<p>i really, really want to do EMT training over the summer. as many of you may know, though, the training is extensive and time consuming. the one i will take is either over a span of 10 weeks, saturdays and sundays from 9-5 or a span of 4 weeks, monday-friday from 9-5. this would not be too bad if it wasn't for the fact that i also want to work. i need to save up money to study abroad in the winter. </p>
<p>a) in anyone's opinion, is it feasible?
b) do med schools actually find an EMT certification impressive?
c) besides the fact that it looks good to volunteer for med school, my school (university of delaware) requires 50 hours before the pre med committee reviews your resume. i already have 32 hours from a nursing home. i was planning on finishing up the 50 hours with the nursing home and then begin volunteering with the first aid squad. do you think it would look good to do both or not really make a difference, especially since i'm not getting a tremendous amount of medical experience at the nursing home? </p>
<p>thanks to anyone who read my boring and idiotic post written at 3 in the morning :P</p>
<p>the training in and of itself gets you nothing; only pursue the certification if you plan on actually using it to be an EMT. If you do, then by all means it's great. However, if you're only planning on getting certified, your time would be much better spent volunteering/researching.</p>
<p>^They won't be impressed but that doesn't mean it is a worthwhile thing to do and it will in no way hinder your application. If you actually want to be an EMT and save lives, go for it. If not, it is a waste of your time.</p>
<p>It's a great EC if you use your certificate. i don't think anyone will say anything different. But simply passing the class and getting licensed isn't going to do anything for your app.</p>
<p>I know that you just made up numbers, but I'm just saying that being an EMT should be enough to consider you excellent as far as clinical experience goes, right?</p>
<p>It would depend heavily on whether you could establish in interviews and essays that it was a meaningful experience for you. It would depend on how long you'd spent doing it, what kind of hours you'd put in, and in what environment you served. It might depend on what kind of letter of recommendation you received from the experience.</p>
<p>Certainly being an EMT on a college campus, sitting around all night and occasionally picking up a drunken student, would most certainly not on its own make you stand out.</p>
<p>to clarify, i do plan on joining the first aid squad in my town, not my college campus. i'm only a freshman, so i will accumulate a lot of volunteer hours with it.</p>
<p>actually no, the Penn students who are EMT's on campus don't generally do actualy EMT stuff, the positions are generally full-time ones. The Penn student EMT's generally can just be seen waiting around to be called during some major social event when some kid drinks to much (i.e. Spring Fling). I don't know about the rules or job structure elsewhere, but here you really can't work as an EMT during the school year due to the time constraints and the jobs being in demand for people who actually need them, rather than premeds looking to pad a resume.</p>