Research and no clinical exp?

[femdoc]

what are chances getting the thumbs up with adcoms if you have research experiences but no clinical? Esp. if you're interested in MD, not MD/PhD?

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[abw]

hey! i've gotten 3 interviews with clinical experience starting only after i submitted amcas and research only in non-medical areas.

 

[johnstoner]

I don't think thats good b/c when they ask you why you want to be a doctor when you don't even have any hospital experience what are you planning to tell them?

i know its hard to find decent clinical experience out there and usually working at a hospital means doing stuff that is not even clinically related...but searching for a job thats clinical can be a real boost esp since some schools won't even consider your application unless you have clinical experience.

I had mostly research and saw that as my downfall...thank my lucky stars that I got a clinical research job after i graduated... hehe

anyway good luck

thats just what i think so take that as a grain of salt

 

[femdoc]

hmmm... a clinical research job. That might be doable! How is it going for you so far? How's the pay, hours, work schedule, benefits, location, etc?

 

[jkway]

While an undergrad I got a clinical research job. It was great because it paided $10/hour for going into the rooms of patients in an ER and seeing if they qualified for a number of research projects. If they qualified then I would collect data that was relavent for the research. It was a great job, because it really gave me a lot of patient interaction and allowed me to make some money. I heard that alot of hospitals offer jobs like this. Definently look into it in your area.

 

[doepug]

I got into plenty of med schools with a CV full of research experience without any clinical exposure. Don't listen to anyone who tells you that you don't have a good chance.

Fact of the matter is that you'll be in a clinical setting for the rest of your life with an MD. Adcoms know that.

Don't do clinical work to pad your resume. Don't be the cookie cutter applicant. Be yourself, and you'll do fine in the admissions game.

Cheers,

doepug
MS III, Johns Hopkins

 

[chopsuey]

Originally posted by jkway
While an undergrad I got a clinical research job. It was great because it paided $10/hour for going into the rooms of patients in an ER and seeing if they qualified for a number of research projects. If they qualified then I would collect data that was relavent for the research. It was a great job, because it really gave me a lot of patient interaction and allowed me to make some money. I heard that alot of hospitals offer jobs like this. Definently look into it in your area.

i did the same thing, but i didn't get paid nearly as much!!! it was a summer job, though, so i guess i couldn't have expected to much (there certainly weren't benefits, etc.). there were other people with clinical research coordinator positions...those pay better and involve some kind of benefits, i think... if anyone knows more, go ahead and post it.

 

[Andrew_Doan]

Originally posted by doepug
I got into plenty of med schools with a CV full of research experience without any clinical exposure. Don't listen to anyone who tells you that you don't have a good chance.

Fact of the matter is that you'll be in a clinical setting for the rest of your life with an MD. Adcoms know that.

Don't do clinical work to pad your resume. Don't be the cookie cutter applicant. Be yourself, and you'll do fine in the admissions game.

Cheers,

doepug
MS III, Johns Hopkins

I agree with this too. It's more important to do community service work that you enjoy rather than seeking clinical experiences for your resume. Find EC that are fun and make you happy. You'll be an interesting candidate in the end.

 

[uclachris]

I agree too. I hope that the ADCOMS agree as well-- for my sake. Of course, I've left my research position as a post-doc and now do a job very similar to that described by jkway. It's funny how adcoms can either love you or hate you with or with out new things on your CV.

Punchline. Be yourself. Do what you wanna do. It's always a crapshoot.

Good luck to all!

C

 

[johnstoner]

I have a job as an examiner in a clinical research job that looks at aging and disability so i interact with a lot of patients that are older. I get paid 12 dollars an hour which isn't much considering other people who get paid like 30K + I have a friend who is doing a clinical research job that pays like 35K and she just started this august.

the thing is that those people who say that adcoms don't care is wrong. I would be guessing but those people probably had something special about their applications that were "non cookie cutter" types. Its better (if you have time of course) to get into something that deals with interaction in lots of people (preferably in a clinical type setting) because that is what you will be doing for the rest of your life so you might as well get a feel for it... its like running a marathon without even trying out a 10K.

add the clinicals....but round out yourself by pursuing things outside of medicine (which is not that hard just do something you enjoy ie. hobbies)

stoner