How do adcoms look upon applying allied health professionals?

[tikanisynaru]

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How do adcoms look upon respiratory therapists, nurses (who are non-allied), radiographers, ect., that are applying to medical school? Is the their extensive clinical experience seen as a positive, or is getting into medical school tougher for them?

And what about say, a nursing student, who during her undergrad career, decides that being a doctor is much better suited to him/her? Hypothetically, since s/he would be almost finished with their bachelor's program, switching to a bio major or something else wouldn't be desirable. Therefore, would applying to medical school straight out of undergrad without ever holding a position as a nurse, would that be looked down upon?

Are there any allied health care providers gone MD/DO here? Willing to share any success stories? 🙂

I ask because I myself am a premed majoring in Diagnostic Imaging, so I study the science behind x-rays! It's super cool because I'm only a sophomore, and I get direct patient experience already! (I've been vomited upon, you name it). I'll get a Bachelor's degree from the program, as well as certification in taking x-rays/fluoroscopy.

Thank you! Let's share some stories!

 

[JESSFALLING]

I'm interested in this too....bump

 

[Evergrey]

I am no expert, but my suspicion is that being a member of an allied health profession applying to medical school would be neither an advantage nor a disadvantage. The benefit is that you have a bit more experience in healthcare and perhaps might be better informed to decide on a career in medicine, but you will still need to have the traits and accomplishments that any other applicant would need. Research, grades, recommendations from professors, personal experiences, etc. all remain tremendously valuable. Additionally, just because you work in healthcare does not mean you know what a doctor does, so shadowing is still useful.

In the case of nursing and other "non-allied health" professions (nursing does not fall under the umbrella of allied health, by the way), I've heard it's a bit different. Especially in the case of nursing -- if you trained to be a nurse, it might show a bit of indecision and irresponsibility to never use your skills after you graduate. Especially considering that there is a significant shortage or nurses in some parts of the US. It won't break your application, but might expose you to greater scrutiny. As long as you have good reasoning behind your decision, you should be fine though!

 

[tikanisynaru]

Right, I understand where you are coming from. I feel that as an allied health professional one would have a pretty good understanding of what a doctor does (some arguable more so than others), but of course not as in depth as if shadowing a doctor; so in that sense I think shadowing is still indispensable.

Hmm. No other responses? Does anybody else know of situations like this?

 

[StudyShy]

I am a nurse and applying to medical school soon.