Like does being an EMT weight more to the admissions office vs just doing clerical work at a hospital?
If you are ONLY doing it in order to pad your application to medical school, then you are wasting the time of the people who teach the program, taking a seat from someone who may want to do this as a career, and doing a disservice to the patients.
I am sure you didn't mean it in a disparaging way, but I get so tired of "will EMT look good on my application," "does EMT look better than this or that," "what is the fastest way for me to get my EMT," "do I get to do this cool thing or that cool thing as an EMT." etc.
All of the meaningful experiences I have had as a paramedic were made meaningful by the fact that I have worked the majority of my career without the intention of going to medical school.
If you are constantly looking for the "next step" towards medical school after you complete EMT school, then an adcomm will be able to see right through to the substance of your experience, which will most likely be lacking. In addition to that, I find it hard to believe that you can really have any truly earth shattering, eye opening things to talk about while working on the college campus as a volunteer EMT, part-time, while padding your app with multiple other ECs and classes.
Besides, while being an EMT gives you decent patient exposure, if you are wanting procedures and any possibility of exposure to critical care decision making, paramedic is the way to go. I know a few places that have fairly expanded scopes for EMTs, but nothing that approaches what you can do as a paramedic. I am not trying to insult EMTs, but it is a known reality that paramedics have a far expanded scope and have the opportunity to do more treatments.
Bottom line, do EMT only because you want to do it and care about the experience. If you are looking to pad your application, do everyone a favor and keep walking.
