Work experience—what you should know before you start

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

One of the major sources of confusion for medical school applicants is work experience: how much to do, where to find opportunities, and what you should be getting out of it. In this article I offer advice on what you should be thinking about before you start work experience placements so you can maximise the time you have to your advantage. In your personal statement, and later at the interview stage, medical schools are looking for evidence that you have worked with other people either in a caring or service based role and have directly observed some form of healthcare. Guidelines from the Medical Schools Council (MSC) strongly recommend that applicants aim to acquire experience with people who are ill, disabled, or disadvantaged because these are the types of people you are most likely to care for as a doctor.1 However, the guidance places greater emphasis on applicants having experience of helping people than on observing healthcare. The guidance also gives ideas of what you can do if you cannot get experience in a healthcare setting because this shouldn’t put you off applying to medicine. But what you do is only half the story. I have met students who have proudly told me that they have obtained four hospital placements, but this doesn’t mean a thing if all they can do is repeat what they saw. The MSC states your primary aim in gaining work experience should be to “learn about yourself, about other …