How much weight does online work experience hold in personal statement

I am an aspiring medic and I have done volunteering at hospital and work exp at a pharmacy, however I was unable to book for hospital work experience as spaces filled up. I am currently doing online work experience using AspiringMedics however does it hold less weight compared to applicants who have done real life work exp ?

Reply 1

TSR Hippocrates

11

Hey there, thanks for posting a question in the Medicine forum. :biggrin:

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Reply 2

bluegray

14

Original post by magdasucks

I am an aspiring medic and I have done volunteering at hospital and work exp at a pharmacy, however I was unable to book for hospital work experience as spaces filled up. I am currently doing online work experience using AspiringMedics however does it hold less weight compared to applicants who have done real life work exp ?

i think some work experince is better than none and you've also got the volunteering and pharmacy work experince under your belt too so might aswell do as much as you can, it can't hurt to do some obline

Reply 3

reubenn05

Universities Forum Helper

15

Original post by magdasucks

I am an aspiring medic and I have done volunteering at hospital and work exp at a pharmacy, however I was unable to book for hospital work experience as spaces filled up. I am currently doing online work experience using AspiringMedics however does it hold less weight compared to applicants who have done real life work exp ?

it depends on what you get out of your work experience and how you reflect on it, because it's not about it being a tick box exercise it's how you reflect on skills you observed when it comes to interview time. volunteering imo is a lot better because you actually develop those skills yourself; clinical work experience/shadowing is just for seeing if a career in medicine is right for you and to give you an insight into the working life of a doctor.

(edited 10 months ago)

Reply 4

magdasucks

OP

2

Original post by reubenn05

it depends on what you get out of your work experience and how you reflect on it, because it's not about it being a tick box exercise it's how you reflect on skills you observed when it comes to interview time. volunteering imo is a lot better because you actually develop those skills yourself; clinical work experience/shadowing is just for seeing if a career in medicine is right for you and to give you an insight into the working life of a doctor.

ahh I see, thank you! This really eased my tensions too !

Reply 5

reubenn05

Universities Forum Helper

15

Original post by magdasucks

ahh I see, thank you! This really eased my tensions too !

also, most med schools don’t score your personal statement, as in the ps has no weight when selecting for interview, it will depending on the uni be down to ucat, gcses, sjt etc. therefore as long as you don’t have any red flags on it and it’s med focused, don’t worry about the personal statement too much (unless applying to keele)

Reply 6

George&Mary

13

Personal statements are wierd things. In most instances the PS itself (unless some serious red flags) will not have any impact on whether you get invited for interview or not. But when it matters to a uni in shortlisting, then it really matters. And they might be looking for specific amounts or types of volunteering on either a PS or a different form that records it. So it really depends on who you apply to. But then that is the key thing with medicine. Be strategic and understand how the different med schools score your application. A lot of the strategic choices will be based on your UCAT so work hard to maximise that.

In terms of the work experience you have, although you will wish to refer to some in your PS, it’s really how you reflect on it and build on your learning at any interview that matters. Look at the RCGP reflection diary. Have a look at the BSMS online work experience.

Think about any public facing roles you have and when you have worked in a caring environment or have provided support in some way. If you don’t have that sort of experience, try seeking it out.

When you have your UCAT score go the Megathread for your strategic choices. Then it will give you a better idea of the relative importance of volunteering to your PS initial sift before interview. Good luck.

(edited 10 months ago)

How much weight does online work experience hold in personal statement

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