My sister is getting married in early July, so we decided to go back to our home country and stay for about a month (that’s where the wedding is and where most of my extended family lives). I was hesitant about staying for a month, because I wanted to get some shadowing done, but my dad used to work at a major hospital and knows many doctors there and they have agreed for me to shadow. I’d basically be shadowing 5 days a week, 3-4 hours a day. I’d follow 4-6 different doctors (depending on availability). I can definitely get a signed note proving I did actually shadow, but would US med schools get suspicious? I’m definitely doing some shadowing in the US, but I just thought this would be an amazing opportunity.
Shadow if you want. It sounds like an interesting opportunity to see how medicine is practiced in other parts of the world; however, it’s not a substitute for US shadowing & clinical volunteering.
You don’t need a note because this isn’t an activity that you’ll report on AMCAS.
(US adcomms are justifiably suspicious of reports of foreign shadowing because they can’t verify it. Notes are meaningless because they are easy to forge.)
@WayOutWestMom When you shadow in US, what kind of documents they provide for adcomms to know what a student did? Since we are finding it very hard to get this shadow activity, especially in CA with no friends and relatives in medicine profession. So we were contemplating to get some opportunity in UK for 2-3 weeks this summer since one of my relative is working in hospital. Is it worth pursuing UK or put our efforts to some how get US based shadowing?
On AMCAS, your D will list her activities, along with a start & stop date for each, an approx per week and total hour count, and the name of a supervisor/contact person for each activity together with the job title, email and phone number for each contact person. Med schools will trust your D is honest in her activities list since honesty is very highly valued in the medical profession.
Lying or putting untrue or misleading information on an AMCAS application is an ethical violation since your D will sign an affidavit affirming the accuracy of her information. Submitting an falsified/erroneous application is grounds to revoke a med school acceptance; in fact, it’s grounds to revoke a medical degree even years after graduation from med school. (And it has happened in a couple of notorious cases.) Any ethical violation will also permanently disbar an applicant at ANY med school (MD & DO) in the US.
Your D will be asked to talk about her activities during her med school interviews. (Partly as a conversation opener, but also to get a feel for whether she actually did what she said she did.)
BTW, med school admissions offices do call contacts to verify activities.
Shadowing in the UK might make a interesting addition to US shadowing, but it's not a substitute for US shadowing. And it won't help your D find shadowing opportunities in the US.
The best way to get US shadowing opportunities is through the contacts your D develops in her clinical volunteer experiences. Physicians are more likely to say "yes" to shadowing if they already know your daughter (or know someone who will vouch for her). They want to know she is responsible & reliable, that she will protect patient confidentiality and not act inappropriately around patients and medical staff before allowing her to shadow.
D2 did her most of her shadowing after she already had hundred of hours of clinical volunteering/clinical employment. It was one of the last activities she did before applying to med school.
Thanks for the info. During HS she did 100 hours in a local hospital. But it was front gift shop initially and later in new born room. But no shadowing of clinical staff. But I told her it is best to continue there during summer and request for shadow than trying a new hospital. Because some of the place in bay area they explicitly say first 100-150 hours only in front desk/gift shop.