Extracurriculars LACKING

[fizolu]

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As of now, my extracurriculars seem to be lacking.

I have about 50+ hours volunteering at a cancer center,
I've been on intramural sports teams and been a co-captain
and this summer I will begin volunteering in a stem cell lab.
I would try to begin volunteering at a hospital, but the registration/orientation takes about a month.

However, I have no clinical/patient contact experience aside from the occasional contact with a cancer patient in the hospice center.

How bad of an idea is it to apply this rotation?
How important is patient contact?

 

[PreMedRookie]

You NEED to shadow a physician

 

[fizolu]

I NEED to? That seems heavy..

 

[Lamel]

Shadowing will be a good way to get some clinical exposure. Continue volunteering and to increase that number as well. You don't need direct patient contact, as that is very difficult to get as a pre-med, but you should be exposed to how a clinic/hospital runs and how patients are treated. If I were you I'd shadow a 3-4 doctors for a few days each, and continue volunteering at the cancer center. Volunteering at a hospital is kind of useless most of the time, your current gig should do fine. Basically you want to have something to talk about during your interviews that shows you know what medicine is like.

Is the stem cell lab volunteering a research experience? If so, good, do it. You should try to get some non-clinical volunteering over the summer as well. Your intramural co-captain experience is a big plus for leadership!

If you are applying this cycle, you have a little bit of time, try to cram in some shadowing and volunteering?

 

[fizolu]

Shadowing will be a good way to get some clinical exposure. Continue volunteering and to increase that number as well. You don't need direct patient contact, as that is very difficult to get as a pre-med, but you should be exposed to how a clinic/hospital runs and how patients are treated. If I were you I'd shadow a 3-4 doctors for a few days each, and continue volunteering at the cancer center. Volunteering at a hospital is kind of useless most of the time, your current gig should do fine. Basically you want to have something to talk about during your interviews that shows you know what medicine is like.

Is the stem cell lab volunteering a research experience? If so, good, do it. You should try to get some non-clinical volunteering over the summer as well. Your intramural co-captain experience is a big plus for leadership!

If you are applying this cycle, you have a little bit of time, try to cram in some shadowing and volunteering?

I am applying this cycle. (Thanks for the encouraging words).

This research will begin as volunteering in a lab, shadowing current researchers, and eventually becoming directed research when I lead myself.

Do you know any great way to contact/shadow a physician for a few days?

Thanks again

 

[Lamel]

I am applying this cycle. (Thanks for the encouraging words).

This research will begin as volunteering in a lab, shadowing current researchers, and eventually becoming directed research when I lead myself.

Do you know any great way to contact/shadow a physician for a few days?

Thanks again

Is this the only research experience you have? Research isn't necessary, but for many of the higher ranked/research oriented schools you will have a difficult time. However there are plenty of schools with a more clinical focus.

As for shadowing, I would say first try to get a day or two with your primary care physician/pediatrician. Then ask them if they know any others who will let you shadow. If you live by a big medical center you can cold call the physicians there and ask them (this can be annoying and you will need to call a lot, but 1 or 2 usually bite).

Definitely continue to keep volunteering at the hospice and try to get some more patient contact there if you can. Is it possible to get your hospice volunteer hours to 100 by the time you apply?

 

[fizolu]

If I apply by June 3rd or so, I can possibly get in another 4-5 hrs a week x 4 weeks = 20 odd hours in.
Do you think I should up that amount? I still have schoolwork/finals until about the 20th of this month.

I will try to contact some physicians this coming week!

And yes, this, aside from my research during my curriculum, is the only research I've done.

 

[earf]

You NEED to shadow a physician

I agree. I think shadowing is the most necessary item to become a doctor, even more so than research and volunteering. I'm not saying that people don't get in without shadowing, but that shadowing will allow you to know what you're actually getting yourself into since your entire career will take this route.

 

[BABSstudent]

You NEED to shadow a physician

Totally agree. At UW, if you have less than 40 hours (I have heard it is increasing to 60 hours) of shadowing then it is an instant rejection pre-secondary. They don't even want more money just to reject you; it is that important to them.

 

[487806]

I NEED to? That seems heavy..

Well you don't HAVE to do ANYTHING if you don't want to.

Shadowing is generally accepted as a hidden checkbox.

 

[Lamel]

So to continue the shadowing debate.

What if I work as a medical assistant, and am often in the room with the doctor as they examine patients, diagnose etc. I am basically shadowing the doctor at that time (I would say I have upwards of 100 hours). Would this count?

In my situation, that is definitely shadowing, but it won't be marked as so explicitly.

 

[fizolu]

How do you guys suppose I get an adequate amount of shadowing time prior to mid/early June?

 

[Mdtichen]

I had 0 shadowing experience and still had multiple acceptances this cycle. It just goes to show that it's not an automatic rejection from all schools without it.

However, don't do what I did 😀. I was asked why I had no shadowing experience at just about everyone of my interviews.

 

[medic86]

If you're a traditional applicant, you should do some shadowing.

I'm not going to bother. I have had enough direct patient contact.

 

[earf]

So to continue the shadowing debate.

What if I work as a medical assistant, and am often in the room with the doctor as they examine patients, diagnose etc. I am basically shadowing the doctor at that time (I would say I have upwards of 100 hours). Would this count?

In my situation, that is definitely shadowing, but it won't be marked as so explicitly.

I would think this counts. You can list it as shadowing experience, but need to back it up with what you learned about a day in the life of a physician.

 

[Lamel]

I would think this counts. You can list it as shadowing experience, but need to back it up with what you learned about a day in the life of a physician.

Would the overlap between 2 activities be a problem?

If I put this as shadowing, and then put "medical assistant" as employment, there is certainly a lot of overlap, since the shadowing happens during my employment.

 

[earf]

Would the overlap between 2 activities be a problem?

If I put this as shadowing, and then put "medical assistant" as employment, there is certainly a lot of overlap, since the shadowing happens during my employment.

Just write about your shadowing experience for that activity (strengths and limitations of medicine, how this motivates or affirms your desire to practice medicine, doctor as a role model) and your more employment related experiences for the other one (time management, organization, whatever).

I'm sure this wouldn't be a problem because I had several overlaps in my activities I reported as well. Most schools will organize your experiences by type and only look at certain categories (research, clinical volunteering, shadow, etc) so they might not even make that connection. If they do, it won't harm you if you're being honest.

 

[Alejandro]

Basically they want you to know what the heck you're getting yourself into.

BABS, yes. I agree. I'm from Seattle too. Know exactly what you're talking about. 😉

Is there a number? Well, no. Because here's what's likely to happen. First three/four weeks, you'll sit around, not knowing wtf you're doing, getting your feet wet. Likely, you'll only be there for a few hours, and as most premeds, they'll have difficulty getting to know the staff. You'll need to be there for a while to feel comfortable with the staff, the unit, the patients, etc. Then you can get more involved, etc. Most rookie volunteers are still trying to get themselves situated.

I used to work as a medical assistant at a university hospital and we'd get TONS of undergrad volunteers-I started to trust them to delegate work to them maybe after knowing them for a few months. And I was pretty liberal too. But as a volunteer, your important focus should be to interact with patients.

As far as getting a meaningful experience, it depends on who you are. But to me, 40-50 hrs is not enough.

 

[fizolu]

Basically they want you to know what the heck you're getting yourself into.

BABS, yes. I agree. I'm from Seattle too. Know exactly what you're talking about. 😉

Is there a number? Well, no. Because here's what's likely to happen. First three/four weeks, you'll sit around, not knowing wtf you're doing, getting your feet wet. Likely, you'll only be there for a few hours, and as most premeds, they'll have difficulty getting to know the staff. You'll need to be there for a while to feel comfortable with the staff, the unit, the patients, etc. Then you can get more involved, etc. Most rookie volunteers are still trying to get themselves situated.

I used to work as a medical assistant at a university hospital and we'd get TONS of undergrad volunteers-I started to trust them to delegate work to them maybe after knowing them for a few months. And I was pretty liberal too. But as a volunteer, your important focus should be to interact with patients.

As far as getting a meaningful experience, it depends on who you are. But to me, 40-50 hrs is not enough.

Do you think if I ask a physician to shadow them for about a week, that would give me an idea? Or should I ask a few over this next month few a few days each

 

[Alejandro]

To be honest, you should be shadowing as much as you can. Look, you're going into a profession where you'll be in the clinical setting ALL the time. Just doing a week? I'm tempted to believe that you really don't like being at the clinical setting if that's the most you can do. Why be a doctor then? If you think I'm wrong, and you actually like being in the clinical setting, why not shadow/volunteer as much as you can?

In medical school, we shadow/follow physicians all the time to start figuring out which specialties we're interested in. Its not just something you do sparingly as a premed. Better start that stuff earlier anyway.

 

[doverjxp]

your current gig should do fine. Basically you want to have something to talk about during your interviews that shows you know what medicine is like.

 

[fizolu]

To be honest, you should be shadowing as much as you can. Look, you're going into a profession where you'll be in the clinical setting ALL the time. Just doing a week? I'm tempted to believe that you really don't like being at the clinical setting if that's the most you can do. Why be a doctor then? If you think I'm wrong, and you actually like being in the clinical setting, why not shadow/volunteer as much as you can?

In medical school, we shadow/follow physicians all the time to start figuring out which specialties we're interested in. Its not just something you do sparingly as a premed. Better start that stuff earlier anyway.

Alejandro can I PM you for advice from here on out? I can be in the clinical setting longer, but applications are coming up/MCAT studying is taking up time.

 

[Alejandro]

yea sure.