Hello,
A little bit of background on me, I have about 6 years experience in the medical imaging field. I started with two years of x-ray school where I had at least 1800 hours of unpaid clinical internship working directly with patients in two level 1 trauma hospitals. After I completed the x-ray program, I moved out-of-state and worked in x-ray almost full time in a pediatric level 1 trauma facility while going to school for nuclear medicine technology where I had finished with at least 1200 hours of unpaid clinical internship working directly with patients in another adult level 1 trauma facility. After I completed this program I worked in a small rural critical access hospital for about 8 months before moving back to my home state and getting certified in Computed Tomography and finishing a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences.
Now for over a year I have worked full time nuclear medicine in a rural hospital, and I work prn CT in a level 1 stroke/level 2 trauma facility. I have been working 60-80 hours per week between these two for 10 months and have just been accepted into a post-bacc premed program to start in the fall where I plan to still work at least 40 hours per week.
Within these experiences I have worked in traumas, activated strokes, surgery, ICU, inpatient floors, outpatient departments, ER, and even the morgue. I work with inpatients, outpatients, pediatrics, geriatrics, homeless and underserved patients and everyone in between. I often work with outpatient oncology and cardiology patients too. I have cleaned up every bodily fluid/matter. I collaborate with doctors, nurses, and other staff on a daily basis. And I truly love what I do and working with patients, I wouldn’t work as much as I do if I didn’t.
Aside from working a lot, I scored really well on all of my board exams and had one of the highest scores on the nuclear medicine exam and was invited to be on a practice analysis committee for two years that started this past winter. I pushed for and succeeded in bringing 2 additional PET tracers to the rural facility I work at to provide more imaging options for our community in oncology. I am also on a shared governance committee for our department developing ideas and plans to improve our quality patient care including building spreadsheets and collecting data.
My advisor told me I should try to get 300 volunteer hours in a free clinic to diversify my experiences and show my dedication and compassion for patients while my years of diverse experiences and current significant hours that I work with direct patient contact didn’t really matter.
My question is, do I need to gather clinical volunteer hours over the next two years in preparation for medical school? Do the schools truly value the unpaid clinical service hours? Which is more than okay if that is the case. Do my unpaid clinical internships count?
Or are volunteer hours primarily for patient exposure and gaining some clinical experience for students who have no experience? Does my professional experience supersede this?
Separate topic/question, with my passion and excitement for medical imaging my end goal is to become a radiologist. You might be asking why don’t I just continue doing what I am doing? I love learning and I want to keep growing in the field and if I don’t pursue becoming a physician, I don’t think I will have reached my full potential as a person and as a professional. I want to be the change I want to see in the field and I want to be a leader for patient care and radiology departments. Both deserve to have a physician who is excited about what they do and be able to educate and bring forth new ideas and technologies to better serve communities.
With this and my background in mind, my advisor told me to not tell medical schools that I want to be a radiologist. He said medical schools don’t like when you already know what you want to do and telling them you are interested in radiology just tells them you don’t want to work with patients. In contrast, I have read that it is recommended to gain clinical experience and volunteer hours in areas you are interested in to show medical schools your interests.
I can understand both sides of the coin, and I can understand my advisor’s perspective if I was a student with no clinical experience, but I have a fairly unique background leading up to medical school that shows my passion for radiology. I also completely understand the importance of being open-minded in medical school and absorbing everything in school and during rotations, but my end goal is the same.
Do I keep my goal of becoming a radiologist to myself throughout the application and interview processes? Or is it okay to express interest given my background?
I am new to this process and looking for advice based on my circumstances. I am okay with all answers and I want to be able to plan appropriately for the next two years since I need to work full time still while back in school.
Thank you!!
A little bit of background on me, I have about 6 years experience in the medical imaging field. I started with two years of x-ray school where I had at least 1800 hours of unpaid clinical internship working directly with patients in two level 1 trauma hospitals. After I completed the x-ray program, I moved out-of-state and worked in x-ray almost full time in a pediatric level 1 trauma facility while going to school for nuclear medicine technology where I had finished with at least 1200 hours of unpaid clinical internship working directly with patients in another adult level 1 trauma facility. After I completed this program I worked in a small rural critical access hospital for about 8 months before moving back to my home state and getting certified in Computed Tomography and finishing a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences.
Now for over a year I have worked full time nuclear medicine in a rural hospital, and I work prn CT in a level 1 stroke/level 2 trauma facility. I have been working 60-80 hours per week between these two for 10 months and have just been accepted into a post-bacc premed program to start in the fall where I plan to still work at least 40 hours per week.
Within these experiences I have worked in traumas, activated strokes, surgery, ICU, inpatient floors, outpatient departments, ER, and even the morgue. I work with inpatients, outpatients, pediatrics, geriatrics, homeless and underserved patients and everyone in between. I often work with outpatient oncology and cardiology patients too. I have cleaned up every bodily fluid/matter. I collaborate with doctors, nurses, and other staff on a daily basis. And I truly love what I do and working with patients, I wouldn’t work as much as I do if I didn’t.
Aside from working a lot, I scored really well on all of my board exams and had one of the highest scores on the nuclear medicine exam and was invited to be on a practice analysis committee for two years that started this past winter. I pushed for and succeeded in bringing 2 additional PET tracers to the rural facility I work at to provide more imaging options for our community in oncology. I am also on a shared governance committee for our department developing ideas and plans to improve our quality patient care including building spreadsheets and collecting data.
My advisor told me I should try to get 300 volunteer hours in a free clinic to diversify my experiences and show my dedication and compassion for patients while my years of diverse experiences and current significant hours that I work with direct patient contact didn’t really matter.
My question is, do I need to gather clinical volunteer hours over the next two years in preparation for medical school? Do the schools truly value the unpaid clinical service hours? Which is more than okay if that is the case. Do my unpaid clinical internships count?
Or are volunteer hours primarily for patient exposure and gaining some clinical experience for students who have no experience? Does my professional experience supersede this?
Separate topic/question, with my passion and excitement for medical imaging my end goal is to become a radiologist. You might be asking why don’t I just continue doing what I am doing? I love learning and I want to keep growing in the field and if I don’t pursue becoming a physician, I don’t think I will have reached my full potential as a person and as a professional. I want to be the change I want to see in the field and I want to be a leader for patient care and radiology departments. Both deserve to have a physician who is excited about what they do and be able to educate and bring forth new ideas and technologies to better serve communities.
With this and my background in mind, my advisor told me to not tell medical schools that I want to be a radiologist. He said medical schools don’t like when you already know what you want to do and telling them you are interested in radiology just tells them you don’t want to work with patients. In contrast, I have read that it is recommended to gain clinical experience and volunteer hours in areas you are interested in to show medical schools your interests.
I can understand both sides of the coin, and I can understand my advisor’s perspective if I was a student with no clinical experience, but I have a fairly unique background leading up to medical school that shows my passion for radiology. I also completely understand the importance of being open-minded in medical school and absorbing everything in school and during rotations, but my end goal is the same.
Do I keep my goal of becoming a radiologist to myself throughout the application and interview processes? Or is it okay to express interest given my background?
I am new to this process and looking for advice based on my circumstances. I am okay with all answers and I want to be able to plan appropriately for the next two years since I need to work full time still while back in school.
Thank you!!
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