How many hours should I shadow this doctor?

[shahm5]

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[Deleted]

 

[ReneeM]

Hi!

I am a rising sophomore who will be spending six-weeks of my summer in a research program at my university. Before those six weeks I have three weeks at home and after I also have three weeks at home. So I have six weeks in total I won't be doing anything and I have decided I want to shadow a plastic surgeon. I will be starting tomorrow and thought I would go five hours a day for all six weeks, but I am not sure if that is best.

I KNOW I want to do plastic surgery, so this is the perfect opportunity, and I also spent the summer between my Junior and Senior year of high school shadowing various types of doctors (internal medicine, anesthesiologist, general surgeon), so I think I got the variety aspect of shadowing that I need. I also know that shadowing is mostly for pre-med students to understand if they truly want to go into the field, and that summer between Junior and Senior convinced me that is what I want to do. That being said, I have been committed to plastic surgery for a long time, and that is the main reason I am shadowing this doctor. I would want to show medical schools I am truly interested in this field and thus would like to get into programs for such a specialty. But I don't know, should I still try to go for more variety, or is shadowing this one doctor okay?

I truly want to ask though is how much should I shadow this doctor that would be more than enough? If I stuck to my original plan of five hours a day for six weeks (so only including business days), I would be shadowing for 150 hours, which I think is a little excessive. I think I want to do three days a week and five hours a day for six weeks, which also puts me at 90 hours. But I am not sure. What do you guys think? Any advice would be great.

Thanks so much!

The best shadowing experience I had was when I was able to be there from morning rounds till the were finishing their charting for the evening. I did a few ~4 hours day with outpatient docs when I first started shadowing, and I feel like I didn't see a very accurate portrayal of what their work is really like. Also 150 hours seems like far more than enough, but if you enjoy it (and they don't mind) I don't really see a reason to shadow less.

 

[longhaul3]

Given that you already have a diverse portfolio, just shadow however much you want. At this point, you're in a good spot, and anything else you do is just for your own benefit. I don't think it would be a wise strategy or a fruitful angle to work to hammer home plastics in your application. It's so competitive that, right or wrong, it comes off as naive to write about, or try to demonstrate through shadowing, how committed you are to the field as a pre-med. The way to show commitment to plastics is to get into the best med school you can, start working connections, doing research, and above all doing spectacularly well academically. It's really only then that people will take you seriously when you say that you want to do plastics.

I'm not saying it's naive for you to be really interested in it (it is really interesting). It can only help to build your own interest in the field so that when you start med school you can hit the ground running in research, etc. But I do think it's naive to base a med school application on that interest given how hard it is.

 

[El-Rami]

I knew I wanted to do pediatric neurosurgery before I started medical school. I was born to do it, really.

Good luck and follow the dream!


Anyway plastic surgery? Sounds nice, but it isn't exactly brain surgery, is it?

 

[gyngyn]

8 hours is more than enough for plastics shadowing. Get some primary care.
50 hours total is plenty.

 

[Catalystik]

Hi!

I am a rising sophomore who will be spending six-weeks of my summer in a research program at my university. Before those six weeks I have three weeks at home and after I also have three weeks at home. So I have six weeks in total I won't be doing anything and I have decided I want to shadow a plastic surgeon. I will be starting tomorrow and thought I would go five hours a day for all six weeks, but I am not sure if that is best.

I KNOW I want to do plastic surgery, so this is the perfect opportunity, and I also spent the summer between my Junior and Senior year of high school shadowing various types of doctors (internal medicine, anesthesiologist, general surgeon), so I think I got the variety aspect of shadowing that I need. I also know that shadowing is mostly for pre-med students to understand if they truly want to go into the field, and that summer between Junior and Senior convinced me that is what I want to do. That being said, I have been committed to plastic surgery for a long time, and that is the main reason I am shadowing this doctor. I would want to show medical schools I am truly interested in this field and thus would like to get into programs for such a specialty. But I don't know, should I still try to go for more variety, or is shadowing this one doctor okay?

I truly want to ask though is how much should I shadow this doctor that would be more than enough? If I stuck to my original plan of five hours a day for six weeks (so only including business days), I would be shadowing for 150 hours, which I think is a little excessive. I think I want to do three days a week and five hours a day for six weeks, which also puts me at 90 hours. But I am not sure. What do you guys think? Any advice would be great.

Thanks so much!

It would be a mistake to have a med school application reflect that you are set on one field. At least appear to have an open mind and broaden your experience. I'd expect you to gain different perspectives on medicine from shadowing various fields as an adult compared to when you were a high school student.

That said, with that much time on your hands, why not look for an organization you care about and donate some of your time to it? Big Brothers Big Sisters, Habitat for Humanity, soup kitchen, homeless or womens shelters, special olympics, etc could all use a hand at this time of year.