I am planning on applying for the 2021-2022 application cycle and i need advice on shadowing. I haven’t shadowed a physician since spring for 2017 and i know i need a more up-to-date shadowing experience. I want to call/email physicians to obtain shadowing, but am unsure if this is the a good time to do it considering COVID-19 and don’t believe it will get any better anytime soon. What should i do?
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For the safety of you and others, I’d say no on shadowing. I’d stay in touch with the physician you’d like to eventually shadow with, so when things turn back to “normal”, you’ll have already made yourself available to them. Good luck!
I’m in your shoes as I shadowed 5 years ago but need more recent experience. I’ve worked in healthcare for a little over 2 years but both the doctors I work/have worked with plus the ones I’ve shadowed are all MDs. Since I plan to apply to mostly DO schools, those schools strongly prefer or require a letter from a DO. I’ve been talking with my boss (who is an MD) about shadowing the DOs at our employer. Given that he’s been practicing for 20 yrs, he knows all of the DOs so I may have more luck if he contacts them first. I’m not applying until 2022 but I’m still going to find a doctor to shadow so I’m not rushing to get that letter too close to the deadline.
Since you’re planning to apply soon, I highly recommend WebShadowers: https://webshadowers.wixsite.com/website. One of my post-bacc friends told me about it, as she listens to and follows pre-med advisors through podcasts and Instagram. Although I was a little skeptical about virtual shadowing as I want to make the initial contact for future shadowing, I watched a livestream that was actually really interesting. They aren’t doing any sessions until January. I also attended a virtual preview day at Western COM (Pomona campus) where someone mentioned waiving the physician letter requirement. If you haven’t already, definitely check with schools about whether they will still require a physician letter.