EMT for my situation?

[throwawayy]

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So I have read some of the posts on SDN about EMT and I know there are many, but there also seems to be a lot of contradiction. (Some say they were asked about their experiences in every interview some say they are looked down upon). I wanted to post my own situation and ask for opinions because I have also seen people just reiterate that grades and MCAT are more important and at the forefront. I am about to finish my third year of university and I took the MCAT last summer already before it changed and got a 30 (10/10/10). My overall gpa is a 3.7 and science gpa is about the same. Thus, I have one school year left so is it a good idea to get EMT certified this summer? I will try to actually use it after that by volunteering my skills. So far my ec's have only been hospital volunteering, board member for one year of an academic honor society, just started a club that goes into the community and explains new health insurance laws, and lastly I will also be doing a finance internship during the summer (random I know but for a while this year I thought I wanted to work in that field instead and believe that by doing this internship still I can have a story that shows I explored different career paths and decided on medicine) I also plan on doing research next academic year for the people who would advise to do that instead. Thanks

Edit: Also wanted to make this thread for people later in their college career who would otherwise be advised not to do EMT and instead get a high MCAT but they would have already completed it.

 

[Deranged Medic]

These links might contain the answers you seek:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...ms-help-my-medical-school-application.556556/

http://www.studentdoctor.net/2013/06/the-pre-med-guide-to-becoming-an-emt/?reload=1&r=1433501955595

 

[ChrisMack390]

I cannot imagine anyone "looking down" on an EMT experience. That is one of the few truly direct patient care experiences you can get without med (or nursing) school.

I think the negative light comes from the amount of time spent in training and the dangerous nature of the job. If this is something you genuinely want to do, absolutely do it. If this is something you are doing to learn more about medicine and have something cool for your resume, then there are easier and more direct ways.

 

[ChrisMack390]

Gonnif has a good point. In my response I assumed that the individual would actually work at an EMT for a significant period of time.

 

[chemist16]

My question for you is: do you want to be an EMT? If you enjoy it - for me, shifts are often high-stress although I don't really see the "danger" part in it somebody mentioned above - then go for it! I have enjoyed my experience and would definitely do it again. But taking the class and everything takes a certain kind of commitment and it's pretty high time commitment.

 

[throwawayy]

My question for you is: do you want to be an EMT? If you enjoy it - for me, shifts are often high-stress although I don't really see the "danger" part in it somebody mentioned above - then go for it! I have enjoyed my experience and would definitely do it again. But taking the class and everything takes a certain kind of commitment and it's pretty high time commitment.

I would only be doing an internship two days a week and an online class until august so I believe I have ample time for it, and am hoping to do an online hybrid course so it won't clash with my summer session class starting in august.

 

[NeuResurgens]

EMT is an interesting certification - it either looks very, very good if it's clear you like the work and have used it extensively; it looks frivolous at best if you get it "just to get it." In fact, any certification doesn't help you at all if you don't actually spend some time using it in meaningful activities. As gonnif said, many premeds get the EMT certification just to try and make their application look better. You will appear to be a box-checker if you get it and don't use it. Do you enjoy the thought of treating patients in a first responder setting? Do you feel like you could work well (or even thrive) under pressure to stabilize a patient who has life threatening injuries? If so, it could be a good opportunity. Check your local job market to see who's hiring EMTs.

 

[chemist16]

I would only be doing an internship two days a week and an online class until august so I believe I have ample time for it, and am hoping to do an online hybrid course so it won't clash with my summer session class starting in august.

Great! Do you have time to volunteer as an EMT though? As others have said, the certification is no use unless you actually use it. Realize that most squads demand a certain commitment from their members every month and you might not have time for that. Looking for a paid job as a part-time EMT is mostly fruitless because most first-aid positions in the city are paramedic-level and most EMT jobs are not paid but rather volunteer. But as long as you can make that monthly commitment and enjoy that stuff, then go for it!

 

[throwawayy]

I would look to volunteer at events because I dont think I can do it as a part time job

 

[throwawayy]

I obviously see the merit in only doing it if you actually practice it, but I do know someone in med school who only got certified and was still questioned about his experience in most of his interviews and he still had much to talk about just through the mandatory ride along, just to put that out there.

 

[LizzyM]

I obviously see the merit in only doing it if you actually practice it, but I do know someone in med school who only got certified and was still questioned about his experience in most of his interviews and he still had much to talk about just through the mandatory ride along, just to put that out there.

An applicant who "only got certified" may have been questioned about his experience because there were doubts about whether he had any experience. The adcoms take a dim view of people who get a credential for the sake of having a credential but who have not worked/volunteered doing something that required it.

 

[EParker37]

I've posted this elsewhere, but I will repeat it here for sake of posterity, do not get your EMT cert because you think that it will help you get into med school, do it if you actually want to use it and enjoy it. However, don't expect that as an EMT you will be the light in the dark, the hero in a cape who swoops down and saves the baby from a burning vehicle. As an EMT, you are generally going to be providing basic first aid and assisting paramedics. That isn't to say you won't get exposure to patients, or do anything useful, but realistic expectations are necessary. I have been in Fire/EMS going on 12 years now, I love what I do as a paramedic, interacting with patients is part of the allure for me, however, the environment in private EMS is soul-sucking and will beat you down. Outside of that though, it isn't bad. As a final note, it was working in EMS that finally pushed me to pursue my medical degree. I hit a wall as a a paramedic, I wanted to learn more, and I have on my own, but it just doesn't compare.

Yes, by all means, go out there and get the cert if you truly want to work in the field. Yes, go in with a realistic expectation. Don't do it if you think it will look good for you PS or application. Patients deserve to have a caretaker who is there for the right reasons.

 

[Goro]

I agree with my learned colleague and want to add some more nuance to this issue.

Sometimes we see in our program former EMTs who get into professionalism issues when they get to their clinical years. They seem to have a "I already know that, so why do I need to study nephrology?"...in essence they are poorly receptive to mentoring.

The other issue is the some of them are honest-to-Gawd adrenalin junkies who have only the EMT experience as their clinical experience, and they only shadow ER docs, so they have a very narrow view of what a medical career is like. Basically, the only part of the hospital they ever see is the ER. So they come with a "bag 'em and tag 'em" attitude. This isn't what we're looking for in our students, or the doctors we want our students to be.

the "negativity" of EMT is that over that past several years, students have been rushing to get the certification without doing much with it. There is a perception across some adcoms that it just a "checking the box" kind of thing. If you get it, use it as a volunteer, get a job with an ambulance transport, try local or state parks for summer staff, etc. When I went to UG at a large state school many years ago, I join the campus volunteer corps. With 30,000 people a day on campus, it was a busy service. That led to a job in the University ER/Mobile ICU. Many of my friends worked as first aid at the state park beaches for the summer, one even had a job as an EMT at Yankee Stadium.

My point, motivations, perceptions and appearance matter. If you get it without following up with experience it can look disingenuous.

 

[chemist16]

I obviously see the merit in only doing it if you actually practice it, but I do know someone in med school who only got certified and was still questioned about his experience in most of his interviews and he still had much to talk about just through the mandatory ride along, just to put that out there.

I don't think that his mandatory ride-along experience added much to his application. Someone could have volunteered in the ER for the same amount of ride-along hours, skipped the three-six month long class and certification process, and had the same experiences to talk about.

 

[throwawayy]

An applicant who "only got certified" may have been questioned about his experience because there were doubts about whether he had any experience. The adcoms take a dim view of people who get a credential for the sake of having a credential but who have not worked/volunteered doing something that required it.

Sorry I meant they liked that he had that experienced and they chose to talk about that more than his other ec's in his interviews, I didn't mean that he was interrogated by them

 

[throwawayy]

I've posted this elsewhere, but I will repeat it here for sake of posterity, do not get your EMT cert because you think that it will help you get into med school, do it if you actually want to use it and enjoy it. However, don't expect that as an EMT you will be the light in the dark, the hero in a cape who swoops down and saves the baby from a burning vehicle. As an EMT, you are generally going to be providing basic first aid and assisting paramedics. That isn't to say you won't get exposure to patients, or do anything useful, but realistic expectations are necessary. I have been in Fire/EMS going on 12 years now, I love what I do as a paramedic, interacting with patients is part of the allure for me, however, the environment in private EMS is soul-sucking and will beat you down. Outside of that though, it isn't bad. As a final note, it was working in EMS that finally pushed me to pursue my medical degree. I hit a wall as a a paramedic, I wanted to learn more, and I have on my own, but it just doesn't compare.

Yes, by all means, go out there and get the cert if you truly want to work in the field. Yes, go in with a realistic expectation. Don't do it if you think it will look good for you PS or application. Patients deserve to have a caretaker who is there for the right reasons.

I see this sentiment here quite often on SDN and usually regarding EMT, but I dont get why people don't apply this to other ec's premeds do such as research. Majority of premeds are doing research to check a box, they are not interested in pursuing research because they would be doing PHD's or masters instead. It is naive to thing that all things should be done if you want to actually pursue them because things must be done to have a competitive resume, this goes for other fields outside of pre-health as well. It is naive to think that all premeds should and actually do things because they are interested in taking those activities "all the way". Obviously you don't want to someone who is only doing EVERYTHING for these reasons, but realistically there is definitely a medium that people seem to ignore.

 

[chemist16]

I see this sentiment here quite often on SDN and usually regarding EMT, but I dont get why people don't apply this to other ec's premeds do such as research. Majority of premeds are doing research to check a box, they are not interested in pursuing research because they would be doing PHD's or masters instead. It is naive to thing that all things should be done if you want to actually pursue them because things must be done to have a competitive resume, this goes for other fields outside of pre-health as well. It is naive to think that all premeds should and actually do things because they are interested in taking those activities "all the way". Obviously you don't want to someone who is only doing EVERYTHING for these reasons, but realistically there is definitely a medium that people seem to ignore.

This is an attitude I've been advocating for quite some time now and I think that it's quite universal. I would say it should be every pre-med's guiding principle: Do something because you're interested in it, not because it might vaguely help you get into med school. It is not naive to think that because this is what will make you stand out. Do you really think that doing research for med school will help you stand out? No. Will it make your resume competitive? Maybe for industry. But you know what will make you stand out and make your resume super competitive? Doing research because you have a passion for it. These same people tend to be the ones who go on to publish in well-known journals and are the same ones who stand out. Your typical pre-med who does research simply for the sake of med school apps does not stand out because he/she does not devote himself/herself to it in that way. They see it as "checking a box," if you will. It really shows in lab. I've seen quite a few of the pre-med type and they always end up doing grunt work and complain about not getting authorship. They seem incapable of doing much else than blindly following instructions. But guess what? If you had no intellectual involvement in the project, you don't deserve authorship. Such a pre-med would better spend his/her time perfecting his/her cello skills, for instance. Becoming a world-class cellist. That stands out.