybody you know who is is practice, or who has access to somebody in practice. Try to get your own physicians to set you up. What worked the best for me was ER volunteering in a teaching hospital. Towards the end of my shift, I'd glom onto whomever I'd helped last and ask to follow them around. When I was sent to find a ____ (ventral antenna, extra large wheelchair, apple sauce) I took advantage of exposure to the wards (burns, various ICUs, labs). Once you get into the doc's lounge, you're golden.

I got into all kinds of places and watched all kinds of things. Most valuable to me was getting to see excellent examples of bedside manner and professionalism, and not-so-excellent examples. Q&A was crucial: I got into all kinds of discussions about how things are paid for and how medicine has changed and is it worth it. It's completely arbitrary and unpredictable which docs would do it all again and which would go get their MBA and a sailboat and call it a day.

Edit: I should mention that you have to go through channels. Being a screened volunteer gave me full-hospital access, but anything I wanted to do outside my volunteering site required paperwork and permission. Anybody who will let you near their patients without really knowing who you are is a weirdo.

Best of luck to you.

 

[familyaerospace]

Well, there are free mini medical school programs on iTunes but it doesn't give you shadowing hours. Spend the money on something else.

I would suggest getting your volunteering hours in a hospital and go shadow some doctors. I had a horrible time originally getting doctors that I could shadow and now I have over 180 hours (I am enjoying it so I continue to do it) and I didn't have to pay $1500 to do it. I posted some of the ways I did it on my blog in my shadowing series.