Volunteer and Shadowing Time

[trifusion]

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Hello all,

I am an undergraduate and am trying to keep myself busy summer times by working and doing extracurricular activities. A little about my past history, I wasn't sure about Pre-Med until the beginning of my sophomore year (I am going to be a junior come the next fall semester). Meaning my summer after freshman year was pretty unproductive and I didnt do anything really medical related. This summer I am volunteering at a hospice and have a day job, I also volunteer at Habitat for Humanity ( I realize its not Medically related but I love doing it!) Now my question is how acceptable would it be to do hospital work and shadowing at a clinic next summer, as I already have several opportunities lined up and would like to pursue them. Obviously it might seem I am doing them late, as application would literally occur immediately after I finish these, but would a Medical School view it negatively?

 

[baxt1412]

You are going to probably want shadowing hours before you are applying. A lot of people around here say 50 is the sweet spot. Otherwise a school may question why you are applying to be something that you have no idea how it works.

 

[Catalystik]

Submitting your application at the end of the summer is a bad idea. Either wait until the following cycle, especially if your ECs aren't all they need to be, or get in some shadowing over winter and spring breaks before applying in early summer 2015. Shadowing is one activity where you can acquire hours quickly and not have it count against you.

 

[mrh125]

Hello all,

I am an undergraduate and am trying to keep myself busy summer times by working and doing extracurricular activities. A little about my past history, I wasn't sure about Pre-Med until the beginning of my sophomore year (I am going to be a junior come the next fall semester). Meaning my summer after freshman year was pretty unproductive and I didnt do anything really medical related. This summer I am volunteering at a hospice and have a day job, I also volunteer at Habitat for Humanity ( I realize its not Medically related but I love doing it!) Now my question is how acceptable would it be to do hospital work and shadowing at a clinic next summer, as I already have several opportunities lined up and would like to pursue them. Obviously it might seem I am doing them late, as application would literally occur immediately after I finish these, but would a Medical School view it negatively?

My tip is to see if you can link shadowing and volunteering together. Often times you can scribe for a doctor (talk to them about it or go through scribes of america) and you can see how they do medicine (shadowing basically) while getting credit for volunteering. It's more active than just shadowing, but looks better imo.

 

[riqwnx]

Given that you only recently decided to pursue medical school I would go with catalystiks suggestion and consider taking a gap year. It will give you time to get quality shadowing and clinical experience in and more time to study for the MCAT! I took a gap year and I was extremely glad I did! Don't worry about doing those clinical experiences being too late or anything. I got a job as a patient care assistant that started in June 2013 and I submitted amcas in early July 2013. You can mention the experience in the activites section and come interview season you will have plenty to talk about.