Shadowing Experiences (FAQ)

The Lansing CAD office can help arrange shadowing experiences for the following people:

• MSU CHM students
• MSU undergraduate students
• High school students

We can not arrange shadowing experiences for graduate students, MSU alumni, or students at other institutions. Please see “Other Ways To Request Shadowing” below for other options.

You can shadow any physician in the Lansing area that is agreeable and has a relationship with MSU CHM. Shadowing will be scheduled with the first available physician unless you have requested to shadow a specific physician.

Please note that we cannot honor requests to shadow someone with specific credentials (PA, NP, MD, DO, etc.) unless you have someone specific in mind. For example, you can request to shadow “John Smith, PA” but you cannot request to shadow “any cardiology PA”.

Shadowing experiences are arranged at a variety of clinics (outpatient) and hospitals (inpatient) in the Lansing area. The exact location of your experience will depend on several factors, including your responses on the shadowing request form.

When you complete the form, you will be able to select from the following options:

• Inpatient
• Outpatient
• Either Is Fine

Inpatient experiences will be scheduled in a hospital setting and outpatient experiences will be scheduled in a clinic. If you select either, the location will be dependent on where the physician is working that day.

Please note that undergraduate and high school students are not permitted to shadow in the following locations at UMH-Sparrow Hospital:

• Operating Room
• Morgue
• Labor & Delivery
• Emergency Department

The list of available specialties can be found here. This list is updated frequently as offices update their preferences and availability.

MSU CHM students can request to shadow any specialty, even if it is not listed. Our office will do our best to ensure that you are able to shadow in the specialty you request.

Undergraduate and high school students can only request to shadow a specialty that is listed on the document above. If you would like to shadow a specialty that is not listed, see “Other Ways To Request Shadowing” below for other options.

To request shadowing through our office, click on the link that applies to you below to learn more about the process and access the request form.

• MSU CHM Students
• MSU Undergraduate & High School Students

Please note that this information only applies to non-CHM students. MSU CHM students should follow the process outlined in their student guidebook

Our office does our best to coordinate shadowing requests. The limitations of requesting shadowing through our office often reflect the limitations of pre-med shadowing in general in the Lansing area, so you may have to be willing to travel if you are looking to shadow beyond what our office can arrange for you.

Other Ways To Request Shadowing

• Many health systems have their own process in place for requesting shadowing. For example, Google searches for “Sparrow Shadowing”, “McLaren Shadowing”, “Corewell Health Shadowing”, will all easily return results on ways to request shadowing at these sites.
• Reaching out to offices directly.
  • It is important to note that many UMH-Sparrow & MSU Health Care offices will direct you back to our office if you reach out to them directly. For this option, you will have the most success with offices that are not affiliated with UMH-Sparrow or MSU Health Care.
• You can look into virtual pre-med shadowing opportunities.

Other Ways To Get Clinical Hours

• Volunteering. Just like for shadowing, many health systems have a process in place for becoming a volunteer. A Google search for “Volunteering at Sparrow, McLaren, etc.” should yield results.
• Becoming a medical scribe.