Session 27 Your questions, answered here on the OldPreMeds Podcast. Ryan and Rich again dive into the forums over at OldPreMeds.org where they pull a question and deliver the answers right on to you. OldPreMeds Question of the Week: The poster is a current massage therapist. She is in training for a clinical massage training. Would massage therapy become more accepted and being an alternative modality in the health field, how is this going to be viewed by medical schools? Here are the insights from Ryan & Rich: Massage therapy is a licensed field in most states. A lot of schools that offer it are accredited secondary institutions. Rich doesn't think that most medical schools will think that it will add much to your application. It's not patient contact per se nor is it volunteering. But it's a work experience that you can list. Other experiences you need to get include are volunteering and shadowing. There are massage therapists who work in more clinical settings like nursing homes, some physical therapy practices and osteopathic practices in some hospitals for patients. If you're able to find positions such as these then this may be useful to your medical school application.