EMT vs MA for clinical experience

[DD2317]

Hello everyone, I am starting college as a freshman this fall. I recently joined SDN to gain advice and assistance throughout my journey towards medical school.

I am trying to gain meaningful clinical experience. I have been looking into various different jobs in the medical field that individuals recommend, and I seem the most interested in being an EMT or a MA. I'd like to know brief details about both, such as how hard is getting a job in both fields, the training required, the cost involved, etc. I am also 17 years old and my state requires me to be 18 in order to work as an EMT, so I would start working next year. If anyone would like to provide any other career options to me feel free to do so.

I appreciate everyone that spent the time to read my post and provide me with any valuable insights. Thank you for your time.

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[LizzyM]

There are some differences on the surface that I will point out:

A medical assistant works in a clinical setting with other members of the care team (physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, nurse, receptionist, etc)
A medical assistant generally works indoors and in one place on a given day.
A medical assistant may experience some continuity of care in seeing the same patient multiple times over the course of several months.
Much of what happens in the office is at a steady pace and highly anticipated and expected.

A EMT generally works with one other EMT (or a paramedic) in a vehicle and may work alone doing transports (driving people with mobility issues to facilities for treatments such as dialysis or radiation therapy).
An EMT is traveling around, indoors and outdoors, throughout the day.
An EMT, ideally, is not seeing the same patients again and again, except when serving as a mode of transportation to appointments ("glorified taxi driver").
"Emergency" is in the name. What's next is often unexpected and requires an ability to think on one's feet and remain calm in the face of calamity.

Based on these off the cuff observations, which is more appealing to you based on your personality? Either is a suitable clinical experience.