Premed students who want to shadow a physician usually don’t have to search hard to find an opportunity. Hospitals, universities and private organizations often help aspiring doctors find a current physician to observe.
With so many shadowing opportunities available, figuring out which one to pursue or how to find the right doctor may not be intuitive. And shadowing, experts say, can be a critical step for anyone interested in medical school.
“It’s that opportunity to come as close as you possibly can to try on the experience of being a physician,” says Jennifer Earls, a prehealth adviser at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
A prospective medical student who shadows can also use this experience as a bonus for medical school admissions interviews.
[Shadow a physician to gain insight for medical school.]
“During the interview you’re going to be asked to articulate: Why is this an attractive career for me? Why do I know that this is the right fit?” says Kelli Johnson, an assistant dean for preprofessional advising in the College of Arts and Science at New York University. “If you’ve never been exposed to that, how can you legitimately say that you know for sure that this is what you should be doing?”
There isn’t an official point during students’ premed years when they should start to focus on shadowing, but Michelle Steiger, the director of the prehealth professions programs at University of St. Thomas in Houston, isn’t a fan of shadowing freshman year.
Instead, students should “focus on the GPA,” she says. If students can start their college years with a strong academic record, she says, they’ve done themselves a huge favor.
Once they’ve gotten a strong grasp on college life, then they can seek a shadowing experience. Students should start searching at least two months before the time in which they want to shadow, she says.
The best way to start this search is by speaking with a prehealth adviser on campus, says Johnson. “Many times they know about programs. They’ve talked to students who’ve previously participated in those programs and can give you some insight on a particular program.”
[Learn how to maximize physician shadowing.]
Undergrads can also contact their peers for advice. “So many students find out about opportunities through other students,” says Johnson. A student group for aspiring health professionals, for example, may have a relationship with doctors who want to be shadowed. Aspiring physicians who join a group like this can make it that much easier on themselves to find a doctor they connect with and who will also allow them to shadow.
Starting with a doctor you know is another option that undergrads can explore, says Steiger. Even if the doctors in a student’s network aren’t available to shadow, she says, they may be able to put the student in touch with a colleague who is.
Steiger warns that there is one kind of doctor that students should avoid shadowing — doctors who are related to them.
“Medical schools do not like that at all,” says Steiger, who also teachers organic chemistry and biochemistry at University of St. Thomas. Ideally, she says, students will develop a relationship with the physicians they shadow. Those physicians in turn will write them a letter of recommendation for medical school.
“Getting one of those from family members is against the rules, usually,” she says.
Experts say students should welcome the opportunity to shadow multiple doctors. Even if they haven’t decided which kind of medical practice interests them most, such as pediatrics or dermatology, any kind of clinical exposure to medicine is valuable. There is one thing, though, they should consider when figuring out which shadowing experience is best for them: whether a student wants to be an M.D. or a D.O.
For applicants to osteopathic medical schools, “it’s pretty much required that you spend some time with a D.O.,” says Johnson from NYU. “D.O. programs are really looking for people who understand the differences between allopathic and osteopathic medicine.” These programs, she says, often require a letter of recommendation from an osteopathic doctor.
[Decide between an M.D. and a D.O. career.]
Some schools do much of the heavy lifting for students who want to find a physician shadowing program but don’t know where to start.
Between 75 and 100 physicians, and roughly 150 students, participate each year in the MIT Physician Shadow Program, says Earls, though the numbers can fluctuate depending on how many students and doctors are interested. The school has a partnership with three hospitals and helps pair students with doctors for shadowing opportunities in the spring.
Earls encourages students to seek opportunities that involve breadth and depth, such as programs that allow students to observe more than one kind of physician or multiple opportunities to see the same physician. Many shadow experiences, experts say, are for one day.
Most shadow experiences are of no charge for premed students, but a few may cost. Experts say students should first research opportunities that are free. Many physicians enjoy helping premed students and don’t expect to be compensated.
“There are M.D.s that are willing to give back,” Steiger says.
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Find the Right Physician Shadowing Experience originally appeared on usnews.com
