I thought I'd write briefly about this as I'm about to start another set of experience this summer, and remembered how clueless I was about how much to do and what I needed to get out of it. A girl in the year below me at my old school lost out on the chance to do midwifery this year because of a lack of experience, which makes the topic even more pressing.
I'm sure a lot of you who apply to medicine come from big schools where there are lots of other people in your year that are wannabe medics too, so you might have some idea of what's expected of you by listening to them - but at the same time there are probably a few of you who, like me, were the only person applying; perhaps, like me, you live abroad and don't know what options are open to you.
In terms of experience, I find that everyone differs in what they've done and how much, so it's hard to define the adequate amount - to be honest in terms of your personal statement and interview and stuff, it's more about what you've got out of it rather than how much you did - they understand that not everyone has the same set of opportunities! I mean, some people pay out hundreds to go and watch midwives in Tanzania and that sort of thing and to be honest, although I'm sure it's an incredible experience and it's completely valuable in terms of enriching your own experience and further motivating your desire to do medicine, it's not going to make your application stand out - just because some people have the money to pay to do stuff like that doesn't mean they show any more potential and effort than someone who spent a week in their local hospital! If you want your application to stand out it's all how you present your experience in a healthcare setting to the interviewers and in your statement in terms of how it's changed your views/what you learnt/comparing and contrasting different situations and relating it all to your interests.
No matter what it is you end up doing, make sure that you keep a notebook at hand all of the time so you can write stuff down as it happens - it's likely you'll forget stuff otherwise. If I could go back to the experience I did before medical school I would go home after every day of placement/when the placement was over and write a reflection of about 1000 words on the whole thing - that way it's a lot easier to fit into your personal statement, you remember and analyse the things you learnt, and you gain a valuable skill (the practice of 'reflection' is mentioned constantly in medicine and if your school uses the UMeP you will have to practice reflection in order to pass to the next year!). Mention what you did, what you learnt, what you could have done better and steps you could take to do better next time.
Tash x
