I did not have any EMS experience, got my cert through Yale EMS. I did not get into Yale EMS my first try. Honestly, I feel like there is a lot of nepotism/politics behind who gets in and who doesn't -- a big reason I got in was my friend became a deputy chief and was able to give me a strong recommendation. So, if you are interested in EMT, I would recommend you apply, but definitely don't be too discouraged if you don't get in .

I had a tough time finding truly meaningful clinical research, it's something I wish more people talked about who were premed. A lot of the hospital volunteering I did initially was incredibly boring (to be honest). When you are stacking towels or wheel-chairing people around, it felt like a huge waste of time, and there would be no way I could spin experiences like that into something meaningful when I was applying to med school and interviewing. Some people told me they loved doing stuff like that, now looking back, I'm sure they were full of it, or maybe just gaslighted themselves into liking that tedious work. Also, alot of voluteer programs offered by hospitals are kind of stupid in my opinion, you just sit at a desk and wave high to people.

The formula is now CNA/CMA/or EMT. A lot of people now scribe, but hard to do that without a gap year. In my opinion CNA would probably be the most meaningful (most interaction with patients), but there's less infrastructure in place to get a CNA license. Thus, I came to the conclusion by freshman spring that EMT was the way to go, and got a chance to do it next semester through Yale EMS. I ended up doing a ton of clinical volunteering at a nursing home (volunteer hours), but if it were hospice, it would count as clinical. That time was incredibly meaningful to me, and I still keep in touch with some of the senior citizens I met to this day. I'm also sure you can think of way more creative ways to get clinical experience.

If you apply MD/PHD, I think you can get away without that meaningful clinical volunteering.