Most applicant would have done shadowing private offices during regular( non-covid19) environment. Any exposure to medicine may be seen positively, IMO.
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Thank you! Really appreciate it 
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Thank you! Really appreciate it 
Some colleges will keep track of your demonstrated interests by noting your in person visits to campus, your email contact with the admissions office, your presence at information sessions, and your conversations with admission reps at college fairs or at a visit to your school. You need to check each college policy as some do and some simply don’t.
@bankingonbsmd - In addition to what cheer2021 mentioned, bsmd admissions are super competitive since there are few seats. There are multiple candidates for each seat. Colleges need to decide which candidate to choose. So, if they have a choice between candidate who has demonstrated interest in multiple ways and another candidate who has not made any contact with the college, you can guess who they might select?
I see, thanks for the response. I’ve always assumed that since BSMD applications were so niche, informational sessions would really only influence the decision of UG acceptance/rejection, not the actual BSMD itself.
UG admission is the first step for BSMD admission. UG colleges screen and shortlist candidates for further progression in the admission process.
@bankingonbsmd
Honors college admission is mandatory for Some of the bsmd programs. Honors college is still part of UG school. This becomes 3 step process (UG, Honors college, and medical college) for these bsmd programs. If at all they want to see your vested interest in the program, they could see that info at all 3 stages. IMO, you need to engage yourself in bsmd college interaction to educate yourself about the program , clarify your questions, and also apply with confidence.
Hi! Can someone give insight into how many hours of shadowing, clinical/hospital volunteering, and research an applicant should have to be competitive. I saw that in previous results threads it really varied from none to 250-ish, but just wanted to know if there was an approximate certain amount that colleges look at.
@ghermione - Take a look at the BSMD results 2021, 2020 to see the profiles of competitive/successful applicants.
As per my understanding, BSMD applicants without any shadowing, volunteering, research have little chance of success. I have seen most competitive students to have around 500-1000 hours of combined research, volunteering, shadowing. Infact, full time (8 hrs) research during just one summer for 6-8 weeks alone would result in 240-320 hours. Ofcourse, this was before covid!
Admissions primarily depend on applicant pool and this gets revealed when successful students add their stats/results in the BSMD Results forum!
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Since we’re on this topic, did anyone get any hospital volunteering or shadowing hours sometime between March 2020 and now (August 2021)? I only got research (>240 hours) and participated in a medical internship that did not provide me with clinical experience.
If you did, how?
I really hope you don’t mind me asking this but just out of curiosity, how did you get 240+ hours of research experience during COVID? Is this from pre-COVID?
I did research this summer for about 6-7 weeks, 8 hours a day. I"m from Boston and there are a lot of research opportunities for High School students here. My project was done virtually. I would chat with the PI for an hour or so a day to go over my progress and things like that.
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Here is our story. DC did volunteering and job shadowing at local hospital for over 100 hrs before pandemic. During beginning of pandemic DC was told not to come to hospital. When vaccines were released DC got a call from the same hospital for volunteering and job shadowing- only requirement was DC needs to take Covid vaccine. Upon completion of this requirement the same local hospital has provided volunteering and job shadowing opportunity to DC. However things could be different at other hospitals. You can check with multiple hospitals near your place regarding their volunteering/job-shadowing/internship policies. Good luck.
@ghermione There are no fixed rules for medical related ECs/volunteering even for those applying to regular route MD. IMO, anything around 200-250 hrs each in clinical/non-clinical volunteering may be sufficient for most medical schools. A full time summer research engagement can result in up to 400 hrs and may be a poster presentation. As far as physician shadowing,IMO, a total 60-80 hrs may be sufficient in various specialties including a primary care physician.
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I’m considering this as an option because I don’t have as much research and clinical experience as many of you, though, would becoming EMT certified after applications are due but before interviews make up for this? This is because I always wanted to volunteer as an EMT but as soon as I was eligible to get started with my training, COVID happened and due to safety reasons, I waited it out. Would it be fine to get licensed (before interivews) and then wait for a bit for COVID Delta Variant to subside to do the volunteering? Also, would I be able to mention this in my interviews? Thanks again!
When did RU-NK have their info session, and is there a newsletter or mailing list that I can sign up for to get a reminder to attend next year?
When it comes to research in BSMD applications, is published research done independently considered worse than research done with a PI?
Also, is it true that BSMD applicants are more successful with clinical, physician-patient focused research than BSMD applicants who have wet lab or non-STEM related research?
Also, what are all the “unsafe” EAP BS/MD programs (like Temple Health Scholars, Seton Hall, SLU med scholars) that require you to re-interview? Are there any BS/MD programs with super high college gpa/mcat requirements (like the former WASHU program)?