Going to D.O, shadowing a podiatrist, Good idea?

[iphone1]

Hey guys,

I am a student who is planning to go to Virginia Tech Post Bacc program in 2011. I have no prior medical experience in terms of volunteering, or shadowing. Although i did graduate as a pre-med student from Virginia tech in 2010 May.

I know in order for my application to be competitive i need to do a lot of volunteering work and well as shadow a physician.
I am volunteering now at a hospital now, but i also tried looking to shadow a doc, but i just cant. I mean they are so hard to shadow with there HIPPA rules or they are two busy bullocks!!!. Anyways with being discouraged i approached a podiatrist and he told me i can shadow him.
My question now is, if i shadow him for the time being until i can get a M.D or a D.O to shadow, would that look bad or weird considering i am not applying to a podiatry school.
I mean should i pass on this opportunity and wait to shadow a M.D or a D.O or should i take this opportunity and wait? Considering i do not want to go to podiatry school regardless.
Did any of you guys face this problem?

Thank you in advance

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[Helen Wheels]

I mean should i pass on this opportunity and wait to shadow a M.D or a D.O or should i take this opportunity and wait? Considering i do not want to go to podiatry school regardless.

If you have no interest in podiatry I don't see why you would take the time to shadow a pod. I mean would you shadow a veterinarian or a dentist if you had no intention of pursuing those careers? That being said, there is no rule you would have to report that you shadowed a pod on your med school apps. So, if you thought you might be interested you could always spend a day or two shadowing and see what happens. At any rate, I would not mention to the podiatrist you are shadowing that you have no interest in podiatry.

 

[iphone1]

Hey, First of all thanks you guys for your individual inputs. The thing as i mentioned is i haven't been finding any luck with shadowing doctors at all. It seems as if they have forgotten that they too had to go through this and they were helped as well.
So that is why i am thinking about having something then nothing, because i do not know how long will this dry spell last.

 

[guidedwaves]

I don't think it will help your DO application to shadow a podiatrist since they are different occupations, also interviewers might ask about it, so you might not want to give them another thing to use.

 

[MightyMoose]

Just shadow an MD if you don't have many DO's in the area. Most DO schools now accept MD letters of rec. in lieu of a DO letter. I agree though, I don't think a podiatrist is going to help your application, unless he was your professor or employer. I agree with elftown that it won't be a complete waste of time, because you'll learn about a medical field, but other than that, I don't see it helping too much.

 

[StarStup]

Hey! This is how I found the DO I shadow and she is awesome...plus these DOs actually want to mentor you!

Go to: http://www.do-online.org/iLearn/home.cfm

and click on "Find a Mentor", then you can enter your city and state and information and they will set you up with a mentor. I was able to find my mentor in less than a week.

Good luck!

 

[VeeTeeHokies]

Hey guys,

I am a student who is planning to go to Virginia Tech Post Bacc program in 2011. I have no prior medical experience in terms of volunteering, or shadowing. Although i did graduate as a pre-med student from Virginia tech in 2010 May.

I know in order for my application to be competitive i need to do a lot of volunteering work and well as shadow a physician.
I am volunteering now at a hospital now, but i also tried looking to shadow a doc, but i just cant. I mean they are so hard to shadow with there HIPPA rules or they are two busy bullocks!!!. Anyways with being discouraged i approached a podiatrist and he told me i can shadow him.
My question now is, if i shadow him for the time being until i can get a M.D or a D.O to shadow, would that look bad or weird considering i am not applying to a podiatry school.
I mean should i pass on this opportunity and wait to shadow a M.D or a D.O or should i take this opportunity and wait? Considering i do not want to go to podiatry school regardless.
Did any of you guys face this problem?

Thank you in advance

A few things...

1. Go HOKIES!

2. I don't think shadowing a podiatrist will necessarily help your application, but I also don't really see it hurting your application.

3. If you have absolutely NO interest in going into podiatry, and you're doing a post-bacc and claim that you are trying to rack up the hours in volunteer work / shadowing then shadowing a pod actually will hurt your application in the sense that you're wasting valuable time that you can be using for more worthwhile things. I think your time may be better spent doing volunteer work (for many reasons, not just to get into medical school. There are plenty of great volunteer organizations to get involved with through VT.)

4. Perhaps most importantly: THERE IS AN OSTEOPATHIC MEDICAL SCHOOL IN BLACKSBURG!!! There is absolutely no way that you cannot find a single doctor to shadow in Blacksburg, either MD or DO. Just go to the VCOM website and get in touch with some of them. I shadowed 3 members of the VCOM faculty while I was at VT. They're all very approachable and friendly, so just shoot them an email and I GUARANTEE they will be back in touch with you.

5. HIPAA is in no way a barrier to shadowing. Sign one paper and stick to your word and you shouldn't have any problems.

Good luck!

 

[heroes31]

I would suggest start the podiatrist shadowing now but keep looking for a MD or preferably a DO to shadow. I think even if you are shadowing a podiatrist you will still be able experience the patient doctor relationship and you can even bring up in an interview how you really learned a lot about the relationship but for whatever specific reasons you realized podiatry was not right for you and that a DO would be more fulfilling for you. This would fit really well if you eventually do get a DO to shadow. You can show a transition in your way of thinking from podiatry to DO. I think DO schools would like that. But you have to be more aggressive in getting a DO to shadow and dont use excuses like HIPPA. If you really want to become a physician you have to find a way!

 

[Styria]

If you shadow a podiatrist but want to be a DO, get some good information from it. Especially about the gait cycle and the mechanics of the legs. You can tell schools about it in interviews if they ask, but it's very useful regardless.

 

[JaggerPlate]

It's still decent clinical experience. Do it (if you have time), write a nice little blurb about it on AACOMAS/AMCAS - you liked the patient interaction, confirmed your desire to help others, enjoyed working within a health care setting, etc, but look for a DOc to shadow (those other ones ... err MDs or something are great to shadow too).