How much clinical experience is good enough?

[ravupadh]

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I was talking to the Dean of Admissions at the medical school I am applying to and he said everything in my application was fine except for the need for more clinical experience. Yet I volunteered for 108 hours at an Emergency Room in a hospital for 7 months and also shadowed a physician for 50 hours in a clinic. I'm volunteering again this Summer at another hospital and also working as a social worker in a clinic but unfortunately couldn't put those activities on my AMCAS since I started them recently. So how much is enough? I thought one good volunteering experience and one good shadowing experience would be enough for most low to mid tier schools.

 

[TheShaker]

I think you are around the average but it can't hurt to have more. What matters more is if your experience can give you enough firepower to convey your knowledge and interest in the field of medicine. I always thought lower tier schools actually want more clinical experience than the upper tiers since they are the ones who care more about training physicians for the community while the upper tiers are more academically focused. I'm not sure about this point though.

 

[rawkfist]

are you kidding me? thats not enough?

 

[davidbm95]

are you kidding me? thats not enough?

It's very average.

 

[serendipity007]

I was talking to the Dean of Admissions at the medical school I am applying to and he said everything in my application was fine except for the need for more clinical experience. Yet I volunteered for 108 hours at an Emergency Room in a hospital for 7 months and also shadowed a physician for 50 hours in a clinic. I'm volunteering again this Summer at another hospital and also working as a social worker in a clinic but unfortunately couldn't put those activities on my AMCAS since I started them recently. So how much is enough? I thought one good volunteering experience and one good shadowing experience would be enough for most low to mid tier schools.

I think you are around the average but it can't hurt to have more. What matters more is if your experience can give you enough firepower to convey your knowledge and interest in the field of medicine. I always thought lower tier schools actually want more clinical experience than the upper tiers since they are the ones who care more about training physicians for the community while the upper tiers are more academically focused. I'm not sure about this point though.

Agree with the firepower comment. OP, remember, quality over quantity. While it maybe nice to see 300 hours of clinical hours, if you don't have anything to say about those experiences then they're not worth much. You're pretty good to go but as TheShaker said, it definitely can't hurt!