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March 28, 2024, 08:53:46 pm

Author Topic: Work experience for med  (Read 2142 times)  Share 

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homeworkisapotato

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Work experience for med
« on: July 31, 2020, 09:46:02 pm »
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Hi guys! I'm in Year 11 and it's been my dream to get into med but I haven't gotten the opportunity to go for any medical related work experience. Also covid happened and it's really unlikely for any hospitals or pharmacies to allow work experience. But instead of work experience I have many family friends who are doctors and have talked to me about their jobs (pros, cons, etc.). Are my chances to get into med lessened because of no work experience?
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whys

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Re: Work experience for med
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2020, 09:53:30 pm »
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No. While it is quite helpful, it's not necessary. Interviewers don't expect high school students to have much experience in a hospital setting with doctors that accurately represents what they go through (although it's good if you do have this experience). As long as you can articulate your answers well and draw upon your other experiences then you should be fine. The only thing you are missing out on is the opportunity to see how hospitals work and potentially shadow a few doctors and other healthcare workers (which is important, but can be done through other ways). If we do get the vaccine for COVID soon then you could go on work experience next year - I wouldn't completely rule out the option and it's quite a helpful way to get a glimpse of what goes on in a hospital/other healthcare setting.

I hope this helped.
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homeworkisapotato

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Re: Work experience for med
« Reply #2 on: July 31, 2020, 09:59:38 pm »
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Thank you so much!!!  ;D
What did you mean by that shadowing other doctors 'can be done through other ways?'
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Sine

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Re: Work experience for med
« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2020, 10:00:38 pm »
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Hi guys! I'm in Year 11 and it's been my dream to get into med but I haven't gotten the opportunity to go for any medical related work experience. Also covid happened and it's really unlikely for any hospitals or pharmacies to allow work experience. But instead of work experience I have many family friends who are doctors and have talked to me about their jobs (pros, cons, etc.). Are my chances to get into med lessened because of no work experience?
Nah you should be ok.

I have no idea where the idea that you need work experience has come from but the idea is quite prevalent for some reason.

Anyway, regardless of whether it is valuable or not I am a bit uneasy when people go do volunteer work/work experience for the sole reason for getting in the course.

If you want to volunteer to actually help that is great, if you want to have work experience to get a better idea of what you would be getting yourself into that is also good and is recommended. However, too often you see people doing stuff like that just to get something to talk about in the interview.

Lear

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Re: Work experience for med
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2020, 10:24:11 pm »
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You don't need medical experience for undergraduate medicine at Monash, at the very least. Even our interviews are mostly scenario-based questions meaning you won't be asked something such as 'What experience do you have in healthcare'. It could possibly be embedded in answering a question for example 'I can draw from my experience doing x to answer this...' but it isn't required. I personally didn't bring in any personal anecdotes within my responses.

That said you should definitely do some shadowing if you have the opportunity to do so. While it will only give you a small glimpse into the career you are aiming for, it is far better than having no insight and just basing your career choices based on perceived prestige/parents/money/'love for biology' etc. This shouldn't be treated as volunteering but rather just getting experience and insight.

Agree with Sine's message regarding volunteering just to checkboxes. I suspect the interviewers hear enough about how much people's philanthropy was ignited after they volunteered at x.
« Last Edit: July 31, 2020, 10:26:22 pm by Lear »
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K888

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Re: Work experience for med
« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2020, 11:07:31 pm »
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Seconding what others have said - you definitely don't need prior experience to boost your chances of getting into med. It's just unnecessary. Like Sine said, if you want to volunteer at a hospital, volunteer because you want to and not just because it'll look good on an application.

Also a note re: work experience - work experience programs in hospitals have limited positions and of course, during COVID, wouldn't be taking place. As far as I understand, it's not very common to be able to shadow doctors due to confidentiality reasons and the like. Often hospital work experience programs are based through the allied health team (which is still a really good experience - it's what made me choose to do physio).

I definitely recommend continuing to chat to the people you know who are doctors to get a good understanding of the good and bad sides of med. Don't stress about the lack of hospital experience - you get to experience hospital life when you do placement during your degree.

homeworkisapotato

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Re: Work experience for med
« Reply #6 on: August 01, 2020, 07:53:58 am »
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Thank you guys! By work experience  I meant shadowing (oops sorry about that!) and I also think it's kind of unethical to just volunteer for the sake of an interview. Quite a few people I've met are desperate for volunteering opportunities to talk about in the interviews and it makes me a teensy bit uncomfortable as well  :o

Thank you again!!
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