Ok, this is my general response to shadowing so please take this advice with a grain of salt:
shadowing = OBSERVING. If you are not doing much beyond that, I wouldn't waste my time if all you are doing is sitting next t othe doc and patient being a mere observer (ok, I am going to get flames for this). But med schools are going to ask you HOW YOU DO with patients, not how the doc you work with does. Does that make sense? I would urge you after a week or two of shadowing, to ask the docs if you can do some stuff like take histories and vitals. It's not hard, and there are no insurance problems associated with you seeing patients (ie. if you are with patients, you are NOT liable) Hell, I started doing that the first week of my work in a clinic and I had NO PRIOR EXPERIENCE. I want you to get the skills through patient work etc, not just observe. Trust me, this is what I have seen people in an ER do all the time (observe) and later get flamed for it in an interview when they ask--what did YOU do? I wouldn't want to be the interviewee in that case.
I don't mean to sound harsh, but if you are going to get *some* experience, please let it be more than shadowing. Even if you are sitting in the waiting room and talking to patients while they are waiting for that doc, that's better experience than simply shadowing. Others may disagree, but I just wanted to let you know what I think.
Then again, I have seen people with AWESOME stats (3.8 and 35+ MCATs) who have done nothing but volunteer in an ER and carry piss and charts all day, that have multiple acceptances. So if you have kick-ass stats, . . . . I don't know. I would still urge you to get more experience than shadowing. I want you to do well, so please keep me updated..okay??
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