Shadowing? Huh?

[Dream2BNMD]

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Ok, forgive me....
I understand what shadowing is, but is it a requirement for medical school application? The reason I ask is because although I am currently Director of Corporate Sales in technology, I held positions as an Admission Rep in two different ER's, nursing assistant in gereatric medicine, as an ER Tech, and as the Unit Secretary in the ER of our Children's Hospital (a teaching facility). If the purpose is so that you know what you are getting yourself into, I fully understand what I am getting myself into.

Now the other part of this is that I will only apply to one medical school and attempt to match in the same state. I am very adament about not moving and about serving my very own community, of which I already do so in many volunteer organizations. Do you think this will help me?

 

[LifetimeDoc]

Shadowing is not an official requirement, but one of those many "unwritten" requirements such as volunteering, showing leadership, etc. Many people who are rejected are told that they lacked clinical exposure and shadowing experience.

Even though I have volunteered in the hospital for almost 3 years now, I was surprised how different it was observing physicians at a distance and then actually shadowing those same doctors as they ran around an ER. It's quite different to view what a physician does from their perspective, than from the perspective of a volunteer, tech, or nurse.

I would surmise that your experience in the hospital setting will greatly help your application compared to somebody who is 20 and has never stepped foot in a hospital. Shadowing might not be a requirement for you, but it shows that you are dedicated to becoming a physician and can only help because you took the time to jump through all the little hoops.

You can try only applying to one school, but I would have a serious talk with the admissions folk (the Dean, not just the office staff) about your chances. This process is hyper-competitive. If you apply in-state, you have a much better chance of getting an acceptance, but there are no guarantees for anybody (this includes 42 on the MCAT, or 4.0 GPA, or having lots of experience). The best bet would be to apply to ALL of the medical schools in your state or nearby region, and then if you get into the local one then great! If not, then you will at least become a doctor and be close by. The worst thing would be to apply to only one school, year after year, and then never become a physician.

 

[viostorm]

I was a paramedic full time for 2 full years before applying to med school. Before that was EMT.

My adcom asked me if I had any volunteer experience. I was like WTF, I was full time employed in healthcare?

Anyway, point here being I think they have a section where they can give you "points" for volunteering. Regardless if your work was better experience, I would just jump through the hoop and do some shadowing and be nice about it without an ego.

I agree with the previous poster, it is rather unrealistic for you to say you will stay in the area. If your stats are weak, you will probably be applying to 20-25 schools. If it works out for you to stay in the area, great, if not be prepared. Not only that it is often not good to train in the area you serve, it causes inbreeding and you will never get the outside experience you need.

Good luck with your app process!

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

The purpose of shadowing is so that you see what the day-to-day and minute-by-minute duties of a DOCTOR are so that you can have a chance to see if that job/life is suited for you. Whether or not it is a requirement, I would suggest you do it for your own benefit. I learned lots of things while shadowing (including that I can faint when I'm watching CSF drain, and the doctor equates it to getting maple syrup out of a tree 🙂 ) At one of my interviews, one of my interviewers made a big deal out of the fact that I had never shadowed a primary-care physician (I shadowed EM doctors.) Ironically, however, that is one of the schools to which I have been accepted.

I think your being adamant to stay in one area and apply to one school, etc is foolish. There is a name for people like you: Re-applicant. Your best chances of getting an acceptance lie with applying broadly. That's not to say that it hasn't been done before. I only applied to 7/8 instate schools, which most people here might think is a little light, and was accepted. I know that oxeye only applied to one school (through EDP) and was accepted, so exceptions exist, but most people here generally apply to 10+ schools that naturally end up being somewhat geographically scattered.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Dream2BNMD]

Thank you all for the shadowing response and all the suggestions. I will definately look into shadowing a physician and do some volunteer work in a hospital. To be clear on the medical school situation, I live in Colorado and we only have one - University of Colorado. Turst me, if there were 8 here, I would apply to all eight!!

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Thank you all for the shadowing response and all the suggestions. I will definately look into shadowing a physician and do some volunteer work in a hospital. To be clear on the medical school situation, I live in Colorado and we only have one - University of Colorado. Turst me, if there were 8 here, I would apply to all eight!!

I know it sucks, and I, of all people, completely understand why you would not want to apply to private/OOS schools, but the odds will really not be in your favor if you only apply to that one school. However, your best odds of acceptance probably do lie with your state school, so, I hope it all works out for you. Once again, best of luck!

 

[viostorm]

Thank you all for the shadowing response and all the suggestions. I will definately look into shadowing a physician and do some volunteer work in a hospital. To be clear on the medical school situation, I live in Colorado and we only have one - University of Colorado. Turst me, if there were 8 here, I would apply to all eight!!

There is not only one option for you to become a doctor. There are lots of private schools and DO schools. Also, you can apply out of state. I applied out of state and was accepted.

Ok, but after saying you should apply to more ... I only applied to 1 school and was admitted. My plan was to spread my app across the country the next year.

 

[musashi]

When I apply to medical school, I will have over 2 years of shadowing at the local ER where I live. Is this the same thing as volunteering? I will have accumulated over 2000 hours of shadow time (in 3 different settings) w/out any type of pay hence the volunteering question. Also, is shadowing considered any type of clinical exposure or healthcare related experience? I'm considering attaining my EMT-B certification, but have been told by some of the docs that shadowing "should" suffice. Curious what ya'll have to say.

 

[Dream2BNMD]

And they said, I should apply to additional school, but let them know that they are my first choice and of greatest interest. He said some members of the committee feel like shadowing is important and others think that work experience within the medical community should suffice. So I feel much better after having that conversation, so I recommend calling the schools you are interested in.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

When I apply to medical school, I will have over 2 years of shadowing at the local ER where I live. Is this the same thing as volunteering? I will have accumulated over 2000 hours of shadow time (in 3 different settings) w/out any type of pay hence the volunteering question.

Shadowing and volunteering are two different things. Shadowing does count as clinical experience, but med schools want you to volunteer (either in a hospital or at some non-profit or some cause that's important to you) because they want to see that you are a selfless human being who does care about serving others. When you shadow, you get something out of it. Maybe not money, but you get an inside look at medicine and you get an LOR out of it. When you volunteer, it's more selfless and they want to see that.

 

[Trismegistus4]

Shadowing and volunteering are two different things. Shadowing does count as clinical experience, but med schools want you to volunteer (either in a hospital or at some non-profit or some cause that's important to you) because they want to see that you are a selfless human being who does care about serving others. When you shadow, you get something out of it. Maybe not money, but you get an inside look at medicine and you get an LOR out of it. When you volunteer, it's more selfless and they want to see that.

The volunteering "requirement" is the biggest joke about this whole process. It doesn't prove that you're a "selfless human being who does care about serving others," it proves that you want to get into medical school. This is not to discourage the OP from doing it; it seems to be something med schools expect. But if med schools don't know, deep down, that the act of someone doing something just because he was told it was necessary to get into med school doesn't prove he's a selfless person, they're crazy.