Lack of clinical experience?

[littlephiLLy]

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hey, i'm a bit worried about submitting my amcas becxause i don't have very much clinical experience. i have a 31Q mcat and ~3.7 gpa and am heaviliy involved in research, however i have only shadowed one doctor and did some hopsital volunteering during which i gained nothing. if one was in my position, would he/she hold off one year and gain solid clinical exposure, or apply regardless with my grades? i appreciate any and all input.

 

[DoctaJay]

I believe that your extensive research experience and your GPA and MCAT will get you an interview. And when the school year starts, you can start doing some doctor shadowing, so come interview time, you'll have something to add to the conversation if it comes up.

 

[Brainsucker]

Did you do at least ~100 hours volunteering?

Even if you gained nothing, you can spin it a little.

 

[littlephiLLy]

~50 hours of compelling paper shuffling.

I also worked as a pharm tech while studying for the MCAT, but only 3 months.

 

[Kimka83]

Hey there - I am sorry that you didn't gain much volunteering. I had a similar problem. At my school, hospital volunteering means paper pushing. I never had time to observe or interact with patients, and it was really disappointing. But I would apply anyway. Your scores are good and your research experience is a big plus! When schol starts up again, try to gain some more meaningful experience.

 

[paco4488]

Hey, I don't think it should really be too much of a problem. I had very little clinical experience. I volunteered for 4 hours a week for two semesters. I never shadowed a doctor. While I do think that it may have been a factor for me not getting in to some upper-tier schools, the schools that I did interview at never asked me about my lack of clinical experience. I have been involved in my own research project for 1.5 years, so most interviewers focused more on that and just brushed past the volunteering. I have similar stats (31 and ~3.8) and was accepted at 2 of the 3 schools I interviewed at and waitlisted at the other.

 

[jackieMD2007]

Are you ready to apply? Because if you are, you have to take your experiences thus far and run with it. There is always going to be something that we all could probably improve before applying. Every application has a weak spot in relativity to the rest of the app.

Apply if you're ready. No one here can give you that kind of confidence.

 

[hermit]

Go ahead and apply. If you lurk on this board for too long, you will get the impression that every applicant has volunteered, shadowed, gotten clinical experience, done research, has great grades, and has a great MCAT score. This is far from the truth. Pick a subset of those (research and hospital volunteering in your case) and do it well. Be able to speak about them intelligently. You'll be fine and have a good shot. A better shot in fact than scores of others whose GPAs have suffered because they were tyring to squeeze all of these things in around class work.

BTW, forget you ever typed that you "got nothing" out of hosptal volunteering. Don't ever repeat that to another soul. Sit down. Think about things you may have only seen walking by a patient's room that looked important. Think outside of the box a little - hell, a lot. Regardless of the real quality of your experience, you can spin and sell it like it was the best thing ever.

 

[Bubblehead-to-MD]

Are you ready to apply? Because if you are, you have to take your experiences thus far and run with it. There is always going to be something that we all could probably improve before applying. Every application has a weak spot in relativity to the rest of the app.

Apply if you're ready. No one here can give you that kind of confidence.

Nicely put! I'm applying with MUCH less clinical exposure than the average applicant (only a few months now...versus a few years). My submarine sea tour, during which I spent 75% of my time at sea, precluded any volunteer work or physician shadowing. I am not, however, going to delay my application for another year just to reaffirm what I already know.

 

[Bubblehead-to-MD]

BTW, forget you ever typed that you "got nothing" out of hosptal volunteering. Don't ever repeat that to another soul. Sit down. Think about things you may have only seen walking by a patient's room that looked important. Think outside of the box a little - hell, a lot. Regardless of the real quality of your experience, you can spin and sell it like it was the best thing ever.

Excellent advice! 👍

 

[littlephiLLy]

thanks alot guys. it is true, too much time spent here has been increasing my anxiety. i've been given good advice, i'm going to embellish what i've done and line up one more activity for this summer before i submit.

 

[paco4488]

thanks alot guys. it is true, too much time spent here has been increasing my anxiety. i've been given good advice, i'm going to embellish what i've done and line up one more activity for this summer before i submit.

It may not always be the best route to embellish. Sometimes it's just enough to show that you at least tried to get a good experience. My volunteering was in an operations room. Most of the time i had to paperclip forms together and prepare IV bags. I did get to see operations and I spoke passionately about that, but I didn't try to sugar coat the rest of it. You may get yourself into a corner during an interview if you embellish too much. When asked about it, I simply said that I wasn't very happy with my experience on a whole and that I wished I would have been able to gain a lot more from it. They just gave a little, fair enough, shrug and moved on. They can't hold it against you really.

This may not be the best route for you, but it's a suggestion.

 

[hermit]

too much time spent here has been increasing my anxiety.

Thank god I am not the only one. SDN is curiously addictive but often does more harm than good for my state of mind. This place really does bring out the worst in people. I am not really as a**hole in real life but boy do I love playing one on the internet! I believe a lot of people are that way so you have to take things you read here with a grain of salt.

 

[durfen]

hey, i'm a bit worried about submitting my amcas becxause i don't have very much clinical experience. i have a 31Q mcat and ~3.7 gpa and am heaviliy involved in research, however i have only shadowed one doctor and did some hopsital volunteering during which i gained nothing. if one was in my position, would he/she hold off one year and gain solid clinical exposure, or apply regardless with my grades? i appreciate any and all input.

Spin the stuff you have, but between now and interview time, do some shadowing. These are way more valuable than volunteering (why I haven't really done any volunteering). A short time immersion is better than a long time intermittent shadowing. This compiled with your research experience will strengthen you.

 

[mediocriskid]

I was in the same situation you were a couple of years ago. I didn't get in and the dean specifically mentioned my lack of clinical experience as part of the reason. A friend of mine with no research but clinical experience, matriculated in his first try. Try to work in a clinic where you have patients with chronic conditions, admission committees seem more enthusiastic where you can talk about developing a relationship with your patients.

 

[Mr. McDuck]

I was in the same situation you were a couple of years ago. I didn't get in and the dean specifically mentioned my lack of clinical experience as part of the reason. A friend of mine with no research but clinical experience, matriculated in his first try. Try to work in a clinic where you have patients with chronic conditions, admission committees seem more enthusiastic where you can talk about developing a relationship with your patients.

Sweet, good news for me.