High School Clinical Experience Doesn't Count?

[redcabinet]

A friend of mine told me that my high school clinical experience wouldn't count for AMCAS application... Is this true?

I had about 150 hr of clinical experience at local university hospital after my junior year in high school..(Found it very rewarding...a doctor I met there offered me to shadow him...good experience overall)

Then during college I had about 50 hrs at another hospital. (I didn't find this activity that rewarding as I didn't get to do much and I was already exposed to clinical setting so there was nothing "new"...)

I had about 50 hrs of doctor shadowing (5 doctors shadowing each day for a week through some program. very rewarding experience)

I had a week of medical mission experience in Central America. (another great experience...helping the locals like I wouldn't never be allowed here in the states..)


Is this enough for "clinical" exposure? If my HS exposure doesn't count I realize I wouldn't be...so hence the question...does my HS experience count? If no, why?

Thanks in advance.

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[NickNaylor]

There's no rule saying that you can't include that experience, but that'd be a pretty huge red flag in my eyes if, during your four years of college, you were unable or chose not to get any more experience.

Think of each phase of your education as starting off with a blank slate. With the exception of publications and other research activities, this is essentially how it works.

 

[simondimond]

I would only include HS experience under these two circumstances:

1. It was totally unique. I remember one kid who was a JR when I was a SR conducted a symphony. (That kid went to Harvard and onto Harvard Law) That is a unique experience.

2. If it was something that overlapped into HS and remained consistent till you apply.

What type of clinical experience are you talking about? What do they possibly show HS'ers who are not volunteers?

If it's insignificant, don't include it because it won't help your cause. It might even hurt it because you usually have a lot of down time in college to volunteer and shadow so if you could do it in HS, you could do it in college.

 

[redcabinet]

Maybe I wasn't clear..

Clinical Exp in HS:

150 hrs at local uni hospital


Clinical Exp in college and beyond:

50 hrs at another hospital <--- bad experience...didn't get to do much...
a week of shadowing five difference doctors with different specialty each day
a week of medical mission in Central America


So I mean I do have clinical experience during and after college as well..just not as much as in HS in terms of HOURS....

I didn't do much clinical experience in college because I was preoccupied with other things like research and club activities..

 

[TriagePreMed]

Honestly, if I were an ADCOM, I wouldn't admit you based on that clinical experience. Seeing how you got the time during high school would piss me off even more. I have friends that are freshmen at community colleges with more hours than your entire college.

This is just my opinion though.

 

[CodeBlu]

There's no rule saying that you can't include that experience, but that'd be a pretty huge red flag in my eyes if, during your four years of college, you were unable or chose not to get any more experience.

Think of each phase of your education as starting off with a blank slate. With the exception of publications and other research activities, this is essentially how it works.

I agree... I had 500 hours of hospital volunteering during high school (gunners gonna gun). I included it, because it was substantial/important to me. The exposure I got then was what prompted me to pursue medicine. I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to do medicine until I took cell biology and we did applied clinical cases and learned about herceptin and monoclonal antibodies... then while volunteering in the cancer clinic... I saw a woman get injected with herceptin... low and behold... cancer obliterated.

I started off 80% sure I wanted to do medicine... then things happened over time, each pivotal event added a few percent.

I got 400 more hours of volunteerism in through my 4 years of college. So, I think it's important to get some done in college to show that you're maturing with it... AND continuity is valued highly in the eyes of adcoms.

 

[redcabinet]

Maybe it would put more things into perspective if I give more info about my profile..

Attended at mid tier UCs
sGPA 3.922 cGPA 3.84
2 years of research with honors thesis at the end. No publication.
2 years of chemistry department tutoring
1 year of biology department tutoring
Summer work as lab assistant (paid position)

plus those clinical experiences I mentioned

Nothing stellar I know but would it bring a red flag?

If I get questioned on as to why I didn't volunteer more at hospital...I'm just going to answer that I already had the taste of it during high school and I didn't feel the need to assure my passion for medicine after that. I did 50 hrs hospital volunteering during college and I felt I could do a lot more if I did something else (tutoring, lab assist, ect) so I did...I felt really limited volunteering at hospital...felt more like a secretary doing paper work instead of being near patients..Still no go? Granted I'm going on a gap year so I'm thinking of doing getting more clinical experience...if not clinical experience more volunteering in some other area..

 

[BrightandClear]

Maybe it would put more things into perspective if I give more info about my profile..

Attended at mid tier UCs
sGPA 3.922 cGPA 3.84
2 years of research with honors thesis at the end. No publication.
2 years of chemistry department tutoring
1 year of biology department tutoring
Summer work as lab assistant (paid position)

plus those clinical experiences I mentioned

Nothing stellar I know but would it bring a red flag?

If I get questioned on as to why I didn't volunteer more at hospital...I'm just going to answer that I already had the taste of it during high school and I didn't feel the need to assure my passion for medicine after that. I did 50 hrs hospital volunteering during college and I felt I could do a lot more if I did something else (tutoring, lab assist, ect) so I did...I felt really limited volunteering at hospital...felt more like a secretary doing paper work instead of being near patients..Still no go? Granted I'm going on a gap year so I'm thinking of doing getting more clinical experience...if not clinical experience more volunteering in some other area..

You seem to keep elaborating in hopes of getting a different answer... Your clinical experience in college should be substantial enough that you don't need the high school stuff. Period.

 

[sector9]

Maybe it would put more things into perspective if I give more info about my profile..

Attended at mid tier UCs
sGPA 3.922 cGPA 3.84
2 years of research with honors thesis at the end. No publication.
2 years of chemistry department tutoring
1 year of biology department tutoring
Summer work as lab assistant (paid position)

plus those clinical experiences I mentioned

Nothing stellar I know but would it bring a red flag?

If I get questioned on as to why I didn't volunteer more at hospital...I'm just going to answer that I already had the taste of it during high school and I didn't feel the need to assure my passion for medicine after that. I did 50 hrs hospital volunteering during college and I felt I could do a lot more if I did something else (tutoring, lab assist, ect) so I did...I felt really limited volunteering at hospital...felt more like a secretary doing paper work instead of being near patients..Still no go? Granted I'm going on a gap year so I'm thinking of doing getting more clinical experience...if not clinical experience more volunteering in some other area..

If you don't want to volunteer in a hospital, then what about volunteering in a non-medical setting?

I'm guessing you didn't take the MCAT?

 

[redcabinet]

You seem to keep elaborating in hopes of getting a different answer... Your clinical experience in college should be substantial enough that you don't need the high school stuff. Period.

Yes quite frankly I felt really useless being at the hospital.. and I still don't understand why the same experience you get during high school instantly gets invalidated just because it was done high school...I will do more volunteering during my gap year...not sure if it'd be at another hospital where things I can do are extremely limited...

though I see consensus is go safe and get more clinical experience now.. ok i get it.

 

[redcabinet]

If you don't want to volunteer in a hospital, then what about volunteering in a non-medical setting?

I'm guessing you didn't take the MCAT?

Yeah I'm leaning more towards community volunteering...maybe like things like Red Cross or as a community health worker

No nope MCAT..studying that bloody thing right now..

 

[LizzyM]

Try another clincal experience such as hospice care or an ambulatory care center. Approach it less from the reward that is in it for you and more with the thought, "how can I be of service?"

 

[redcabinet]

Try another clincal experience such as hospice care or an ambulatory care center. Approach it less from the reward that is in it for you and more with the thought, "how can I be of service?"

That's true...That's a great idea. I might try hospice care since I won't be another volunteer #100...thanks.

 

[BrightandClear]

If you end up going the hospital route, try the NICU. I spent 3 hours a week for 2 years sitting in a rocker cuddling babies. Stress relief and clinical experience all wrapped up in one.

 

[redcabinet]

If you end up going the hospital route, try the NICU. I spent 3 hours a week for 2 years sitting in a rocker cuddling babies. Stress relief and clinical experience all wrapped up in one.

Haha I see...that sounds much better than what I had to do...I'll keep NICU in mind. Maybe I try different hospital this time since the one I had last time was just horrible..wish me luck!

 

[BrightandClear]

Haha I see...that sounds much better than what I had to do...I'll keep NICU in mind. Maybe I try different hospital this time since the one I had last time was just horrible..wish me luck!

FWIW, I also had a good experience on the general medical/surgical floor. Went door to door to stop in and say hi to patients, chat with those who wanted to talk, get someone a juice or some water, etc. If you tell a chatty patient that you want to be a doctor, oh boy! The stories you hear...

I was essentially customer service for the hospital, but in a nicely biased way (for me at least) since the nurses warned me about which cranky patients to skip over...

I think that experience actually did for me some of what clinical volunteering is supposed to do (gets you to see things through the patients' eyes).

 

[redcabinet]

FWIW, I also had a good experience on the general medical/surgical floor. Went door to door to stop in and say hi to patients, chat with those who wanted to talk, get someone a juice or some water, etc. If you tell a chatty patient that you want to be a doctor, oh boy! The stories you hear...

I was essentially customer service for the hospital, but in a nicely biased way (for me at least) since the nurses warned me about which cranky patients to skip over...

I think that experience actually did for me some of what clinical volunteering is supposed to do (gets you to see things through the patients' eyes).

Hahahaha

 

[TriagePreMed]

Yes quite frankly I felt really useless being at the hospital.. and I still don't understand why the same experience you get during high school instantly gets invalidated just because it was done high school...I will do more volunteering during my gap year...not sure if it'd be at another hospital where things I can do are extremely limited...

though I see consensus is go safe and get more clinical experience now.. ok i get it.

I think it is invalidated because they expect to see how you function when you're on your own in college. How are you able to prioritize? Is volunteering really something of interest or something you were forced to in high school to put into your college application? Sure, you can rationalize it by saying that people in college do it to get into med school, but there's no other way for schools to "test" that about you.

 

[redbird101989]

Quick Hijacking of the thread:

Do you guys count Federal Work Study at the Campus Health Center as some form of shadowing/intern hours/etc for your application?

 

[LizzyM]

Quick Hijacking of the thread:

Do you guys count Federal Work Study at the Campus Health Center as some form of shadowing/intern hours/etc for your application?

You can list any type of campus employment as "employment, non-miltiary" unless it is tutoring or research and you'd rather label it as such (your call). How you describe the work and how close you come to "smelling patients" will determine whether adcoms consider it part of an adequate exposure to medicine before taking the plunge into medical school.

 

[redbird101989]

You can list any type of campus employment as "employment, non-miltiary" unless it is tutoring or research and you'd rather label it as such (your call). How you describe the work and how close you come to "smelling patients" will determine whether adcoms consider it part of an adequate exposure to medicine before taking the plunge into medical school.

Thank you very much! This gives me a since that I will just be able to claim it as work experience. I am just a front office person. Though the APNs have agreed to allow me to shadow them a little.

Thanks again!

</done hijacking>