Frustrated with my first shadowing application

[basicallyno]

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So I am planning on applying for a physician's observership/shadowing for when school starts, and since this is my first application/questionnaire, I am having trouble on even the easy questions, such as "why medicine?", "what makes you a competitive applicant for this position?"

Got any ideas on my first steps? Thanks!

 

[ace12345]

You should have some idea of why you would like to pursue medicine, why else would you be shadowing? Discuss past volunteer experiences, areas of science that drew you in, research, etc. Obviously if they know this is your first experience then they will not expect a massively comprehensive answer here.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

Relax, you don't need an answer fit for a med school application for something like this. Surely you have some idea of why you want to go into medicine or else you wouldn't be trying to shadow. What do you see yourself enjoying about being a doctor? What are you unsure about? Perhaps those uncertainties are things you could learn from shadowing?

As for competitiveness, hopefully you've got some ECs you can talk about and can brag about having good grades. Also talk about personal characteristics that will make you a good observer and future-physician.

 

[Redpancreas]

So I am planning on applying for a physician's observership/shadowing for when school starts, and since this is my first application/questionnaire, I am having trouble on even the easy questions, such as "why medicine?", "what makes you a competitive applicant for this position?"

Got any ideas on my first steps? Thanks!

-Address previous clinical experiences.
-Address research experiences.
-Address any motivations for you to go into medicine...

the biggest thing is don't spazz out! Think about it a bit but in my opinion, these questions shouldn't make or break you application for this observership. More important is probably the date you turn your application in!

 

[deleted550985]

Is this type of application for shadowing typical? I've shadowed 6 physicians, but never once had to answer anything like this

 

[PreMedRookie]

Is this type of application for shadowing typical? I've shadowed 6 physicians, but never once had to answer anything like this

That is exactly what I was thinking. I have never had to do this. If you are that stressed about, try asking a different doctor.

 

[Redpancreas]

Is this type of application for shadowing typical? I've shadowed 6 physicians, but never once had to answer anything like this

Sometimes people shadow physicians through special programs but all you really need to do is ask a physician you know. If you don't know any physicians, by all means try to get some shadowing through a program like this. I've shadowed 4 physicians. Many of them were through what was called a "merit program". Turned out to be a good experience and is where I shadowed two specialties I feel I will be very interested in in the future. Even if I didn't have one though, I had 2-3 other physicians who have told me it would be o.k if I needed to shadow them which I chose not to.

 

[basicallyno]

Thanks for all the help guys. I actually have an idea of those answers, just didn't want to be too generic- "I want to help people".

This is actually for Seattle's Children's Hospital. Anyone worked there before? 🙂 I think they have this application just to sort of weed out some people.