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*Closed* - Work Experience and Voluntary Work [Part 1 of 2]
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Few things:
1. I am not intimately familiar with how London hospitals organise volunteering (I certainly didn't have to pledge allegiance when trying to find shadowing work in Nottingham) but I've heard it mentioned a few times in threads and the consensus is pretty much just tell them you're considering applying to Kings and that's fine. I personally think it's ridiculous that they expect you to decide which medical school you want to apply to before you even know if you want to study medicine.
2. The comment about "people that volunteer not doing very well at A-Levels" is complete crap. Every single person that has gotten into medical school in the past, say, 10~ years has some kind of voluntary work. Does that mean they've all not done very well at their A-Levels...?
3. The comment about hospice volunteering not being very good is complete crap. It (obviously) gives you no insight into the life of a doctor etc. but that isn't the aim of voluntary work. Voluntary work aims to give you a hands-on experience in actually caring for people. Getting into hard situations - emotionally or physically - and dealing with those feelings. Shadowing work gives you absolutely no idea what you're going to "feel" when a patient dies, for example. My voluntary work was millions and millions of times more valuable in deciding that medicine was right for me than my NHS shadowing. In summary, shadowing work and voluntary work are two completely different things - you can't compare them, but they're both equally important.
4. This course won't give you any "higher" chance of interview as any other chap doing shadowing work in any other hospital. It's down to how to how well you communicate what you saw, the qualities of the doctors and how you have these qualities etc. in your personal statement that will get you the interview.
That lady you spoke to has no idea what she's talking about, but a 5 day work experience placement is a brilliant opportunity for anybody.
1. I am not intimately familiar with how London hospitals organise volunteering (I certainly didn't have to pledge allegiance when trying to find shadowing work in Nottingham) but I've heard it mentioned a few times in threads and the consensus is pretty much just tell them you're considering applying to Kings and that's fine. I personally think it's ridiculous that they expect you to decide which medical school you want to apply to before you even know if you want to study medicine.
2. The comment about "people that volunteer not doing very well at A-Levels" is complete crap. Every single person that has gotten into medical school in the past, say, 10~ years has some kind of voluntary work. Does that mean they've all not done very well at their A-Levels...?
3. The comment about hospice volunteering not being very good is complete crap. It (obviously) gives you no insight into the life of a doctor etc. but that isn't the aim of voluntary work. Voluntary work aims to give you a hands-on experience in actually caring for people. Getting into hard situations - emotionally or physically - and dealing with those feelings. Shadowing work gives you absolutely no idea what you're going to "feel" when a patient dies, for example. My voluntary work was millions and millions of times more valuable in deciding that medicine was right for me than my NHS shadowing. In summary, shadowing work and voluntary work are two completely different things - you can't compare them, but they're both equally important.
4. This course won't give you any "higher" chance of interview as any other chap doing shadowing work in any other hospital. It's down to how to how well you communicate what you saw, the qualities of the doctors and how you have these qualities etc. in your personal statement that will get you the interview.
That lady you spoke to has no idea what she's talking about, but a 5 day work experience placement is a brilliant opportunity for anybody.
That's VERY true of most London hospitals. Guys, UCH, and St. Barts all told me they prefer or only take students if your first choice is the attached medical school.
If you want PM me and I can give you the details for the community hospital in Camden that I volunteered at.
Ps. This lady sounds like the same lady who said "Medicine would be above my intelectual capacity" because I didn't have a Science degree. As you can imagine her manager apologised after I told her to go **** herself.
If you want PM me and I can give you the details for the community hospital in Camden that I volunteered at.
Ps. This lady sounds like the same lady who said "Medicine would be above my intelectual capacity" because I didn't have a Science degree. As you can imagine her manager apologised after I told her to go **** herself.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by thelion0
Hey Everyone,
I was reading the website today about work experience and i decided to call a hospice nearby. Luckily the woman on the phone said she wants to see me and game me an appointment. So i was excited about that.
Then later on I called kings college hospital asking for their volunteer work. She said that people who volunteer do not do very well at a-levels. My first shock! and then she told me about a medical insight experience. Which is like a 5 day work experience where you are with doctors in the clinic and with patients. But to do it at a specific hospital you have to plan to put the assosicated uni as your first choice. So with kings college hospital you have to put kings college medical school as your first choice.
She then said she gets 100's of applicants per week! I asked her if volunteering in a hospice is good and she said not really because your not in the clinical side.
She said doing the medical insight course gives a high chance of an interview and volunteer work doesen't really count due to the lack of work.
I don't know what to do!!! Please guys give your opinion especially medical students
thanks, sorry for the long message
I was reading the website today about work experience and i decided to call a hospice nearby. Luckily the woman on the phone said she wants to see me and game me an appointment. So i was excited about that.
Then later on I called kings college hospital asking for their volunteer work. She said that people who volunteer do not do very well at a-levels. My first shock! and then she told me about a medical insight experience. Which is like a 5 day work experience where you are with doctors in the clinic and with patients. But to do it at a specific hospital you have to plan to put the assosicated uni as your first choice. So with kings college hospital you have to put kings college medical school as your first choice.
She then said she gets 100's of applicants per week! I asked her if volunteering in a hospice is good and she said not really because your not in the clinical side.
She said doing the medical insight course gives a high chance of an interview and volunteer work doesen't really count due to the lack of work.
I don't know what to do!!! Please guys give your opinion especially medical students
thanks, sorry for the long message
I don't agree with anything that person told you. It might be true for Kings but they are certainly in the minority
As the title suggests :-
Would I be better off shadowing a doctor at my local hospital or GP surgery, or would I be better off volunteering at a hospice? What would be more advantageous to my application?
Cheers
wib
Would I be better off shadowing a doctor at my local hospital or GP surgery, or would I be better off volunteering at a hospice? What would be more advantageous to my application?
Cheers
wib
Original post by wibletg
As the title suggests :-
Would I be better off shadowing a doctor at my local hospital or GP surgery, or would I be better off volunteering at a hospice? What would be more advantageous to my application?
Cheers
wib
Would I be better off shadowing a doctor at my local hospital or GP surgery, or would I be better off volunteering at a hospice? What would be more advantageous to my application?
Cheers
wib
Both, with equal priority. It isn't an either/or option.
Original post by Beska
Both, with equal priority. It isn't an either/or option.
Both? Really?
Original post by wibletg
Both? Really?
Yes of course, why is that surprising? They both have completely different aims.
Do as much as you possibly can. I'm applying for veterinary medicine, where work experience is even more important, but a lot of my friends are applying for medicine and competition is very tough. You need everything you can get! Say bye bye to your social life. If you want to get into medical school badly enough, you won't mind giving up your free time.
Original post by Beska
Yes of course, why is that surprising? They both have completely different aims.
Ah right
No, I've been speaking to a successful Newcastle applicant who only did GP shadowing, so I was led to believe you only need one or the other.
Do both.
As already said... get as much varied work experience as possible: GP surgery, hospital shadowing, volunteering with kids, HCA work etc etc You can never have too much work experience! Also consider trying to get some work experience in something not quite medicine-related like pharmacy for example. Shows that you've actively explored other options and still feel medicine is for you... worked for moi!
i'm emailing a hospice, i have no idea what to write. it's my first email directed at their info email address..
this is what i've written so far.. i just think it sounds wrong.
Dear *hospice name*,
I am emailing you to ask for some information on volunteer work at the hospice and whether you were looking for any volunteers at the moment to do any work in the hospice.
minds gone blank, any suggestions...
this is what i've written so far.. i just think it sounds wrong.
Dear *hospice name*,
I am emailing you to ask for some information on volunteer work at the hospice and whether you were looking for any volunteers at the moment to do any work in the hospice.
minds gone blank, any suggestions...
I would replace 'hospice name' with Sir/Madam or someting like that if you do not know who exactly you are emailing. Tell them about yourself, not too much mind, just your name, age and tell them you are in school (I assume you are). Tell them why you want to volunteer and ask if they have any opportunities and if not to inform you if any open up in the future.
Rewrite that first sentence. At the moment you have the words "work" "hospice" and "volunteer" all repeated twice. In one sentence. It is far too wordy.
Volunteering is preferable I'd say as it shows commitment rather than just shadowing which is easy to do provided you have contacts, not to say that it isn't useful though.
But do both obviously anyway.
But do both obviously anyway.
Original post by wibletg
Ah right
No, I've been speaking to a successful Newcastle applicant who only did GP shadowing, so I was led to believe you only need one or the other.
No, I've been speaking to a successful Newcastle applicant who only did GP shadowing, so I was led to believe you only need one or the other.
For Newcastle, the categories regarding shadowing and volunteering ("Insight into a career as a doctor" and "Commitment to caring", respectively) are scored separately so the chap must have had some other way to show they were caring.
Original post by Beska
For Newcastle, the categories regarding shadowing and volunteering ("Insight into a career as a doctor" and "Commitment to caring", respectively) are scored separately so the chap must have had some other way to show they were caring.
So it's not necessary as long as you can show that you're caring in another way?
Original post by wibletg
So it's not necessary as long as you can show that you're caring in another way?
Well, what other ways would you say there is?
This is just for Newcastle, just to add. Other universities will have other categories.
Original post by Beska
Well, what other ways would you say there is?
This is just for Newcastle, just to add. Other universities will have other categories.
This is just for Newcastle, just to add. Other universities will have other categories.
Talking about experience caring for family members, specifically a family member who had quite a serious stroke?
Don't know if that would be sufficient, however?
Original post by wibletg
Talking about experience caring for family members, specifically a family member who had quite a serious stroke?
Don't know if that would be sufficient, however?
Don't know if that would be sufficient, however?
That clearly involves a massive commitment and so it is definitely worth mentioning
Healthcare/hospital work at some stage would help but you already have more 'frontline' experience than most will ever get.
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