How did you find shadowing opportunities?
I'm a nontrad and cold calling / emailing hasn't worked yet.
Not going to lie: cold calling and emailing is a low-yield strategy. You should still do it as its also low-effort, but try these approaches as well:
1) Ask doctors in your family/social circles to shadow them. Or you can try your own doctor. This worked for me.
2) Talk to your health professions advisor if you have one at school. They usually have some programs where you can shadow.
3) Reach out to a local medical school and see if they can point you in the right direction
4) Volunteer at a local hospital - you can put the experience on your application as well. It won't be a glamorous job, but it will put you in front of doctors so you can network and ask them to shadow.
Just keep in mind that shadowing in and of itself is a lower tier EC. If you want to do it to get an idea of what being a doctor is like, then spend the time looking for a shadowing slot. But its not going to count for much on your application. The best ECs are the ones where you can talk at length about what you DID. Not what you saw. For me, they were EMS, research, and a medical missions trip. Most of my med school class spent some time doing some form of clinical work - scribing, EMS, medical assistant, etc. Many got their shadowing opportunities as a bonus through their work.
