Graduate Entry Medicine Work experience, 2017 entry

Hi all,

I'm applying for GEM this year (2017 entry), and sitting the UKCAT in August. I've been volunteering at a large London teaching hospital for the past 5 months, serving meals, interacting with patients, and working with other healthcare professionals. Through this I've been on both medical, and surgical wards and had some really great experiences. I should also reach the minimum 70hrs in a "caring environment" before the UCAS deadline . I'm also volunteering with a charity, tutoring inner London school children STEM subjects with the aim of improving their grades, and getting them into Russel group universities. This is pretty much all I can commit to at the moment, as I'm working full time (in order to save money to study GEM!).

In the past (but not within the last 2 years) I have gained work experience in the radiology department of my local hospital, where I was able to shadow radiologists, work in A&E, see X-rays, barium enemas, CT scans, and MRIs etc. I have also worked in the cancer therapeutic division of the institute of cancer research, where I got to work with oncologists, and been a volunteer with St Johns Ambulance.

I'm a bit concerned that i'm lacking a shadowing experience within the last 2 years. I've read a lot of people say that it's "not what you do, but what you learn" I think I have a lot of interesting experiences, but am a bit concerned some of them will be discounted or not considered. Should I be re-doubling my efforts to get another shadowing placement? perhaps within primary care?

Many thanks.

Those people are right - it isn't how much you do it's what you learn.*

You could do all the shadowing and work experience in the world and it won't necessarily make you a good physician! They won't care about you listing all the things you did and saw - it doesn't prove anything about your capacity to be a good doctor. You will have to learn everything again in medical school anyway regardless of how many impressive things you did and saw, so it's definitely what you learn that's more important. From what you said you probably have more than enough to work with even if some stuff is discounted. *