Medical Is this enough clinical experience, or should I try to shadow more and wait a cycle?

[Goro]

Thank you all so much for all of your answers to my previous questions and your help thus far, browsing this forum has already helped answer so many of my questions and calm my nerves.

I do have one more last-minute panicked question, unfortunately. After messing around with the WedgeDawg calculator a bit, I realized that having shadowing experience seems to make a massive impact on my score (it quite literally changes from S tier to C tier with that one toggle). I have shadowed a family doctor before, but it was in high school so I did not list it in my primary. My only recent experience with an MD is working as an ED scribe, but COVID-19 cut that opportunity short until sites reopen in my state. At the risk of exposing myself as I'm sure few other applicants are in a similar situation, I'd like to note that I'm incredibly privileged to have a parent who practices podiatry and I have been lucky enough to work as a scribe at the practice they are employed at for the past three summers. I have gained a lot of clinical experience working there; I've spent over 1200 hours at the practice. While my advisor told me that this was a great clinical experience and that I would obviously have to explain why I want to go into medicine rather than podiatry through my essays and interviews, I'm admittedly anxious after reading a few posts on this site that suggest that shadowing is more important that clinical experiences and that, because podiatrists are not MDs, that it would not "count" as a clinical experience unless it is with an MD.

Is this true? I've certainly learned more than I ever could have hoped for about the practice of medicine and patient care from observing and scribing and am personally not really sure why there is such a distinction between MD/DOs and podiatrists given the medical work podiatrists do, but I'm not sure if admissions officers feel the same way. While I have already been verified by AMCAS and have 15 schools on my list, if this really is a red flag in my application then I'd be more than happy to wait a cycle and potentially gain more experience if it is a large enough issue. I'm very close with the physician so I could reach out and try to shadow again before secondary submission, but obviously given the current circumstances I'm unsure if that is possible (or even wise). Is there anything in particular I should do? Thank you in advance for any feedback!

My gut reaction is that I'd like to see you have experience interacting with sick people. But this is on the borderline.

You do need to shadow doctors. A Pod's practice is limited in scope. Your sentence below is why you need to do this.

sure why there is such a distinction between MD/DOs and podiatrists given the medical work podiatrists do,

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[tantacles]

If you shadowed a family physician, and that is your only shadowing, it is totally appropriate to include it, particularly since it gave you insight into the field. I would not re-do your application, but rather I would include this experience in some way in your secondary applications. And remember: If you're concerned about your application and think you must, you can add more schools. If your application was S tier, I'm assuming you have fantastic stats. Just make sure you apply broadly.

Thank you! I think I was just worried about mentioning things from high school on my primary, I'll try to find a way to weave it into my secondary essays. My MCAT is a 519 and my GPA is a 3.78 with a pretty strong upward trend, so I'm not as worried stat-wise. I'm mostly just worried about ECs - my advisor didn't mention anything about shadowing when we were going over my application components earlier this year so I just assumed experience with a podiatrist was fine. Now it's just the panic of "oh no, I need to do more and it's too late" setting in. I think I'm going to apply to ~25 schools total, but I'm also going to keep doing whatever I can to improve my application just in case my application is DOA at schools and I have to reapply next cycle. I'll try to get shadowing experience as soon as possible though.

 

[Goro]

Thank you so much for your response! That does make complete sense to me. I'll do my best to try and get some shadowing hours before I submit my secondaries, but I spent the day reaching out to a few physicians and it seems like most practices aren't allowing shadowing for the time being due to pandemic, which I completely understand. Could I address not being able to shadow at the moment/a lack of shadowing in a COVID-related secondary? Two of the physicians I spoke to have said they would be more than happy to let me shadow "once things settle down," but obviously I'm not sure when that would be, so could I still mention that I hope to shadow in a secondary or would that not be helpful? Thank you!

No, you may have to skip a cycle.

Here is a harsh truth: Your health is more important than your medical career

 

[Goro]

@Goro @tantacles Sorry to re-hash this question again, but after sending out a large number of applications I was able to get a full-time scribing position with an MD near my home! At least from how it was explained to me, the office has been rearranged in a way that will keep me and everyone else present safe health-wise, and a good number of patients will be seen on video calls through telehealth unless an office visit is necessary. I'll be starting early this week, and my first few weeks will be mostly observational/training with another scribe just to get a better lay of the land. Would this experience over the coming year make up for my lack of shadowing if I mention it in secondaries, or should I hold off on submitting secondary applications until I get a decent amount of experience (maybe mid-August-ish)? Thank you so much for your help!

Yes, very much

 

[tantacles]

@Goro @tantacles Sorry to re-hash this question again, but after sending out a large number of applications I was able to get a full-time scribing position with an MD near my home! At least from how it was explained to me, the office has been rearranged in a way that will keep me and everyone else present safe health-wise, and a good number of patients will be seen on video calls through telehealth unless an office visit is necessary. I'll be starting early this week, and my first few weeks will be mostly observational/training with another scribe just to get a better lay of the land. Would this experience over the coming year make up for my lack of shadowing if I mention it in secondaries, or should I hold off on submitting secondary applications until I get a decent amount of experience (maybe mid-August-ish)? Thank you so much for your help!

If you're applying anyway, just get your secondaries done early and mention it. Don't mention your lack of shadowing unless asked.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

The fact that you said you are confused as to why there is a distinction between MD/DO and DPM is exactly the reason you need to shadow.