Medical School Admissions: The Importance of Clinical Experience
Last week I received a call from a father inquiring about our services for applicants applying to medical school. I started to explain the different options and he interrupted me. Here is our dialogue:
Father: Wait. Before you continue. Can you explain to me why applicants who have GPA's in the high 3's and MCATs in the mid- to high-30's get rejected? A number of our friends' children with great stats were rejected. Why?
Me: Did they have clinical exposure?
Silence
Father: But they had great research! My daughter has done clinical research in a cardiology lab and in other research settings.
Me: Did she interact with patients?
Father: She observed open-heart surgeries.
Me: Then she couldn't have interacted with patients. They were sedated. She needs to have clinical exposure.
And so do you if you are applying to medical school. The just posted SUNY Medical chat transcript with Jennifer Welch illustrates this point. Here is an excerpt:
Linda Abraham (May 17, 2007 8:04:47 PM)
Is not having research experience fatal to one's application at SUNY Upstate?JenniferWelchUpstate (May 17, 2007 8:05:22 PM)
Linda Abraham (May 17, 2007 8:06:12 PM)
Not having research experience is not fatal at Upstate - we want students to do research if they enjoy it, not because they think they have to
What about a lack of clinical volunteer work?
JenniferWelchUpstate (May 17, 2007 8:06:28 PM)
Lack of clinical volunteer work can kill an application - it is necessary.
I can't say it any better. Lack of clinical exposure is a med school application killer. Make sure you have it.
Linda Abraham
in Medical School Admissions
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