Is July MCAT considered late? Shadowing?

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IceMan007

I am registered to take the July 10 MCAT and really can't take it any sooner. Considering the scores won't be released until mid-August, is this considered late to be taking the MCAT for this upcoming application cycle?

And I have virtually no shadowing. What can I do between now and when I submit my application to strengthen that area? Do I have to do a ton of shadowing? or can I do a couple of afternoons and be fine?
 
If there's absolutely no way you can take the test any sooner, why worry? Just focus on studying for the test and rocking the MCAT. You're going to apply to med school this fall anyway, right?

No sense worrying about something that you can't do anything about, right?
 
I am registered to take the July 10 MCAT and really can't take it any sooner. Considering the scores won't be released until mid-August, is this considered late to be taking the MCAT for this upcoming application cycle?

And I have virtually no shadowing. What can I do between now and when I submit my application to strengthen that area? Do I have to do a ton of shadowing? or can I do a couple of afternoons and be fine?

You don't need a ton of shadowing. Just try to shadow a few different docs in a few different fields (2-4 hours each) just to get you some exposure at a minimum.

If you take the MCAT in July, just make sure you submit your application in June without your MCAT score (so long as you are confident your MCAT score will be decent). That way your application will already be verified by AMCAS and sent to your schools. When your MCAT score comes out in August, it will go right to your schools and your application will move forward, some schools will even send secondaries without your MCAT score.

This is how I did it and it worked fine for me.
 
That's about where I am. I've got 8 hrs of shadowing a neurologist and that's it. I'm also taking the July administration. Not incredibly worried about the score release date- I mean, we'll still be lumped in with the summer batch of apps for review, afaik. Right now, I just don't want to use up my precious few hours of study time for shadowing, though, which is a dilemma.

I guess I could either submit AMCAS without additional shadowing... or just delay submitting it until after my July test date and try to get in a few days of shadowing. Yeah... I'm not liking my options. I've got other clinical experience though, so hopefully shadowing won't be too much of a problem... hmmm.
 
I was a bit surprised about this, but the opinion from schools' admissions committee's varies greatly - I've spoken with several schools including Colorado and have been told that shadowing is ignored/has no merit when they consider a candidate, for other schools i.e. Creighton state it is pretty much required. I'm just starting to shadow now, aim to have 50 hrs or so prior to Amcas primary app. All schools that I've spoken with state that some clinical experience is (in an unwritten way) required for an applicant to be seriously considered.
 
I was a bit surprised about this, but the opinion from schools' admissions committee's varies greatly - I've spoken with several schools including Colorado and have been told that shadowing is ignored/has no merit when they consider a candidate, for other schools i.e. Creighton state it is pretty much required. I'm just starting to shadow now, aim to have 50 hrs or so prior to Amcas primary app. All schools that I've spoken with state that some clinical experience is (in an unwritten way) required for an applicant to be seriously considered.

how could shadowing be ignored? It seems like the best way to make sure that the candidate actually has an interest in the practice of medicine. You get to see real patients, see a real doctor doing his/her thing, ask him/her questions... it seems like the most important clinical experience you can get.
 
I find it ridiculous that schools want applicants to have "clinical experience." I mean, come on, most of us are premeds with no real-world clinical experience to speak of...we're not doctors yet, duh.

Shadowing, ok, I can buy that one I guess. Although, I have to admit you learn more in one afternoon sitting on your couch watching Discovery Health channel than you do in following around a doctor who wants you to stay out of the way. But clinical experience?

For the record, I do have some clinical experience acquired while working with doctors on foreign medical mission trips. I performed some minor oral surgery extractions. Yes 😱, I performed the procedures completely myself with only doctor supervision--everything from sitting the patient, injecting local anesthetic, doing the extraction, and post-op wound care. It was neat to do that and get that experience but in no way does that make me a better applicant and in no way should having "clinical experience" be viewed as almost a prerequisite for applying to med school.

Clinical experience and shadowing, IMHO, is all fluff in your application unless you were actually a nurse, PA, or something like that before med school.
 
I find it ridiculous that schools want applicants to have "clinical experience." I mean, come on, most of us are premeds with no real-world clinical experience to speak of...we're not doctors yet, duh.

Shadowing, ok, I can buy that one I guess. Although, I have to admit you learn more in one afternoon sitting on your couch watching Discovery Health channel than you do in following around a doctor who wants you to stay out of the way. But clinical experience?

For the record, I do have some clinical experience acquired while working with doctors on foreign medical mission trips. I performed some minor oral surgery extractions. Yes 😱, I performed the procedures completely myself with only doctor supervision--everything from sitting the patient, injecting local anesthetic, doing the extraction, and post-op wound care. It was neat to do that and get that experience but in no way does that make me a better applicant and in no way should having "clinical experience" be viewed as almost a prerequisite for applying to med school.

Clinical experience and shadowing, IMHO, is all fluff in your application unless you were actually a nurse, PA, or something like that before med school.

That doesn't make much sense. Much of what you see on discovery health or TLC is a romanticized glimpse into the world of medicine. The hum-drum of dictations/paper-work/pouring over scans and test results is half of a physician's work, and you really don't get that perspective from TV. It's also important that you get an actual feel for the doctor-patient relationship, and how you might be expected to carry yourself in practice.

I mean, I feel that med school acceptance should be primarily based on academics, which it is, but I don't think you can discount the importance of clinical experience. It's really helped me get a better idea of what I'm getting into. There's a lot of fluff in med school admission, but I don't think this is.

Also, I think your clinical experience sounds pretty neat, and will probably be given as much (if not more) weight as shadowing, though it is a bit strange that you were allowed to perform procedures without any formal training.
 
That doesn't make much sense. Much of what you see on discovery health or TLC is a romanticized glimpse into the world of medicine. The hum-drum of dictations/paper-work/pouring over scans and test results is half of a physician's work, and you really don't get that perspective from TV. It's also important that you get an actual feel for the doctor-patient relationship, and how you might be expected to carry yourself in practice.

I mean, I feel that med school acceptance should be primarily based on academics, which it is, but I don't think you can discount the importance of clinical experience. It's really helped me get a better idea of what I'm getting into. There's a lot of fluff in med school admission, but I don't think this is.

Also, I think your clinical experience sounds pretty neat, and will probably be given as much (if not more) weight as shadowing, though it is a bit strange that you were allowed to perform procedures without any formal training.

That's quite disturbing, actually. "Here, come and practice on this foreign person who doesn't know you have no training."
 
That's quite disturbing, actually. "Here, come and practice on this foreign person who doesn't know you have no training."

At the time I was a 2nd year dental student and was on medical mission trips with Oral Surgeons. Under their supervision, we as dental students were allowed to do as much as we were trained to do. I suppose I should have made that more clear.

Anyhow, I stand by my statement that shadowing/"clinical experience" prior to actually attending medical school is fluff.
 
dude i agree with you...ive been shadowing at a hosp since the beginning of the semester, once a week for 4 hrs, and it is really only beneficial bcuz its required to look good on apps...i feel i could have got the exp i needed in one or two trips and discovery health is not as romanticized at say Greys or private practice...i actually learn much more about why I love medicine from DH than I have at my shadowing experience...but, please believe, in the interview, my time in the hosp will have been the most inspiring and influential time of my life 😀
 
I was a bit surprised about this, but the opinion from schools' admissions committee's varies greatly - I've spoken with several schools including Colorado and have been told that shadowing is ignored/has no merit when they consider a candidate, for other schools i.e. Creighton state it is pretty much required. I'm just starting to shadow now, aim to have 50 hrs or so prior to Amcas primary app. All schools that I've spoken with state that some clinical experience is (in an unwritten way) required for an applicant to be seriously considered.

I have had the great opportunity to meet with an associate dean of admissions from Johns Hopkins Medical School who has been helping me prepare for acceptance to Johns Hopkins every year. He reviews my CV, progress, etc and offers advice as to what I should strengthen and what I should add to my CV to meet Johns Hopkins standards. During the first meeting, he expressed that on a scale from 0-10 (10 being the most important) shadowing and clinical experience is a 1 when considering applicants. Focus on MCAT, GPA, research projects, leadership experience/student group involvement, and community service (in order of importance) for admission. I'm not sure about other medical schools but I would assume that it holds true at every admissions board since this information comes from a person that makes decisions on who gets admitted to one of the best, if not THE best, medical schools in the nation.
 
FYI: I have no shadowing experience whatsoever (just volunteering in an ER and a free health clinic), and it was never brought up at my interviews, and I don't think it hurt me at all. Check out my mdapps. However, I am a nontraditional student, so I don't know if that factored in somehow.

And as for all clinical pre-med experiences being fluff, I disagree. I triage and do phlebotomy at a free health clinic. I think those experiences, and being in a clinical environment working with doctors has certainly helped give me a better idea of what practicing will entail. It's too bad they don't require law school applicants to work as a paralegal for a summer first. Every single friend I had that did that ran screaming from the law. Conversely, I've also known a pre-med or two that decided not to pursue medicine after clinical experience. You may consider it fluff, but I think it has a valuable role. There are by far too many disgruntled med students who went straight to med school from undergrad and didn't realize what they were getting into. Granted, clinical experience won't necessarily show you exactly what you're getting into, but it seems to me to be at least the tip of the iceberg. Better to see that and steer around it if it's not for you. And while medical mission trips may be amazing experiences, most of us will end up practicing in this country, and thus shadowing or getting clinical experience in that environment will be useful as well.
 
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