<p>I am an incoming freshman at a 4 year university and already I know I want to do something in the health sciences field, thus doing an unecided pre-med track.</p>
<p>I want to get a great start for my application to med school and I just needed advice from those already getting started with their clinical experience or who are already in med school. I was reading about many undergraduate students becoming CNA, EMT, or a Certified Pharmacy Technician. I would like to do the same, but am confused on how to do so. Because I am a full time student, I would need to take classes to become either a CNA, EMT, or CPhT on the side. </p>
<p>Which do you believe I should do, because I cant do all three, that would stand out to medical schools? Do I need volunteer experience before becoming one of these? What is the better job of the 3?</p>
<p>Don’t do any of them just to impress adcoms. All of those certifications are not all that unusual and won’t make you stand out from a crowd.</p>
<p>And simply having the certifications isn’t enough–you have to use them. As in actually work/volunteer as a EMT, CNA or CPhT for a period of time.</p>
<p>As for how to go about becoming any of the above—the coursework is usually offered thru your local community college. You can go during the summer or take the coursework at night in addition to your regular classes. How long it’ll take to complete your certification will depend on how often the class meets. And then you’ll need to take your state licensing exam before you can work or volunteer–which may only be offered a few times a year. (Our state offers EMT licensing exams only 4 times a year, for example. YMMV.)</p>
<p>None of the certification programs you list require prior experience.</p>
<p>As for better–it depends on what you like to do and what kind of healthcare setting you want to work in. EMTs probably have the most flexibility in terms of where they can work/volunteer, but EMT-Bs are a dime a dozen and may have trouble finding placements.</p>
<p>The reasoning in me wanting to complete these certifications is that I want to gain clinical experience I need to up my med school application. </p>
<p>However, you stated that these certifications arent unusual and wont make me stand out. If they are not unusual certifications among other pre med students applying to med school, if I dont do them, wouldnt I be falling behind and opting out of what is considered the norm?</p>
<p>Also if you dont think this is a good idea, what do you suggest I do to make my application stand out, in terms of clinical experience??</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>The certifications are a very, very minor portion of your application. Having or not having them won’t make or break your application. Do one if you want to USE the training.</p>
<p>(For example, D1 is a EMT-I. She’s a volunteer EMT with the local Mountain Search & Rescue and has been for 2+ years, but only because she’s a avid climber and wanted to give back to the climbing community. D2 is a certified Wilderness First Responder, but only because she frequently backpacks in remote areas where she may be a day or more from medical help and it’s wise thing to have.)</p>
<p>You can get clinical exposure in many ways and in many settings. You need to find a way that works for you. (HINT: try volunteering at your local hospital for starters.)</p>
<p>There is no magic formula to get into med school. You need to find your own path.</p>
<p>My advice is: don’t try to stand out using clinical experience. Very few applicants are able to do anything that’ll impress the adcom from that stand point. Do your shadowing and your hospital volunteering. If you want to become an EMT or a CNA, fine. But, understand that what these health professionals do is very different from what a physician does. Knowing how to clean up people’s poop as a CNA or splint someone’s leg as an EMT is largely irrelevant as physicians don’t do that sort of thing. And I agree that the certification alone is absolutely worthless. You need to find employment as a CNA or EMT to make it worthwhile, which is a whole other headache.</p>
<p>So, unless you have a special interest in getting those certifications (such as WOWMom’s daughter’s interest in backpacking, leading her to be a EMT with a Mountain Search and Rescue team which makes perfect sense to me), I would advise just doing the standard clinical stuff and trying to stand out another way.</p>
<p>ok this helped a lot! thank you so much.</p>
<p>Yea, getting one of those licenses won’t help you out that much, but not getting one of them won’t put you at a disadvantage. CNA, EMT, etc. are just another way to get clinical experience. There’s other ways to get clinical experience (like regular volunteering at the hospital, shadowing, etc.) without having to go through the time-consuming and expensive certification process. I’d only recommend doing CNA or EMT if you’re really interested in it.</p>