Most medical schools don’t list an “exact” number of clinical hours they require of pre-med applicants. But clinical experience is probably the most important extracurricular for a med school applicant, relative to volunteer and research experiences. Medical schools want students who know what working in a clinical environment entails and are still certain they want to work in medicine. Below we’ve listed more information on how many clinical hours to aim for (and how to get them):
How Many Clinical Hours Do You Need for Medical School Applications
When considering clinical experience for medical school applications, there are 2 factors that medical schools will care about the most:
- Commitment. How long a student has committed to this experience and how consistent their clinical hours were over time.
- Direct Patient Care. Whether the student’s clinical experience allowed them the opportunity to work directly with patients, and to what capacity.
While it’s generally advised that students aim for at least 100 clinical hours (preferably 200+ hours), not all clinical experiences are equal.
Clinical Shadowing
Clinical shadowing is a great opportunity to gain clinical hours as well as to network with local physicians for potential letters of recommendation. But clinical shadowing experiences are usually short-term, often a few hours a week for around 3-6 months.
| Shadowing Location | Hours |
| Dr. Johnson, Primary Care at UMC | 120 (10 hours per week x 12 weeks) |
This makes clinical shadowing a good option for pre-med college freshman looking for an opportunity to meet some local physicians and to see if they really want to commit to the medical field. University pre-med advisors usually have information on local shadowing opportunities, read more here about asking your pre-med advisor about shadowing opportunities. But clinical shadowing should not be your only clinical experience. This is because it’s short-term and because there is generally no direct patient care.
Clinical Volunteering
Clinical volunteering is another opportunity to gain some clinical experience. And unlike shadowing, it’s an opportunity for a more long-term commitment. Long-term commitments are key to a medical school application. Med schools don’t want students who simply get the hours they think they need to check the box, and then leave. For almost any extracurricular, medical schools are going to place more value on commitment and consistency than on exact number of hours.
| Location | Hours |
| Student A: Hospital Psychiatric Unit Volunteer | 225 (25 hours per week x 9 weeks) |
| Student B: Hospital Psychiatric Unit Volunteer | 225 (25 hours per month x 9 months) |
In the example above, student B has the same number of hours as student A, but committed to the organization for a longer period of time (the whole academic year). If student B continues this volunteer experience the next year, it would be even better.
But keep in mind that clinical experience is most valuable if you’re working directly with patients, which is not always possible as a volunteer.
Clinical Work
Working a clinical position at a local hospital or clinic is probably the best clinical experience for pre-meds. Especially if a student commits to this position for at least one year, or longer. This is because there is opportunity for both a long-term commitment and direct patient care. Students with part-time clinical jobs can easily rack up a few hundred hours throughout their undergraduate years. Read more about clinical jobs for pre-meds here.
| Location | Hours |
| UMC Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) | 575 (1 shift per week x 2 years) |
In the example above, a student could work 1EMT shift per week during the 9 month school year for 2 years and end up with nearly 600 hours of clinical experience. 2 shifts a week would bring their total to over 1000 clinical hours. And this would show medical schools both a long-term commitment and direct patient care experience.
Some clinics, particularly private clinics, are willing to hire pre-meds as CNAs or medical assistants and provide on-the-job training without any prior certification or training course. But most entry-level clinical jobs do require at least a few months of training and certification at a local technical or community college. But these courses are well worth it for the valuable clinical experience.
Final Thoughts
If possible, students should look for clinical experiences that offer long-term commitments and direct patient care. The exact number of clinical hours is less important than how valuable those hours were. But for medical school applications, students should aim for at least 100 hours. Read here to learn more about volunteer opportunities for medical school. Or read here to learn more about clinical opportunities for pre-meds.
