How long should work experience be for medical school?
How long should work experience be to write enough for personal statement & talk about in interviews... is 3 days reasonable ? the medical schools im applying to doesnt really emphasise the importance of work experience but I feel like if I have loads of it I can write a good personal statement and maybe even include it in interviews
(edited 2 years ago)
Volunteering at, say, an elderly care home for a few months would be good, because then you show dedication and perseverance. The more work experience the better; for medicine it’s because it shows you’re proactive in helping people, and you realise that medicine is not always enough to save someone, so it won’t be a shock when you become a doctor.
Original post by Down_worlder
Volunteering at, say, an elderly care home for a few months would be good, because then you show dedication and perseverance. The more work experience the better; for medicine it’s because it shows you’re proactive in helping people, and you realise that medicine is not always enough to save someone, so it won’t be a shock when you become a doctor.
ahh thank you so much so replying
i'm a bit short on time because i didn't think id achieve the right grades for medicine so i have 2 months left till the application deadline and 1 month left to do UCAT. So because i only have around a month to make my personal statement, instead of using the volunteering work experience to show dedication and perseverance, would it still be attractive to medicine admissions if I chose to volunteer at different care roles for around a week e.g. 1 week nursing home, 1 week hospital, 1 week ambulance service etc. to show the variation in experience and skills I've acquired whilst volunteering within the healthcare system ?
Original post by effertiti
ahh thank you so much so replying
i'm a bit short on time because i didn't think id achieve the right grades for medicine so i have 2 months left till the application deadline and 1 month left to do UCAT. So because i only have around a month to make my personal statement, instead of using the volunteering work experience to show dedication and perseverance, would it still be attractive to medicine admissions if I chose to volunteer at different care roles for around a week e.g. 1 week nursing home, 1 week hospital, 1 week ambulance service etc. to show the variation in experience and skills I've acquired whilst volunteering within the healthcare system ?
i'm a bit short on time because i didn't think id achieve the right grades for medicine so i have 2 months left till the application deadline and 1 month left to do UCAT. So because i only have around a month to make my personal statement, instead of using the volunteering work experience to show dedication and perseverance, would it still be attractive to medicine admissions if I chose to volunteer at different care roles for around a week e.g. 1 week nursing home, 1 week hospital, 1 week ambulance service etc. to show the variation in experience and skills I've acquired whilst volunteering within the healthcare system ?
Oh yeah, definitely, I think the variety of work experience will look really impressive even if it's just for a short while.
Original post by effertiti
How long should work experience be to write enough for personal statement & talk about in interviews... is 3 days reasonable ? the medical schools im applying to doesnt really emphasise the importance of work experience but I feel like if I have loads of it I can write a good personal statement and maybe even include it in interviews
Sorry a bit late to this thread, but the length of your work experience is nowhere as important as what you learnt from it. Someone could do a day of work experience and learn more than someone who's done months of work experience. The key thing is to reflect properly on what you learnt as this shows you have actually gained some insight into medicine rather than just describing everything you saw.
The length of your experience doesn’t matter in getting to interview. You could have thousands of hours and still be rejected in favour of someone with less than a week because that’s how UCAT cutoffs work. And don’t worry about not having enough to write about because 4000 characters doesn’t stretch very far.
The key thing is really having enough to say by interview. If you set up a weekly volunteering opportunity now, you’d have a tonne of stuff to talk about by interview and something to talk about in your personal statement. Shadowing type work experience doesn’t go very far and stacking it up is not a good use of your time. There’s no minimum requirement for it and there are only so many points it can help you to evidence because it’s not something that allows you to acquire skills and only equips you with a very low level of insight into the challenges that healthcare professionals face. So don’t fret about it!
Focus on giving experiences that allow you to demonstrate the qualities and skills required in a trainee doctor and medical student. This is what they’re looking for. Someone who’s observed 1200 hours or neurosurgery is not going to impress them any more than someone who has gained leadership experience, demonstrated compassion and caring skills, and has held multiple responsibilities for other people.
And don’t neglect the small things. Doing an intensive first aid course through the Red Cross or St Johns is fairly easy to get and will equip you with lots of practical skills and scenario based learning. Get that in there as a way of demonstrating your interest in acquiring the skills to support those in need, your interest in health and so forth. And remember, it’s not what you do, it’s what you gain from it that counts.
The key thing is really having enough to say by interview. If you set up a weekly volunteering opportunity now, you’d have a tonne of stuff to talk about by interview and something to talk about in your personal statement. Shadowing type work experience doesn’t go very far and stacking it up is not a good use of your time. There’s no minimum requirement for it and there are only so many points it can help you to evidence because it’s not something that allows you to acquire skills and only equips you with a very low level of insight into the challenges that healthcare professionals face. So don’t fret about it!
Focus on giving experiences that allow you to demonstrate the qualities and skills required in a trainee doctor and medical student. This is what they’re looking for. Someone who’s observed 1200 hours or neurosurgery is not going to impress them any more than someone who has gained leadership experience, demonstrated compassion and caring skills, and has held multiple responsibilities for other people.
And don’t neglect the small things. Doing an intensive first aid course through the Red Cross or St Johns is fairly easy to get and will equip you with lots of practical skills and scenario based learning. Get that in there as a way of demonstrating your interest in acquiring the skills to support those in need, your interest in health and so forth. And remember, it’s not what you do, it’s what you gain from it that counts.
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