What is Considered Good Experience?

[Dr. ThorStrange]

• What is considered good clinical experience?
• What is considered good non-clinical experience?
• How many hours is enough to be considered good?
• Is it better to have less hours in multiple places, or many hours that show commitment to one place?

What do you guys think?

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[jarednogeek]

Commitment looks good, but also a diversity of experiences. 150 hours clinical, non clinical, and 50 shadowing. Hospice, soup kitchen, tutoring the underserved, nursing home, volunteering at an underserved clinic with patient interaction, shadowing primary care.

 

[ginsengreset]

It is better to have thoughts, insights, experiences that meld into the rest of your application that can be used as evidence to say something about you.

A medical school application is a coherent, concise and compelling narrative showing a strong pattern of motivation, commitment, and achievement. The PS and secondaries set the themes that show that and the EC and specific experiences are the evidence to support that.

100% agree. It's about the experiences (accomplishments, skills learned, anecdotes that showcase your commitment to medicine / leadership potential) more than the hours. In my application and my interviews, I ended up talking about my 180-hour student government experience and my 1200-hour clinical employment experience at roughly the same length. However, hours do matter, in a way - if I had only put down 30 hours in student government, and talked about everything I did, that would probably raise some eyebrows and lead to suspicions that I was embellishing my app in some way.

 

[Gilakend]

Commitment looks good, but also a diversity of experiences. 150 hours clinical, non clinical, and 50 shadowing. Hospice, soup kitchen, tutoring the underserved, nursing home, volunteering at an underserved clinic with patient interaction, shadowing primary care.

I did a lot of nursing home related volunteering and it came up very positively at all of my interviews. I agree with everything written here.

 

[Goro]

• What is considered good clinical experience?
• What is considered good non-clinical experience?
• How many hours is enough to be considered good?
• Is it better to have less hours in multiple places, or many hours that show commitment to one place?

What do you guys think?

Here are some of the things I value, and why:


Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.

Some types of volunteer activities are more appealing than others. Volunteering in a nice suburban hospital is all very well and good and all, but doesn't show that you're willing to dig in and get your hands dirty in the same way that working with the developmentally disabled (or homeless, the dying, or Alzheimers or mentally ill or elderly or ESL or domestic, rural impoverished) does. The uncomfortable situations are the ones that really demonstrate your altruism and get you 'brownie points'. Plus, they frankly teach you more -- they develop your compassion and humanity in ways comfortable situations can't.


Service need not be "unique". If you can alleviate suffering in your community through service to the poor, homeless, illiterate, fatherless, etc, you are meeting an otherwise unmet need and learning more about the lives of the people (or types of people) who will someday be your patients. Check out your local houses of worship for volunteer opportunities. The key thing is service to others less fortunate than you. And get off campus and out of your comfort zone!

Examples include: Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, Humane Society, crisis hotlines, soup kitchen, food pantry, homeless or women’s shelter, after-school tutoring for students or coaching a sport in a poor school district, teaching ESL to adults at a community center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, or Meals on Wheels.



From LizzyM: If you have more than 300 hours of non-clinical volunteering by the time you apply you will be in the top 25% of applicants with regard to community service (based on what I see). The tip top of the pyramid are those who do a full-time volunteerism during a gap year or two (Peace Corps, City Year, etc).

Clinical... top 25% of the pool have employment in a clinical setting: EMT, scribe, patient care technician (aide). The hours don't matter... it is going to be hundreds of hours if you even work full-time for a few weeks.

The proportion of top applicants who have a publication or a thesis is relatively low -- maybe <20% if you include undergrad thesis. Publications? Less than 5% have anything in a reputable peer reviewed journal.

Most applicants have neither a thesis or a publication after 2 years of lab work during undergrad.

To stand out in the top tier, seriously, you need to be in the top 2% in terms of MCAT and have an excellent GPA. Beyond that, if you have the minimum in all areas and stand out in one or two areas (research, clinical, service, leadership, life experience) you'll be fine.