The Value of Clinical Experience in Applying as a non-trad

[doglvr]

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Does anyone know how highly med schools look upon applicants who have taken a few years post-college and worked in the clinical setting? I am currently working in a hospital position with 100% patient contact and am wondering how much this may help my application (average grades/MCAT), if I decide to apply in the next few years.

 

[robh]

Does anyone know how highly med schools look upon applicants who have taken a few years post-college and worked in the clinical setting? I am currently working in a hospital position with 100% patient contact and am wondering how much this may help my application (average grades/MCAT), if I decide to apply in the next few years.

It is important to have clinical experience. I don't think it will make up for other problems in your application. I think schools want you to have clinical experience so that they know you have a basis to make an informed decision about going into medicine. It's one factor of many. Successful applicants generally have it all going on at once: grades, MCAT, LOR's, EC's including clinical experience, etc. That's my opinion.

 

[efex101]

Like the above poster stated one thing will not make up for another...they expect all of it...so just do your best and see what happens.

 

[scpod]

Does anyone know how highly med schools look upon applicants who have taken a few years post-college and worked in the clinical setting? I am currently working in a hospital position with 100% patient contact and am wondering how much this may help my application (average grades/MCAT), if I decide to apply in the next few years.

Sure, it's good, but it's not something that you can measure quantitatively. It's also not the primary reason why most people are rejected. The primary reason is still scores (MCAT/GPA). If you have scores that are competitve enough to get an interview, then you can point out all of that experience and it may sway some committee members. To others, it might not make a difference. The reason for actually having a committee is that everyone is biased in some way. There are PhD's who may not vote positively unless you have lots of research. There are MD's who were non-trads who won't vote positively if you look like a teenager and you've had a "cushy" life. There are sometimes students on the committee who have an entirely different agenda. Not everyone will like you, and while it's impossible to please everyone, the well-rounded applicant has a better chance at pleasing the most people. Still, to get to that point (the interview) you have to have good scores first. It's not easy to raise your GPA from average to great, but you can raise your MCAT in one test session. That's probably the single best way to improve your application.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

Does anyone know how highly med schools look upon applicants who have taken a few years post-college and worked in the clinical setting? I am currently working in a hospital position with 100% patient contact and am wondering how much this may help my application (average grades/MCAT), if I decide to apply in the next few years.

It helps tons. As a non-traditional, you always face the question, "why do you want to change your career to medicine?" If you've been in the trenches with direct patient contact, your admissions committee will know that you have a pretty good idea of what you're getting yourself into.

I expected to get a great deal of skepticism when I applied as a 43-year-old CPA. My career, however, had been many years in hospital finance - plus a couple of years working for a medical school. I explained how I had grown more and more interested in patients and patient care as the years had gone by.

I start medical school in August as a very happy (and rather old non-traditional) second-career student. Good luck to you!

 

[medworm]

Agree with robh. However, if your clinical experience is significant / a compelling selling point to your overall application, you can try to build your PS around that.

Best,

 

[Beau Geste]

I agree with NonTradTulsa. If you have significant clinical experience, especially in a decision-making field, I would think it would be in your favor. For example, nursing, PT, OT, ST, SW, RT, all have their own assessments, treatment plans, goals, and outcomes. All require good documentation skills and getting a good H&P. All (well, at least PT, OT, ST, RT for sure, probably the others, too) require continuing education to maintain their licensure. The therapies now pretty much have graduate degrees as the entry-level degree, indicating devotion to an area of study that must have maintained good grades (most programs have a 3.0 cutoff for academic probation).

So, if you are working in a medical/clinical situation of that nature, I can see how that would set you apart from an applicant who volunteered to file papers and such.

If, however you happen to be an applicant who volunteered or is paid to file papers and such, you are still exposed to the clinical side of medicine, but more as a spectator rather than team player, if you get the gist of what I'm saying. Not saying anyone's job trivial, but the more involved = more experience.