Not much "official" shadowing done (will adcoms hold it against me?)

[SoBad]

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I have 20+ hours of shadowing down for primary care, but only around 5 hours with a doctor in the U.S. However, I've had plenty of time to talk to doctors and interact with them and ask questions while volunteering at the hospital in the U.S. Will adcoms still look at this and have this negatively impact me? I've been looking around for doctors to shadow, but they all don't want the liability, privacy issues, or just don't seem to have the time for someone to shadow .

 

[tr0gd0r]

I've done less than 15 hours of official shadowing. I don't know how much adcoms held it against me, but I got a good number of interviews, got in a couple places, and no one ever asked me why I hadn't shadowed more.

 

[byurazorhog]

I have 20+ hours of shadowing down for primary care, but only around 5 hours with a doctor in the U.S. However, I've had plenty of time to talk to doctors and interact with them and ask questions while volunteering at the hospital in the U.S. Will adcoms still look at this and have this negatively impact me? I've been looking around for doctors to shadow, but they all don't want the liability, privacy issues, or just don't seem to have the time for someone to shadow .

I doubt that ALL of them aren't amenable to the idea of pre-med shadowing. Go into a clinic and look up their provider directory, then write letters to every one of them...I'm sure at least some will respond. Adcoms won't care how much "interaction" you have with the docs while you shadow on the wards unless you have one-on-one time with them to prove it. If you have really gotten to know these docs you referenced in your post then take the next step, approach them and ask if you could shadow them they're doing their clinic time. I would try both methods: mass mailing and asking the ones you've met in person.

 

[SoBad]

"I doubt that ALL of them aren't amenable to the idea of pre-med shadowing."

Yea, but after contacting 15-20 doctors with no luck it is a little disheartening 🙁

 

[StephenMaturin]

I had no shadowing whatsoever. I did have scribe and other clinical experience. Not sure if it hurt or not, but no one in the interviews ever mentioned it.

 

[FIREitUP]

Shadowing is BS and a waste of time. You get nothing out of it except for exposure. If you can get that exposure elsewhere while being productive, I say go for it.

 

[CrunchBerries]

"I doubt that ALL of them aren't amenable to the idea of pre-med shadowing."

Yea, but after contacting 15-20 doctors with no luck it is a little disheartening 🙁

You need one bagillion zillion hours

 

[samvillian]

You need one bagillion zillion hours

Very productive. 👍

 

[SoBad]

Haha I hope you guys are right. I'd rather be using this time to get more research experience instead of following around doctors when I have plenty of exposure to them in action. Sometimes its really hard to tell whats going to mess you up or hurt you when it comes to admissions, so i apologize in advance if its a silly question 😛

 

[rogerthaat]

Shadowing experience is an indicator that you have a better understanding of what being a doctor is like than simply watching every episode of Grey's. If you don't have much shadowing experience, you should still be able to articulate this understanding and back it up with your other clinical experience.

 

[edge of desire]

curious as to a range of "normal"/acceptable volunteering + shadowing hours? do you even have to list the number of hours on amcas (not sure if that field is required)?

 

[tiktok22]

I think it really depends on the school as well so it might be a good factor to consider before you spend $$ on thr primary/secondary app...my state school is big on clinical experience/shadowing and recommends +40 hours but other schools won't even ask about it

 

[edge of desire]

yeah...40 doesn't really seem like that much.