Thoughts on my work experience

[sg13jose]

Hello all,

Well I'm 24yrs old and still in the process of finishing my undregrad degree. I work FT and take classes at night. I still have a ways to go but nevertheless I'm wondering what my current work experience would be thought of while applying to med school. Currently I am at a Urology clinic at a medical school in Texas. I answer phones, schedule, etc. I've been here 6 months now. Before this I was at an imaging center doing the same type of work for a year. Then before that I was working in an ER (Trauma 1) in Dallas for 3 years. There I checked in patients, and was able to witness direct patient care. I had to go in the patient rooms and secure their belongings. So on a daily basis I'd see gruesome injuries, or gravely ill patients. I'd be in the room many times as patients of all ages were pronounced. The MD's would use my Spanish sometimes so I'd be side by side with them as they were preforming whatever life saving procedue they were preforming. A couple of times I had the grim task of translating and telling a family their loved one had passed away. I was 19 at the time and had to tell a father that his wife and 7yr old had died in a car accident. Then take him back to identify the body. I really enjoyed the job but unfortunatley had to leave when my father became ill and I had to start helping out more with bills.

Anyways I've rambled long enough. My question is, will my work experience be valuable or are schools looking for more hands on experience?

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[Mobius1985]

Yes, your work experience will be valuable, particularly the latter ER example, and possible the first, if you were interacting face-to-face with sick urology patients at the front desk, and not just in a back office somewhere, which I am presuming was true at the imaging center. Your ability to speak medical Spanish will also be considered valuable. Any experience where a patient is close enough to smell them, is a clinical experience, and important to list on your med school application.

 

[NTF]

If it allows you to talk or write insightfully about what patients go through, the practice of medicine, what you learned and how it impacts your pursuit of medicine and your ability to contribute to medicine, then almost anything can be valuable in the eyes of adcoms, even activities we don't traditionally see as "clinical settings".

So yes your experience is valuable. But how valuable will depend on whether you write insightfully about it in your PS or secondary essays and speak meaningfully about it in interviews.

And you'd be surprised what interviewers are interested in. I've had alot of research and patient care experience, but universally every interviewer spent more time asking me about my time as a public school science teacher in the Bronx.