<p>Hi guys! I'm an incoming freshman for Boston University, and exploring my options for clinical experience. Currently, I am going to take to take the exam for Pharm Tech, and become licensed in Massachusetts in the fall. What do you guys think about this? Any more recommendations for what kind of clinical experience I should seek? </p>
<p>(Sorry if this question has already been asked)</p>
<p>are you saying you want to become a pharm tech as clinical experience for med school? It’s certainly not any more impressive than other clinical exposures and depending on where you were working (retail pharmacy vs. hospital) could provide an experience that is pretty far removed from what physicians do. Start with the sticky thread at the top.</p>
<p>If you’re shooting for a career in pharmacy I don’t know anything about that so hopefully someone else will chime in.</p>
<p>Sorry about that … I clicked all the links except the one talking about EC’s by accident. If I have anymore questions after reading the stickies, I’ll post them here. Anyways, thank you for replying, I really appreciate it!</p>
<p>I’ve spent the past 2 hours overlooking the stickies, but I haven’t seen any of them talk about CPhT. Am I correct in assuming that Pharm Techs are basically worthless in the eyes of med school? </p>
<p>If so, what should I do with my summer between high school and college? I’ve looked at the stickies, and concluded that EMT-B is basically my best shot. However, I currently reside in CA, and have to wait until I move to MA for certification/classes. </p>
<p>All in all, what I’m trying to say is that I don’t want to waste any time twiddling my thumbs this summer. In your opinion, is there anything that I can currently do at all to work towards making myself more competitive for med school? Any advice/comments would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>What you can do this summer is have fun and be ready to hit the ground running with studying and ECs when you get to college.</p>
<p>Pharm techs are not worthless it’s just that it’s not anything special and I think unless you really WANT to be a pharm tech for personal interests in pharmacology there are plenty of other ways to get clinical exposure without taking (and I assume paying for) an exam.</p>
<p>Unless you start something this summer that you return to in later summers it won’t be on your app anyway.</p>
<p>"what should I do with my summer between high school and college? "
-Relax, spend time with your friends. If you got a job, then consider yourself very lucky and and enjoy your job. Your UG summers are precious, you will not have many summers off after you graduate, so enjoy them as much as you could, pursue whatever your heart desires, including nothing. Again, if you are lucky, you may find some opportunities, but do not get discouraged if there is nothing for you in a summer, you are not the first one who will have a lazy, sleep in summers in UG, the ones that you will never ever have any more…</p>
<p>You can still take you EMT-B class in CA (I did) and then fill out your licensing paper work in MA–doesn’t matter where you take the class.</p>
<p>^^Actually, it does matter where you take the class since licensing requirements and scope of practice for EMT-Bs vary by state.</p>
<p>And most states do have reciprocity agreements w/r/t licensing.</p>
<p>The class I took specifically told us we could get our license in any state after finishing it–in fact it was what one of the other students did when he moved to florida.</p>
<p>My Pre-Med (now Pre-PA) friend recommended EMT… I noticed here it is called Emergency Medical Technician I … and I looked up the book Prehospital Emergency Care by Mistovich and it looks like it is an EMT-B class and not an EMT-I class. Maybe I could look at this since after 2 years I have to worry about my living expenses (not tuition though - full ride scholarship up to 5 yrs), so I could work as this poss. while in college?</p>
<p>Or does working in a science college laboratory look better (I did this for a year at my comm. college b4 transferring to a 4 yr university???)</p>
<p>Working in a clinical experience would be more interesting to me though…</p>
<p>I’ve been told that working in a lab looks better than as an EMT, but obviously many won’t pay you (or they don’t where I go anyway). You could also work in a clinical research (that way it’s clinical experience and research experience, plus more of these pay).</p>
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<p>That’s simply not true. Unless you took the National Registry exam (NREMT)–and even then it does not guarantee licensing eligbility in every one of the 50 states. (For example, in my home state, EMT-B and EMT-I have a wider scope of practice than that of the National Registry. Consequently, only individuals who have taken their coursework in-state AND pass the state exam can get licensed.)</p>
<p>~~~~</p>
<p>Med school applicants are expected to have both clinical experience and research lab experiences.</p>
<p>When you go list your activities on your AMCAS application, you have to classify each one. You can’t list a single experience in more than one category. Clinical research might give you both clinical experience and research experience, but you can only call one or the other on your application.</p>
<p>^ yes you’re right, I was wrong to say you can transfer it to any state, but you can transfer it to many states (specifically those with the same scope of practice as the national registry, then you only have to take the nremt exam–California and some other states don’t have their own state exam).</p>