Scribe during med school application year?

[leond323]

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Hey all, I'll be applying during this upcoming application cycle starting this summer, and hopefully matriculating next fall! I've been in a gap year, so I've been looking for work. I recently got offered a scribe position that requires a 1-year full-time commitment.

I was wondering if you guys think it might interfere with the application process, especially with interviews and stuff. I'd like to take the job to get paid and clinical experience and would theoretically be done by next spring, but I was hoping to get your opinions, maybe others have scribed during application season? Thanks!

 

[justkeepswiming]

I'd say go for it! It's tough to find a job, especially in healthcare, and especially if you'll be leaving after a year, so I'd take the offer for sure as long as you think you can handle it. It's definitely possible to work full time while applying and interviewing, as long as you're good at managing your time and are prepared to give up vacation days to go on interviews. I didn't scribe, but I worked 50ish hr weeks during the app cycle. It's been hectic for sure, but it's worked out fine.

 

[galaxyx]

Honestly, how often will you find directly medically relevant work with the flexible scheduling of a scribe. What are your other options?
If you're concerned about the year long commitment, that's for them to provide/help you with a letter of recommendation. In your employment contract, it will likely state that your employment is at will and either you or the company can end your employment at any time. Since you likely will be just starting the job, getting a letter of rec becomes a moot point unless you need to reapply. So, go with the job, if you have to at some point make a choice between interview and job, choose interview, but I doubt this would ever come up. There's a lot invested in you as a scribe to have your employment terminated over minor scheduling conflicts, especially when they work around the part time schedules of lots of current students.

 

[ilovebiology]

As a scribe myself (going on 1.5 years) who will be applying this round, I'd say take the job! Every scribe that I have worked along side of have managed balancing the application process and working. Yes, it's hard and you'll be busy, but also if your company and fellow scribes are like mine, then they are there to help you in anyway. Whether that is covering a shift because you need to finish a secondary or have a sudden upcoming interview that you weren't expecting. Being a scribe is pretty much the best job you can have prior to going to medical school. (Now I am assuming you'll be working in the ER). The learning curve is steep and the experience you get out of it every single day is life changing!! Take the job, you won't regret it.

 

[GopherMD]

I'm scribing in my gap year right now and had no problems attending interviews. I imagine most scribe companies would be understanding of your need to miss days of work for med school interviews. This job also made for great conversations during those interviews. I fully recommend accepting the position.

 

[sinombre]

I would definitely take it if you'll have financial stability. I was a scribe for a little over a year and it was by far the best clinical experience I've had thus far (and I've had quite a lot). The downside is the low pay--I couldn't afford to live off of $10 an hour so I kept going further and further into high-interest credit card debt. I found a higher paying research job after, but I think the experience and insight you gain as a scribe is invaluable.

I also studied for the MCAT/applied while working full time and doing research on the side, so I agree that it's definitely do-able.

 

[survivordo]

Agree with all of the above. Well worth the clinical experience. I am sure you will find that there is enough flexibility in the schedule that you will have no problem going on interviews. There will likely be others in similar situations so you will have to work together on the schedule. Besides, what is your alternative? Working at McDonald's?

Survivor DO

 

[kitsunebito]

Scribin so hard doctor's tryna find me.

Scribe brah.

 

[leond323]

Thanks so much for your responses everyone. Sounds like the overwhelming opinion is to take the job! Just for clarification my other alternative would have been volunteering in the hospital (clinical volunteering). Money, thankfully, is not an issue at this point.

 

[ilovebiology]

Scribin so hard doctor's tryna find me.

Scribe brah.

👍

 

[nBeeDee]

Definitely take the job unless you have a better paying option. Just like some others here, I was an ER scribe during part of college and it was an awesome experience. You are side by side with the docs and most of them are incredibly willing to explain things to you or give you advice about school and medicine as a career. You should definitely ask how scheduling will work though. Mine was very flexible and I could basically choose the days I worked, as long as I did a certain number of hours per week (this was part-time though). However, switching shifts with other scribes was incredibly easy and if you cant fit an interview in around your schedule, work it out with your co-workers. Writing essays and filling out applications can be taken care of at your own pace and at any time you want thanks to the internet, you will be able to do it all around your work commitment.

 

[crafty14]

Just to echo what everyone else has said, DO IT! I've been a scribe for over 2 years and cannot speak highly enough about my experience. I had been scribing part-time while in school, but I have worked full time since I graduated in May. I applied this cycle, and scribing was basically the #1 experience discussed at every single one of my interviews. Obviously I'm biased, but I think scribing is the best exposure you could get as a pre-med (or during a gap year) and interviewers generally seemed impressed that I had extensive experience working one-on-one with doctors.

As far as applications and interviews, scheduling (at least at my hospital) is fairly flexible and if I knew about an interview well in advance, it was never a problem for me to get the time off. Some of my co-workers had the issue where they got last minute invites to interviews like 2 weeks beforehand at which point the schedule was already made. In these situations, my bosses were very understanding and willing to switch things around. Obviously some things vary company to company, hospital to hospital, but this was my experience. Since the vast majority of scribes are pre-med, we're pretty much all in the same boat.

I could go on, but I'll stop typing now. Don't hesitate to let me know if you have any more questions!

 

[sunflower18]

I got hired as a scribe in January, and I just finished all of the paperwork and classroom trainings and all that, so my first shift in the hospital is in five days... Reading this thread has made me so incredibly excited (even though I was super excited to begin with!). I CAN'T WAIT WOO! 🙂 😀

Hopefully the OP and I love our jobs scribing 😀 Thanks, everybody, for your encouraging and enthusiasm-inducing input!

 

[Konfidence]

Scribing is the best clinical experience you can get while a pre-med. Hands down. Being an ER Tech or an EMT is good stuff, but as a scribe you are literally at the doctors hip for the entire shift. Doctors love to teach, so you'll learn a lot. Been a scribe for about 2 years and I've watched dozens of LPs and intubations to the point that I want to try them lol. I work with med students and residents as well so they give tons of advice on applying to med school. One resident had a book of peds ER questions and quizzed me for kicks. I answered 9 out of 10 of them right just from scribe experience. As everyone above has said...just do it. You won't regret it.