Hours of Shadowing

[El Curandero]

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Hello all,

How many hours of shadowing would you say would made a good application for DO schools? My clinical experience thus far includes shadowing multiple ophthalmologists (MDs) in a private practice for 20 hours, and having over 150 hours working (not volunteering) with the disabled population. Thank you for your time.

 

[MetricSystem]

Hours don't really matter however you want to have 20-30+ to be safe.
Also, I (personally) think DO schools will value 10 hours of shadowing a DO over 20 hours of shadowing an MD, if that makes sense.

Also, shadowing is kinda different from clinical exposure, but others could correct me or add on.

 

[El Curandero]

Hours don't really matter however you want to have 20-30+ to be safe.
Also, I (personally) think DO schools will value 10 hours of shadowing a DO over 20 hours of shadowing an MD, if that makes sense.

Also, shadowing is kinda different from clinical exposure, but others could correct me or add on.

Yeah, it is quite wordy isn't it? I plan to shadow a DO but I'm applying to both MD schools and DO schools so I thought the MD exposure would be good. Btw one quick question, are DO school applications on the same time cycle as MD applications? Thanks for your time.

 

[MetricSystem]

Just know that some DO schools require or highly recommend a DO letter. And, it seems like those schools are increasing.

Time cycle wise, they are similar.
They start around the same time, June 1st, depending on any circumstances during that year.
However, people say DO cycle lasts longer than MD cycle.
For example (just an example), applying to MD in Dec-Jan is late, but to DO schools isn't that late.

 

[El Curandero]

Just know that some DO schools require or highly recommend a DO letter. And, it seems like those schools are increasing.

Time cycle wise, they are similar.
They start around the same time, June 1st, depending on any circumstances during that year.
However, people say DO cycle lasts longer than MD cycle.
For example (just an example), applying to MD in Dec-Jan is late, but to DO schools isn't that late.

I'm assuming most people get their DO recommendations from shadowing a DO doctor?

 

[MetricSystem]

Most yes, but there are other ways.
Volunteering, clinical experience, and etc.
I actually got an LOR from an MD from scribing, which could have been from a DO if I wanted to.
My DO LOR was from shadowing.

 

[edgerock24]

Some students on SDN have ridiculous amounts of shadowing hours (200+). There are exceptions, but it seems like these students are traditional applicants who don't have "real" healthcare experience with patients (lab research / hospital volunteering are not, in most cases, unique experiences).

Shadowing in different specialties can surely be worthwhile. However, being a fly on the wall for 932983902 hours seems excessive. 40-50 hours seems to be the acceptable figure to aim for from what I've read on some posts here.

 

[Stlblues17]

I only "shadowed" for about 12 hours... I work full time in an ER (as a tech) and half of our drs are DOs, that I closely work with. So I I really think the quality of experiences working with DOs is more important than the quantity of hours.

 

[IslandStyle808]

I had called one school about what to do improve my app. last cycle. One of the things they told me was that my most recent clinical hours were low. I had 20 hours with an osteopathic physician within the last 2 years. I volunteer at a hospital ED for 600 hours about 6 years back. That kind of surprised me how they valued the amount of hours and recency of those hours.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Ideally you should have at least 20 and have shadowed at least two different doctors in two different fields.

That's what I personally think is optimal in showing adequate exposure to the osteopathic medical profession.

 

[El Curandero]

If knows of any DO physicians who would allow me to shadow them around the Myrtle Beach, SC area and feel like a helping a lowly pre med student shoot me a message. Thanks

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

yea, if you can get like 40-80 hours - hopefully with a couple of DO physicians in different specialties you will be golden. Not only will this obviously look better on paper, but it will give you more stuff to write and talk about on secondaries and in interviews.