Shadowing medical students the day before an interview?

[Giythm]

I was speaking to one of the Docs that I scribe with and asked him for interview tips. He suggested something he did for his residency interviews where he asked to shadow a resident for a day and said I should ask to shadow a 3rd year med student as it showed initiative and a real desire to attend that school while also giving me a deeper look into the life of a med student at the institution.


I love this idea but would this be possible for medical school applicants? Should I email the admissions committee at the school I have an interview at (my top choice) and ask to shadow one of their 3rd medical students the day before or day after or would this just be automatically shut down?

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[Lucca]

ehhhhhh I wouldn't do this. Residency interviews and med school interviews are very different. You will most likely get a tour of the med school at your interview and have plenty of students to talk to / ask questions.

 

[Catalystik]

I was speaking to one of the Docs that I scribe with and asked him for interview tips. He suggested something he did for his residency interviews where he asked to shadow a resident for a day and said I should ask to shadow a 3rd year med student as it showed initiative and a real desire to attend that school while also giving me a deeper look into the life of a med student at the institution.


I love this idea but would this be possible for medical school applicants? Should I email the admissions committee at the school I have an interview at (my top choice) and ask to shadow one of their 3rd medical students the day before or day after or would this just be automatically shut down?

I can think of a number of road blocks that make this (great) idea not very feasible, from liability issues and completed background check, to institution-specific proof of HIPAA education, vaccines, and titers, as well as completed OSHA training, before you can step foot into a clinical site. Not to mention the need for an official badge.

 

[getdown]

lol shadowing med students seem absolutely like a useless thing to do. You'd literally be watching the MS3 do absolutely nothing and be more in the way than anything. And you'd likely not be allowed in anything cool anyway due to HIPAA. Shadowing MS1-2s equally worthless. You'd be watching someone sit in a lecture or studying all day.

 

[ClimbsRox]

lol shadowing med students seem absolutely like a useless thing to do. You'd literally be watching the MS3 do absolutely nothing and be more in the way than anything. And you'd likely not be allowed in anything cool anyway due to HIPAA. Shadowing MS1-2s equally worthless. You'd be watching someone sit in a lecture or studying all day.

I worked in an ER in a teaching hospital for a year. When I had downtime, I shadowed plenty of MS4s and they were some of my best shadowing experiences. They described every step of what they were doing and actually had the time to talk and answer questions, unlike the residents and attendings. While I am not sure OP's scenario would work out and have never shadowed an MS3, I wouldn't discredit the value of shadowing med students.

 

[getdown]

I worked in an ER in a teaching hospital for a year. When I had downtime, I shadowed plenty of MS4s and they were some of my best shadowing experiences. They described every step of what they were doing and actually had the time to talk and answer questions, unlike the residents and attendings. While I am not sure OP's scenario would work out and have never shadowed an MS3, I wouldn't discredit the value of shadowing med students.

Maybe if your goal is to just see what's going on it would be interesting since they do have more time on their hands but from my perspective of learning medical information, I would be taking anything a medical student says with a grain of salt. It's unfortunate that the attendings/residents didn't have time to talk to you since there's a lot of nuances and decision making that goes on that a medical student would not be able to give you.