r/premed • u/ShotAnt4786 • Dec 27 '24

🍁 Canadian how to gain clinical experience if shadowing is banned?

Hello! I have this question- the area i live around [BC CANADA] doesn't allow shadowing (it's straight up illegal) and there aren't really any medical scribe or related jobs available here either.

How am I supposed to get clinic hours? I'm going to volunteer at the hospital but that's not exactly the same. It might not be a big deal if I apply to UBC but if I try to apply to a med school elsewhere or in USA wouldn't the lack of shadowing/clinical experience be a big dealbreaker?

A

9 Upvotes

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23

u/gooddaythrowaway11 Dec 27 '24

I’m on adcom at a top USMD program and our Dean tells us everything year that Canadians don’t need shadowing.

1

u/PennStateFan221 ADMITTED-DO Dec 27 '24

Just curious, and completely unrelated, but do top US MD schools even look at high MCAT low GPA apps?

2

u/gooddaythrowaway11 Dec 27 '24

It depends. If it’s like a 3.7 with a 518+ MCAT, mostly ignore especially if you have a good trend. A 3.6 is a little more precarious and people will scrutinize the classes you did poorly in.

Below a 3.5 is very rare for my school, but we’re a stat whore. I would imagine if you have a great post bacc or SMP, holistic T25s would give you a shot with 518+.

2

u/PennStateFan221 ADMITTED-DO Dec 27 '24

I had a 3.4 in engineering with a 3.6-3.8 science (I’d have to recalculate to really know). But then went back to school while depressed (long story which was the center point of my app) and overall fell to a 3.1. Then got a 520 MCAT last year.

I’m asking bc I’ve gotten no MD IIs so far but a good amount of DO IIs.

1

u/gooddaythrowaway11 Dec 28 '24

Is the <3.0 the most recent set of grades?

I think this will hold you back from nearly every MD school unfortunately. The excellent MCAT tells me that regardless of where you go, you have the potential to match well, so don’t feel too down about it.

1

u/PennStateFan221 ADMITTED-DO Dec 28 '24

Yeah figured. Thanks!

2

u/Idkwhtimdoingplzhelp Dec 27 '24

I would look into this, but I've heard of some companies that do shadowing abroad programs. Although I will say that I've talked to my premed advisor abt this and I was told to be cautious because you don't want to do anything out of your scope of practice and you have to be careful about how you write your experiences to make sure it doesn't come across like that. One of my friends does it and he has great experiences to share!

1

u/patentmom Dec 27 '24

Would virtual shadowing be acceptable?

1

u/Powerhausofthesell Dec 27 '24

What have other premeds from your area done?

Ps I wasn’t aware that it was illegal in Canada. Might be worth sneaking a mention of that in somewhere as there are prob others also not aware of that either.

1

u/littlefearss APPLICANT Dec 27 '24

This. I would definitely mention it’s illegal in your area. Also if you ever go out of the country or out of BC I would try to email some doctors and see if they would be open to letting you shadow.

0

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