InvestIN Young Doctor Experience -- any good?

[WhenTheRollIsCalledUpYonder]

Hi, my daughter has been desperately trying to get some sort of in-person work experience but this is so thin on the ground due to COVID. I came across this programme and it seems legit -- but very expensive. Does anyone know anything about it?
It's two weeks talking to doctors and a few days in a teaching hospital observing.
I wonder whether it is worth her doing, or if it's a much-hyped scam?
All help highly appreciated. x

Work experience doesn't need to be in a hospital or medical setting shadowing doctors. She could work in a care home, be a hospital volunteer or work in a covid testing centre.

Med schools don't count work experience that is paid for. Much better to work in a care home and do on line work experience- look at Brighton & Kings.

I highly highly doubt universities would view this more favourably than work in a care home or somewhere similar.

I really don’t think she will gain anything from this at all, watching a doctor do their morning rounds for a couple of hours and then six hours of paperwork.

My dd has done this. It is expensive- but it’s extremely well organised and a fantastic experience. I don’t think it replaces work experience as such, but it really helped my dd work out what she wanted to do at uni (which ultimately isn’t straight medicine, but another health related role) and she really enjoyed the course.

She’s found regular volunteering with a food bank so could that be an option? One of our local food banks was looking for extra volunteers and so she got in touch.

I think she’ll probably really enjoy this and may well get some good pointers from it. I don’t think it should be seen as a box ticking “that’s the work experience done” exercise and increasingly medical schools are trying to weed out the historic buying your way in type things so don’t go with this as your only thing.

Other things that might give experience and show initiative getting them sorted either looking for paid work or work experience - care home work or volunteering, hospice, pharmacy, covid test centre, St John’s Ambulance, Citizen’s advice - dealing with the public/people in vulnerable situations, Help the Aged, first aid training through scouting or guiding, Hospital volunteering e.g. giving directions, a lot of older more vulnerable people will have stopped volunteering recently because of covid, Funeral directors - dealing with bereaved families and dead bodies, day centres for e.g. those with learning difficulties often farms or forestry type places or cafes offering supported employment.

Anything public facing can be spun a bit.

DD did the lawyer one which was excellent. Sorry can't be more helpful.

And my DS did the engineering one, which I can highly recommend.

Gosh, thank you all SO MUCH. You are so supportive and it's really helped me think this through and come to a decision. I think we will go for it but not rely on it as ticking the "work experience" box. Thank you for all the brilliant ideas about work experience too. x

My child did one of the experiences last summer (not the doctor one) and thought it was really excellent ! I would recommend it if you can afford it as it is pricey. It gave them a lot to reflect on and include in their personal statement and meet lots of people in the same journey

There were 5/10 days courses residential/non residential. The 10 day ones did tend to have more residential students and some of the later days focussed more on sightseeing (hence we only did the 5 day one)
And on a side note .... In addition if they do the residential - it counted towards the Hold D of E residential element if that is of any use

@kitnkaboodle we are looking at that one, how many days did you go for ? Was it face to face in London ?

Just signed up for the 10-day doctor experience one! :) Thanks so much, everyone!

@Iamsodone no - my DS did it online in 2020. I think it was 3 days. I think you could pay for an extra 4th day that gave you more personalized attention, but he didn't do that.

Is InvestIN Engineering Summer Experience worth it? My DS like to find out if this is the path for him.

Hello,
How was your DD’s experience of Investin.
Thanks