Shadowing/Volunteering on Top of Clinical Job for T20 schools?

[sushi18]

I understand that working a clinical job such as medical assistant, scribe, CNA, or EMT is generally accepted as clinical experience for med school.

However is it still advantageous for T20 schools to have clinical volunteering and/or shadowing on top of a clinical job? I would easily have over 2000 hours of patient interaction by the time I apply with the clinical job alone.

1. Would there be any significant difference admissions-wise for me to pursue the 40-80 hours shadowing/50+ hrs clinical volunteering that all pre-med students seem to aim for, given I get 2000 hrs of paid clinical experience?
   1. I already have 20 hours of shadowing, albeit from 4 years ago
   2. I'm currently interviewing for a non-clinical volunteering position that I'm really looking forward to, and so any clinical volunteering would be on top of that

Sorry if this is classic neurotic pre-med lol. I'm asking mainly because I wonder if there would be questions about the breadth of my understanding of different medical specialties.

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[Catalystik]

I understand that working a clinical job such as medical assistant, scribe, CNA, or EMT is generally accepted as clinical experience for med school.

However is it still advantageous for T20 schools to have clinical volunteering and/or shadowing on top of a clinical job? I would easily have over 2000 hours of patient interaction by the time I apply with the clinical job alone.

1. Would there be any significant difference admissions-wise for me to pursue the 40-80 hours shadowing/50+ hrs clinical volunteering that all pre-med students seem to aim for, given I get 2000 hrs of paid clinical experience?
   1. I already have 20 hours of shadowing, albeit from 4 years ago
   2. I'm currently interviewing for a non-clinical volunteering position that I'm really looking forward to, and so any clinical volunteering would be on top of that

Sorry if this is classic neurotic pre-med lol. I'm asking mainly because I wonder if there would be questions about the breadth of my understanding of different medical specialties.

Whether it would be advantageous to add clinical volunteering when you are strong with clinical employment depends on the breadth of experience offered by your employment. If your employment is in a psych ward or as a scribe in a derm office, you may not have much exposure to acute illness and injury, so you might add some ED volunteering, for example. If, OTOH you are an assistant in a general medical office, you might be fine without added clinical volunteering, but you might still like to get another view of medicine by volunteering in hospice or at a skilled-level nursing home.

I suggest adding another 30 hours to your shadowing, which should include a primary care doc.

 

[ciestar]

I had zero clinical volunteering to go along with “paid” clinical stuff. But ~300 hours of nonclinical volunteering to add to it.

I got 10 II. It for sure didn’t hold me back.

 

[sushi18]

Thanks folks for your insight. It seems like there are certainly mixed opinions on the matter, so since my schedule is crammed even with just work/classes/non-clinical volunteering, I'm thinking i'll test it out this way for now and plan to take on clinical volunteering at a later time. Hope this won't be seen as box-checking but correct me if I'm wrong. I'm honestly wondering where I'm gonna find time to sleep this term

@ciestar , congrats on your 10 IIs!! Looks like we have similar stats since I'm also non-trad w/ 3.7+ GPA and a lot of leadership experience. May I ask where your IIs/acceptances were?

 

[ciestar]

Thanks folks for your insight. It seems like there are certainly mixed opinions on the matter, so since my schedule is crammed even with just work/classes/non-clinical volunteering, I'm thinking i'll test it out this way for now and plan to take on clinical volunteering at a later time. Hope this won't be seen as box-checking but correct me if I'm wrong. I'm honestly wondering where I'm gonna find time to sleep this term

@ciestar , congrats on your 10 IIs!! Looks like we have similar stats since I'm also non-trad w/ 3.7+ GPA and a lot of leadership experience. May I ask where your IIs/acceptances were?

Thanks!
I only had one acceptance. Don’t be like me and suck at interviews.

Drexel, WVU, Dartmouth, Jefferson, Albany, TCMC (Geisinger), Quinnipiac, EVMS, VCU, USF

I was waitlisted at two and I actually declined the interview at the last three.

 

[sushi18]

Thanks!
I only had one acceptance. Don’t be like me and suck at interviews.

Drexel, WVU, Dartmouth, Jefferson, Albany, TCMC (Geisinger), Quinnipiac, EVMS, VCU, USF

I was waitlisted at two and I actually declined the interview at the last three.

it only takes one!

 

[puahate]

I had zero clinical volunteering to go along with “paid” clinical stuff. But ~300 hours of nonclinical volunteering to add to it.

I got 10 II. It for sure didn’t hold me back.

your stats must of have been good