Never shadowed or worked in hospital?

[AthensBeth]

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Hi-- I'm wondering if I'm going to be hurt by the fact that I've never shadowed a doctor or volunteered at a hospital. I volunteered for 3 months at an Alzheimer's Unit, but that's about it for volunteering. I'm a graduate student with human study participants though, and I do have experiences conducting bone mineral density exams with them. Also, I volunteered for a veterinarian a couple years ago. I'm currently volunteering at a nursing home, so I'll send that in my update letter to the schools.

Anyone have any thoughts on whether or not this is enough?

 

[greubins]

my impression is that it isn't the quantity but the quality of your clinical experience. If you feel that your experiences have wetted your appitite for medicine and you can somehow protray that in your app, then you're fine. but if YOU feel as though you need more hands on experience to enhance your own understanding then try to do more. I think what you have in terms of your resume should be adaquate.

I've also learned that it isn't easy getting answers to these questions. I don't think adcoms are looking for x hours doing xyz. but if it comes through that your experiences helped you make your decision then that is what is important.

 

[leechy]

Hi-- I'm wondering if I'm going to be hurt by the fact that I've never shadowed a doctor or volunteered at a hospital. I volunteered for 3 months at an Alzheimer's Unit, but that's about it for volunteering. I'm a graduate student with human study participants though, and I do have experiences conducting bone mineral density exams with them. Also, I volunteered for a veterinarian a couple years ago. I'm currently volunteering at a nursing home, so I'll send that in my update letter to the schools.

Anyone have any thoughts on whether or not this is enough?

I'm in a similar situation. I was desperately trying to find a hospital or clinic volunteering position these past few months, but astonishingly, it's been extremely difficult. The few positions that are available are purely clerical. I finally decided I would rather not waste time in a clerical post just to say I had volunteered in a hospital or clinic.

 

[Xandie]

Every once and a while I come back to pre-allo to post optimistic anecdotes in threads like this.
I applied with very little actual health care experience (lots of hard science, some job shadowing back in high school, and three weeks studying health care in SE Asia). I volunteered with the Red Cross, doing intake at blood drives, but not really anything directly medical.

I got in to four allopathic schools, including my first choice, and am now an M1. Medical volunteering experience is extremely valuable, but having or not having it will not make or break your application.

 

[AthensBeth]

Thanks for the relieving post. I should stop worrying. Normally, I'm not the worrying type, but ever since I didn't get into vet school, I'm less confident about getting in to programs. Granted, I only applied to one vet school, but I was instate. I met with them to ask why I didn't even get an interview. He told me that my test scores and grades were among the most competetive, but 200 hours volunteering for a vet is not enough experience. I was so mad... it's for the best though because I realized that I'd rather be a doctor.

Hopefully, med schools adcoms are different than UF Vet School. It sounds like they are.

 

[Xandie]

I've heard that about vet school... that if you have less than 400 hours, there's no point in even applying.

Anyway, you might want to mention your vet experience. Even though it's with animals, it's still health care, being around "patients" (I'm thinking in terms of the 'pet parents'), and it shows that you made the decision to come to medicine after really thinking about it instead of just picking it out of a hat.