lol well that was helpful. I feel like shadowing would count as "clinical exposure" so I guess I would have 110. My university is in a small town where the number of pre-med students looking for volunteer hours is much higher than the need for volunteers. So anyone who works anything less than full time at the hospital here pretty much just stocks shelves and cleans. I didn't think I'd get much out of that, and I'm not even sure I'd count that as clinical exposure anyways.
I also teach CPR and First Responder courses. I wouldn't consider that clinical, but it's probably the most medically related thing I can do here outside of being a full time medical assistant. And since I'm taking classes and working another job, I definitely don't have time to be working an additional 40 hours a week.
Shadowing is a passive activity that only lets you know what a doctor's day is like, and how different doctors approach the practice of Medicine.
What are you going to say when asked how you know you are suited for a life of caring for the sick and suffering?
“That you just know”? Imagine how that will go over!
I can't sugar coat this. This is not the application of a person who dearly wants to be a physician. It is the application of someone who wants to be a doctor as long as it is convenient.
From the wise
LizzyM: I am always reminded of a certain frequent poster of a few years ago. He was adamant about not volunteering as he did not want to give his services for free and he was busy and helping others was inconvenient. He matriculated to a medical school and lasted less than one year. He's now in school to become an accountant.
I understand having to work and be a student at the same time, but you will simply get crowded out by applicants with stronger apps.
Here's the deal: You need to show AdComs that you know what you're getting into, and show off your altruistic, humanistic side. We need to know that you're going to like being around sick or injured people for the next 40 years.
Here's another way of looking at it: would you buy a new car without test driving it? Buy a new suit or dress without trying it on??
We're also not looking for merely for good medical students, we're looking for people who will make good doctors, and 4.0 GPA robots are a dime-a-dozen.
I've seen plenty of posts here from high GPA/high MCAT candidates who were rejected because they had little patient contact experience.
Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.
Some types of volunteer activities are more appealing than others. Volunteering in a nice suburban hospital is all very well and good and all, but doesn't show that you're willing to dig in and get your hands dirty in the same way that working with the developmentally disabled (or homeless, the dying, or Alzheimers or mentally ill or elderly or ESL or domestic, rural impoverished) does. The uncomfortable situations are the ones that really demonstrate your altruism and get you 'brownie points'. Plus, they frankly teach you more -- they develop your compassion and humanity in ways comfortable situations can't.
