Shadowing, Volunteering, Interning, Getting Certified. Is one better than the others?

Overview.png"The applicants who impressed us the most were the ones who got that certification and who graduated and then spent several months to a year working full-time in that capacity before they applied for admission to medical school."

-Medical School Admissions Member

Having responsibility for providing part of the care that patients receive helps you, as aspiring physicians, make sure that taking care of patients is as rewarding as you will think it will be. It also helps the medical schools be confident that as an applicant you have a realistic sense of what being a physician entails. The most impressive applicants are the ones who have made the effort to get training and certification that allows them to be a member of the health care team taking care of patients; the most efficient way to do that is to train as a CNA or EMT.​

Shadowing is a passive process of limited value as an admissions credential. However, there are often a few admissions committee members who like to see some diverse shadowing experience. It's suggested spending 2 – 3 days shadowing each of 2 - 3 physicians in different specialties and in different settings (hospital, private practice, etc.)

Along with that patient care experience, it's also important for you to do things throughout your undergraduate years that show your commitment to service to others. Not all of those activities need to be medical in nature, but they should be things that involve direct service to people in need of help. Admissions committees want to see that applicants care about the welfare of people other than themselves and that they are able to interact with people who are from different backgrounds than themselves. 

I think it's important for undergraduate students to go beyond the convenient, on-campus clubs and organizations, and to show initiative and commitment by getting involved with a cause or an organization they're passionate about, and sticking with that commitment over a sustained period of time (i.e. multiple years). Think beyond the checklist mentality and think of taking a meaningful journey to prepare yourself for becoming a physician.

What I can tell you is that the "doing" side of clinical experience is much more important than the "watching" side.