Shadowing a physician is one of the most important experiences for premed students. It gives you firsthand exposure to the medical profession, helps you understand the realities of patient care, and strengthens your medical school application. But one of the biggest questions students have is: how many shadowing hours are actually necessary to be a competitive applicant?

At AcceptMed, we help students navigate every aspect of the medical school application process, including gaining the right experiences to stand out. While there’s no strict requirement for shadowing hours, medical schools expect applicants to have sufficient experience to demonstrate a clear understanding of what it means to be a doctor. In this guide, we’ll break down how many hours you need, how to make the most of your shadowing experience, and what admissions committees are looking for.

1. What’s the Magic Number?

While medical schools don’t have a fixed requirement, most successful applicants report completing between 50 to 100 hours of shadowing. However, the quality of your experience is far more important than just racking up hours.

50+ hours: Generally recommended for a competitive application.
100+ hours: Ideal if you have limited clinical experience elsewhere.
20-40 hours: May be acceptable if supplemented with other hands-on patient care experiences.

2. What Medical Schools Look for in Shadowing Experience

Medical schools aren’t just counting hours—they want to see depth and diversity in your experiences:

✔ Multiple specialties: Shadowing different specialties (e.g., primary care, surgery, internal medicine) shows that you’ve explored various fields.
✔ Longitudinal experience: Spending more time with one physician can be just as valuable as shadowing multiple doctors for shorter periods.
✔ Active engagement: Reflecting on what you learned in your application is crucial. Schools want to see how shadowing influenced your decision to pursue medicine.

3. How to Make the Most of Your Shadowing Hours

Simply following a doctor around isn’t enough—maximize your experience by:

✔ Asking insightful questions about patient interactions, decision-making, and challenges in medicine.
✔ Keeping a journal of key experiences and lessons learned for future essays and interviews.
✔ Observing not just the physician, but also how they work with nurses, techs, and other healthcare professionals.