The ‘No’ Flow

Yet another “no.” Red boxes covered my Google sheet listing possible shadowing opportunities, as another clinic either turned me away or didn’t respond back. It had already been a year, and the no’s kept flowing in, leaving me tired, frustrated, upset, and with no idea what to do, where to go, or who to go to. It left me disheartened, and I slowly began believing that even the universe itself didn’t want me to become a physician.

The hunt for shadowing opportunities can be challenging if you don’t have connections to healthcare providers. As someone with absolutely no connections to the medical field or anyone related to healthcare, finding a professional who would allow student shadowing was my first and biggest hurdle. After scouring through all the clinics in my hometown, and cold-calling and emailing an additional 40 hospitals and clinics in the surrounding areas, I still had no luck in finding an MD to shadow.

I read several blogs, devoured articles, and watched countless videos on “how to obtain shadowing positions.” I then tried these methods and in my case, none seemed to work. During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic nearly all shadowing and clinical opportunities were halted. But now that things are starting to open back up, finding opportunities had become even more difficult because even more people than usual were seeking the same small number of positions.

Despite all these setbacks, I never intended to give up. I next began reaching out to all of my friends, asking if they had connections who would be willing to allow me to shadow them. Once again, the answers were all no’s. Then, after several more months of contacting others and cold-calling clinics, I finally received my first “yes” through a peer connection. This felt like one of my biggest achievements as a pre-med student.

I plan to shadow a primary care physician at this clinic once a week for a month. I will be observing and taking notes on physician-patient interactions, asking clinic and medical education related questions to the physician, and learning more about day-to-day life in the clinic. Through my time I spend at the clinic, I hope to gain several experiences that will better prepare me for my future in medicine and connect me with others to facilitate more opportunities.

Finding a physician to shadow as a pre-medical student was much more difficult than I initially expected. My biggest piece of advice for others is to stay determined—keep pursuing opportunities and never give up. Ask everyone you know, make cold calls, and follow up with emails expressing your interest.