Shadowing -- I've reached out to physicians in my area. Most said no. A couple say yes but then never get back to me or, when I go in person to the office, say the physician is busy for an undetermined length of time, come back in a few months.
Research -- I like science because I like learning what other people have discovered lol. I'm also a Psych major but psych research is SO DULL. I also have no idea how people find time to do research? I have classes during the year and jobs in the summer.... Thinking of taking a gap year or two just to do research.
Clinical Volunteering -- My school is an hour away from any hospital so I can only go once a week when I'm not burried in work/school. Not sure how I can get more hours more quickly.
Yes, I have wanted to rip my hair out with frustration at the amount of random things I've had to do, the hands I've had to shake, and the emails I've had to send. I feel that I am just as qualified now to be a medical school student as I am to be mayor of a small town in Texas.
Really, you have to take every obstacle in stride.
Research: you don't
need research to become a physician, but, if you're passionate about the creation of new knowledge in the field of psychology, than reach out to professors you know (or have had classes with) and try to find a way into their labs. If they say no, you can try getting to know someone that they know and so on and so forth. You can get research if you really want to do it. I don't believe you need to take a gap year for it.
Clinical volunteering: who says you have to be working in a hospital to do clinical volunteering? Hospice, any work with the Red Cross at blood banks, a local mental health center.... these are all avenues you can explore. What's important about clinical volunteering is that you get a good look at medicine before you dive into 200k+ of debt and 10990980 years of schooling. What's especially important, from an adcom's perspective, is that you do the work over a long period of time and show dedication to working in medicine.
Shadowing: oh boy, shadowing. Trying to cold call physicians is horrible. Horrible. I sent out 20-30 (I don't even remember the real numbers anymore) emails and phone calls as a sophomore, trying to get an "in". Never got one that way. I hear whispers that it is possible, but I am a Doubting Thomas on this one. I ended up finding a practice to shadow with through another work opportunity. What that means is using whatever job or volunteer experience you have (literally anything you have) to connect with a physician, establish a positive relationship with her or him, and
then request to shadow at her or his medical practice.
Keep your chin up! There are hundreds of hoops to jump through as a pre-med, but
just wait! There's more! Practicing and learning medicine in the 21st century involves limitless, let's say a bajillion, hours of bureaucratic nonsense, mountains of paperwork, and billing procedures that require 3 law degrees and a rocket scientist to comprehend. The hoops have just begun, my friend.
In the immortal words of Rob Schneider, "You can do it."
