Shadowing is one activity that can be done in a short period of time. Longevity is not necessary. In fact, long-ago shadowing as a HS student is less relevant than that done recently, given that one has more mature reflections to make on the experience as a college student.
To be a competitive applicant for medical school, how many hours of shadowing are recommended?
The minimum stated on med school websites is 40 hours. The average listed is about 50 hours. Some apply with hundreds of hours. IMO, after 70 hours or so, that time would have been better spent volunteering in a clinical environment where patient interaction is allowed.
I know people in my class who never shadowed and others who did a lot. The best is to get an ER volunteering thing and parlay that into informal and/or formal shadowing that you can list on your app.
That’s what I did. But I ended up with tons of shadowing experience just by being a proactive volunteer in a busy city ED—helping with paracentesis, assisting shoulder reductions, etc. Never even had to ask to shadow for that...opportunities just arose for me. I also did a full day of clinic shadowing with an orthopedic surgeon, which was invaluable. It is impossible to appreciate what it’s like to see 70 clinic patients in a day until you tag along.
I'm applying to the FlexMed early admissions program at the Icahn School of Medicine in NYC.
I personally know people who have. It seems way overkill, but people do it. Can't help but wonder if you should be, too. Pre-med Syndrome at its finest.
Agreed. I can't see it making a difference that early in the game.
1) Is last-minute, non-clinical community service a disadvantage? Not always. It depends on the school (as some will be satisfied with strong medical volunteerism alone. Or none.). It depends on whether you are outstanding in some other area of endeavor. It depends on other factors in your application as to whether it's a negative: Did you work 40 hours a week all through college? Are you ex-military or ex-Peace Corps? Were you the sole caretaker for 3 younger sibs? In other words, there can be moderating factors to how this delayed service is interpreted.
Yeah but it's one thing to be super neurotic in a way that could help you (ie shadow in high school, get in touch with professors in where you will likely be during college, look over material that will be taught in your upcoming college freshman year), but to study for the MCAT during high school (or hell during your freshman year) is just misguided. Likely the people who told you that they started studying in high school are the same people who post pictures of pretty highlighted notes that they took at starbucks, while staying there for maybe 5 minutes, and not getting any studying done.
1) your applications are due by halfway through sophomore year. On top of everything else you're doing, I wouldn't expect you to have the same shadowing hours that a 4 year student would. That said, you have a little over a year so getting at least 50 isn't impossible, esp if you do it next summer.
4) Teenagers have a prevalence of being irrational and impatient. All this does is make you neurotic and increase your risk for burnout. Mosey on over to hSDN an look at that stress nightmare. For example:
Thanks a lot CryrilFiggis! Your response was very informative.
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The whole point of the flexmed program is that you aren't a bio or pre-med. Showing that you've done serious research, even outside of medicine, shouldn't be penalized.
