Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

Do I need to diversify my clinical experience?


Kara

Recommended Posts

The only major clinical experience I have comes from my role as a volunteer caretaker for hospice. I am worried that volunteer hospice will not be enough when it comes to showing med schools that I am invested enough in medicine. I have been doing the volunteer hospice since Feb 2021 and plan on continuing while I also work a non-clinical fulltime job that pays the bills. Should I seek more clinical experiences or is a meaningful time doing hospice enough? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do not worry, keep doing what you are doing. Adcoms are looking for CanMEDS competencies (google these 2 words), they are NOT looking for clinical experience. Moreover, your fulltime job may well demonstrate CanMEDS competencies. You are demonstrating empathy, compassion to those vulnerable patients. What you should do is to attain the very best grades of which you are capable due to the competitive nature of this marathon and lottery. You have many hurdles to jump through but clinical experience at this time is not one of them.

When I went to university for undergrad, after dismal grades in cegep, I matured, was motivated, quickly developed stress and time management skills and was exhausted at the end of each semester. I had no social life, was always studying. It paid off as I became a straight A student and got into med school on my first attempt, off the wait list, many months later. Today, I am a practicing surgeon for a year and a bit and love it. It is very much a lottery and luck plays a critical role as there are more good candidates than spots available, and this lottery continues in seeking residency where luck is also involved.

I wish you every success. :P 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would say that looking for another opportunity shouldn't come at a cost of abandoning your previous experiences if you truly enjoyed doing them. It is always nice to have a diversity of experience, but if you're ... say a COVID screener in a nursing home vs hospital... that's not so different. 

If you have different responsibilities, or a new role, it may be more lucrative. Once again though, it is not necessary at all. 

Good luck!

- G 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...