Shadowing, Volunteering & Clinical Exposure — What Actually Matters?

How do you know if medicine is truly the right path for you?

Many students focus on grades, test scores, and building the perfect résumé. But some of the most important lessons happen outside the classroom.

In this episode, Dr. Nivedita Agarwal shares insights on shadowing, volunteering, leadership, clinical exposure, and personal growth—and why these experiences are about far more than checking boxes for medical school applications.

Whether you're a high school student, college student, parent, or aspiring physician, this episode will challenge you to think differently about what it means to prepare for a career in medicine.

Key Takeaway: Don't focus on collecting hours. Focus on collecting experiences that help you learn, grow, and discover who you're becoming.

🎙️ Keep learning. Keep growing. Keep stepping it up.

If today's episode resonated with you, I'd love to hear your story.

Share your thoughts in the comments or connect with us on social media.

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⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review and share it with a student, parent, mentor, or future healthcare professional who may benefit from this conversation.

Transcript

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Hello everyone and welcome to Step It Up with Dr. A, where we share stories, lessons, and insights to help students, professionals, and lifelong learners navigate their personal and professional journeys. Before we begin, I'd like to share a quick note. The purpose of this podcast is to educate, inspire, and encourage thoughtful decision making. The experiences, opinions, and perspectives shared by me and any guest are based on our personal and professional experiences and are intended for educational and informational purposes only. They are not intended to serve as individualized medical, financial or professional advice, career counseling, legal advice, or academic guidance. Every person's journey is unique. My hope is that these conversations help you ask better questions, explore possibilities, and make informed decisions that are right for you. Please seek guidance from qualified professionals and mentors when making important decisions. Welcome back to Step It Up with Dr. A. I am Dr. Nivedita Agarwal, and over the past few episodes we have talked about finding your why, understanding what a physician's life really looks like, and exploring whether you are academically ready for the journey. Today we are going to discuss something that almost every aspiring physician asks about: shadowing, volunteering, clinical exposure, research, extracurricular activities. Many students become so focused on accumulating hours and building a resume that they forget the real purpose behind these experiences. The goal is not simply to collect hours. The goal is to gain insight, to grow, to challenge yourself, and ultimately to determine whether medicine is truly the right path for you. Today I want to share some of my own journey and what I learned along the way. Why clinical exposure matters. Before you commit years of your life to become a physician, you need to understand what you're committing to. You wouldn't buy a house without walking through it, you wouldn't choose a college without looking at it or visiting it. And you shouldn't choose medicine without experiencing health care firsthand. Clinical exposure provides a window into the realities of medicine. The good days, the difficult days, the uncertainty, the teamwork, the responsibility, and the privilege of caring for another human being. These experiences help answer an important question. Can I truly see myself doing this work? For me, my pre-med journey was more than just a major. Students often ask me what I majored in during college and what activities I participated in. Like many aspiring physicians, I initially chose a traditional pre-med pathway and started as a biology major. But I wanted to challenge myself academically and intellectually. So I switched to a biochemistry major and added a minor in anthropology. Now, some people might wonder why anthropology. The answer is simple. I loved learning about people. I loved understanding cultures, beliefs, behaviors, and the ways different communities view health and illness. Looking back, anthropology may have been one of the most important subjects I studied because medicine is not simply about biology. It's about people. One thing that influenced me tremendously during college was the group of friends I surrounded myself with. I was fortunate to be surrounded by incredibly bright, motivated individuals. Instead of feeling intimidated by them, I allowed them to push me. The more they challenged themselves, the more I challenged myself. One lesson I learned early is that growth often happens when you intentionally place yourself in the environment that stretches you. Medical school is more than a major. Many students believe getting into medical school is simply about choosing a pre-med major and earning good grades. In reality, there are more pieces to the puzzle. You need strong academics. You need to perform well on another major standardized exam, the MCATs. Yep, those are there. You need meaningful extracurricular experiences. You need research opportunities. You need clinical exposure. And perhaps most importantly, you need experiences that help you grow as a person. Medical schools aren't simply evaluating whether you can memorize information. They are evaluating whether you're developing into someone who can care for patients. One of the most impactful experiences during college was joining the Stonebook Volunteer Ambulance Corps. That was my first real clinical exposure. I became Basic Life Support Certified. I completed my EMT training. I volunteered in dispatch and participated in campus sporting and music events where we helped transport injured students who required medical attention. For the first time, healthcare became real. Patients were no longer hypothetical cases in textbooks. These were real people experiencing real emergencies. They were my colleagues and classmates. I learned how important teamwork is in healthcare. I learned how quickly situations can change. I learned that communication can be just as important as medical knowledge. Most importantly, I learned that medicine happens when people are vulnerable. And that carries tremendous responsibility. One of the most common questions students ask is how many shadowing hours do I need? What I think a better question is, what am I learning from this experience? Shadowing isn't simply about standing quietly in the corner of a clinic. It's an opportunity to observe how physicians communicate, how they make decisions, how they build trust, how they handle uncertainty, how they deliver difficult news, how they balance science and compassion. The goal is not to impress medical schools. The goal is to understand the profession. So what are some of the questions you can ask when you are shadowing? When you shadow a physician, ask why did you choose your specialty? What do you enjoy most about your work? What is the most challenging part? What surprised you about medicine? Would you choose medicine again? What advice would you give your younger self? Some of the most valuable insights come from these conversations. Ironically, one of the experiences that shaped me the most had very little to do with medicine itself. It had to do with fear. I had tremendous stage fright. Public speaking terrified me. I know that may sound hard to believe today. I host a podcast. I speak publicly, I give lectures. But there was a time when speaking in front of a room full of people felt overwhelming. Instead of avoiding that fear, I decided to confront it. I joined an organization called Minorities in Medicine. The organization focused on supporting students from underrepresented backgrounds who were pursuing careers in medicine. I initially joined as a member, then I volunteered for a small representative role. Eventually I became the secretary of the organization and helped organize events and educational programs. Each leadership role required more communication, more responsibility, and more public speaking. At first I was uncomfortable. Then I became a little more confident and eventually I began to enjoy it. That experience taught me a lesson that has stayed with me throughout my career. Feel the fear and do it anyway. Growth happens when we step outside our comfort zones, and medicine requires that constantly. Volunteering is the heart of service. One reason medical schools value volunteer experiences is because medicine is fundamentally a service profession. Patients trust us during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. Volunteer experiences help develop empathy, humility, and perspective. And volunteering doesn't need to happen exclusively in a hospital. You can learn valuable lessons through community organizations, food banks, tutoring, youth mentorship, senior centers, health fairs. The location matters less than the lessons you learn. Research, do you need it? Many students worry about research. Research can be incredibly valuable. It teaches critical thinking, problem solving, scientific inquiry, persistence. But research is not valuable simply because it looks good on an application. It's valuable because it teaches you knowledge, how knowledge is created. Medicine advances people because people ask questions. Research teaches you how to ask those questions. What I wish students understood, if I could give one piece of advice to every aspiring physician, it would be this. Stop comparing your journey to someone else's. Students often become anxious when they hear I have 500 volunteer hours. I have multiple publications. I shadow 10 different physicians. Comparison creates unnecessary stress. Focus on your growth, focus on meaningful experiences, focus on becoming a better version of yourself. The goal isn't to build the most impressive resume. The goal is to become the best future physician you can be. Some of the questions to ask yourself after every shadowing, volunteer, research, or leadership experience. What surprised me? What challenged me? What inspired me? What did I learn about patients? What did I learn about myself? Could I see myself doing this kind of work every single day? Those answers are often more valuable than the experience itself. One of the reflection exercises that you can do this week is think about one experience that has shaped your interest in medicine. It could be a volunteer experience, a shattering opportunity, a research project, a leadership position, a family health experience. Write down what happened. What did you learn? How did it change you? How did it shape your understanding of medicine? One day, these reflections may help you write your personal statement. More importantly, they will help you understand your own journey. Looking back, what shaped me most wasn't my major, my grades, my MCAT score, or even the number of activities I participated in. It was the growth that occurred through those experiences. The EMT training that taught me responsibility, the volunteer work that taught me service, the anthropology courses that taught me to understand people, the leadership roles that helped me overcome my fear of public speaking. Each experience taught me something different, and together they helped shape the physician I would eventually become. Shadowing, volunteering, clinical exposure, research, and extracurricular activities are not simply stepping stones to medical school. They are opportunities to discover who you are becoming. Don't focus solely on accumulating hours. Focus on accumulating insight. Because ultimately the strongest future physicians are not the people who did the most. They are the people who learned the most. Thank you for joining me on Step It Up with Dr. A. In our next episode, we'll discuss service, empathy, and understanding patients, why medicine is more about than science. Until next time, keep learning, keep growing, keep stepping it up. I am Dr. A and I'll see you next time. Thank you for listening to Step It Up with Dr. A. Remember, this podcast is designed to provide educational information and inspiration, not individualized professional advice. Always consult qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.