*MEGATHREAD* - Work Experience and Voluntary Work [Part 2 of 2]

@ecolier might be able to help.

oh thank you I am currently doing the Spirngpod work experience and it's very good. Ooohh how did you ask your local area? Did you send posters around?

Hey guys since I am <18 yrs old, i am finding it difficult to find volunteering online, can anyone help me pls? I want to do medicine in the future but I don't have much volunteering and I am worried

Thank you I'll go check it out

Due to covid I wasn't able to get the work experience I wanted during summer. Ive done an online medic mentor work experience. I did a german podcast but I don't think that'll help. Im also a mentor to year 7. Im a part of CAFOD. Hopefully I will get some GP practise work experience. Is this enough??

So basically, I need some work experience to increase my chances to get into Medicine. Don't ask why but I only got about 3 months to get a placement before my interview.

I currently found two programs,

this program lets me travel to the Dominican Republic for 2 weeks and cost around £3k

https://www.globalpremeds.com/hospital-doctor-shadowing/


and this other one is in London and cost £1.7k

https://www.premedprojects.co.uk/medicine-work-experience-london-1-week




Now I'm 19 years old and have no prior history of medical experience so I must get some experience to have any chance , Money isn't really an Issue (I'm a self-made before anyone says daddys money) but I just want something that is going to be enough.


I actually really wanted to get some experience in America because I want to visit the country but I can't find a program and I think the visa may be a issue to get in time but any tips please?

You are better off looking for a volunteer role or job in a hospital, care home, homeless shelter, soup kitchen/food bank, riding for disbled, etc etc. Even online befriending/calling isolated and vulnerable people gives relevant experience for a medicine application. Now face to face volunteering is hard to obtain, due to covid, but are you able to work, eg as a HEalthcare, Care Assisteant etc. This will give you plenty to talk about at medical school interviews

yeah but during covid, its really hard to get anything at all. hence why I was willing to spend more than £3k for a placement.

There are still places looking for volunteers or employees, you just have to be resourceful and look around a bit. You are unlikely to gain anything useful from something that is there as a profit-generating process

oh , would you say its worth emailing a few locals GPs and ask if I can shadow or is that not allowed in corona

none of the medical schools I applied to asked for proof, as long as you're able to reflect on what you have learnt, but I know Warwick (not sure of any others) asks for 70 hours so if I were you, there would be no harm in asking the doctor you're shadowing to write a reference showing that you've done some work experience just in case you do need it .
@ecolier may be able to help you further.

Hi, do other med schools ask for a certain amount of hours & how did you find out Warwick asks for 70?
thanks

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/study/ugr/applying/entryreqs/workex/ - all information is on their website.
if you go to the websites of the universities you're interested in, they have a section on entry requirements, usually academics (grades, UCAT, etc.) and non-academic (work experience, volunteering, etc.).
i applied to all the scottish universities, except dundee, and they all expect you to have shown interest and exploration in the career through work experience and/or volunteering, but there was no certain amount of hours required.

The topics that would be asked about were stated in the email sent to me confirming my interview time and date. The interview for me was pretty relaxed and it was just an opportunity to get to know me and to then let me know the next steps of the process.