<p>I find this dialogue a little unsettling. Do you "shadow" to see if you like the day to day life of a Physician, or to put it on an application? My experience being "shadowed" ( this was for students on clinical rotations) was a bit of a nuisance and slowed me down a lot. if I thought someone was doing it just to look good, that would make it worse.</p>
<p>
My D was looking for an experience that would make her more knowledgeable about the "real" practice of medicine. The nuts and bolts. </p>
<p>She arrived when they arrived. Went home when they went home. Saw them stressed and saw them at ease. Saw them hassling with paperwork, drug salespeople, upset patients, staffing problems, other bureacracy. She witnessed surgeries and procedures of all kinds, some clean some "messy" (my word, not her's).</p>
<p>I think so far it has been the single most enligtening experience of this process and she loved it.</p>
<p>That's a good thing. Feel good about it, Shrinkrap.</p>
<p>^^^This is why I recommend shadowing for entire days rather than just showing up for 2 hours for the "exciting stuff." Watching the doctor do paperwork or document his visits might not be the most exciting thing in the world but when you are a doctor, you're going to be doing the same thing (unless we have robots to do this sort of stuff by then). It's good to get a feel for how much time you'll have to spend dealing with bureaucracy vs. how much time you'll be spending with the patients.</p>
<p>I agree wholeheartedly with norcalguy.</p>
<p>SR: Unfortunately I do think there's some resume component to the experience, simply because medical schools really do expect it of their applicants. At the same time, I really do think most premedical students -- at least, it was true for me -- really are excited and priveleged to be a part of that, at least for a few weeks.</p>
<p>I actually shadowed a lot in high school (200 hrs or more), can I put that on an application or talk about it in an interview, or does high school just not count?</p>
<p>You can talk about it on your essays or interviews but HS stuff don't belong on the med school app.</p>
<p>NCG is right on the money: you should not list it on the "official" list of experiences.</p>
<p>I'll go one step farther and say that if that's the only clinical component of an essay or interview, you'll be in trouble.</p>
<p>But by all means, mention it if you think it's relevant.</p>
<p>This is in regard about high school activities. What if there is an essay or when one is in an interview and a question is asked like: when were you first interested in medicine? or Why do you want to be a doctor? Can't you start with that first activity in high school and then transition to how you capitalized on it in the college by doing other activities that display your interest in the field.</p>
<p>Yes .</p>
<p>However, do not list it on your "official list".</p>
<p>Can I list activities that I did the summer before starting undergrad college? This is the summer right after I graduated from high school? Or do I need to wait until I actually start college to list those activities?</p>
<p>"Postsecondary" is the key word. Anything after high school.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'll go one step farther and say that if that's the only clinical component of an essay or interview, you'll be in trouble.
[/quote]
What ECs would be good to have other than just that (200 hours of shadowing) in order to avoid trouble in an essay or interview? But, at mdapplicants, I think I saw some applicants who had 1~2 years of shadowing as only clinical component but got accepted by many top med schools. How can you explain that?</p>
<p>Easy. Clinical experience is not the most important thing in an application.</p>
<p>Also it probably wasn't during high school.</p>