Shadowing

[clisi]

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First question: Is it cool to shadow a MD and not a DO? Are the volunteer hours going to look the same to adcom?

Second question: When should I start? I'm a freshmen right now. I have no job and study around 4 hours a night which usually leaves me an hour or two that I could be spending volunteering. Am I starting to early? Or would this look really good? By the time I apply for DO school I'll have at least 750+ volunteer hours. Is that overboard? Or does that just show a ****load of initiative?

Third question: Is it legal to shadow a psychiatrist? Am I allowed to sit in on one? I am asking this because it seems logical for the answer to be no. If not, I guess I'll just do his paperwork or something simple like get him/her coffee haha.

Fourth question: I'm aiming for LMU DCOM. Should I go to each of their conferences that they hold every other month? I'm going December 15th to get information on their DO school, the history of DOs and to meet the deans and stuff. Is this a good idea? Get to know the staff and school early ? Or am I going crazy and should I just be enjoying life? Kidding kidding, I have a girlfriend, play guitar, and in a band.. I have a tiny bit of a life other than the four hours of studying after school haha.

Fifth question: Is psychiatry a competitive residency? On top of that is it even harder for a DO to compete with an MD for spot in it? I'll be doing it around the Knoxville area if anyone is familiar with it in Tennessee.

Thanks a lot guys, these forums rock! They are very helpful for us future doctors!

 

[gobluegirl]

First question: Is it cool to shadow a MD and not a DO? Are the volunteer hours going to look the same to adcom?

You'd have to look up the specific requirements on the aacom website. Some schools request DO letters only, while others don't.

Second question: When should I start? I'm a freshmen right now. I have no job and study around 4 hours a night which usually leaves me an hour or two that I could be spending volunteering. Am I starting to early? Or would this look really good? By the time I apply for DO school I'll have at least 750+ volunteer hours. Is that overboard? Or does that just show a ****load of initiative?

It's never to early to start volunteering, in my opinion. Go ahead and volunteer at a hospital a couple hours a week or something.

Third question: Is it legal to shadow a psychiatrist? Am I allowed to sit in on one? I am asking this because it seems logical for the answer to be no. If not, I guess I'll just do his paperwork or something simple like get him/her coffee haha.

Not sure about this one.

Fourth question: I'm aiming for LMU DCOM. Should I go to each of their conferences that they hold every other month? I'm going December 15th to get information on their DO school, the history of DOs and to meet the deans and stuff. Is this a good idea? Get to know the staff and school early ? Or am I going crazy and should I just be enjoying life? Kidding kidding, I have a girlfriend, play guitar, and in a band.. I have a tiny bit of a life other than the four hours of studying after school haha.

Wow you're definitely getting a head start, but hey, that's a good thing if you want to make sure it's for you. I don't think you'd need to go to every conference, but if you go to one that would definitely show your interest in the school and give you something to talk about at the interview, etc.

Fifth question: Is psychiatry a competitive residency? On top of that is it even harder for a DO to compete with an MD for spot in it? I'll be doing it around the Knoxville area if anyone is familiar with it in Tennessee.

DOs can go for an osteopathic or an allopathic residency. This website has the ratings of competitive residencies: http://residency.wustl.edu/medadmin...62353a93c5c35cb186256f850071bd86?OpenDocument

 

[clisi]

Thanks a lot! I'm checking out the site you posted right now. I'll see what that can tell me. Anybody else have some suggestions or answers? I'm grateful!

 

[Darktide]

It is legal to shadow a psych. I did at Univ. Michigan last winter for a few days---