AMCAS

Apr 22 2018

Here is what matters to medical schools according to AMCAS

Applying to medical school is hard! There are many important components to one’s medical school application that must be considered. When applying to medical school you are evaluated based on your GPA, MCAT, letters of recommendation, shadowing experience, volunteering, extracurricular activities, and personal statement. This can make it hard to know what really matters when it comes to getting into medical school. Luckily, the AAMC has released a document that shows some important statistics about those who got accepted. Let’s see what we can learn from it!

Applicants and Enrollees:

A total of 49,990 applied and 29,840 that were accepted. This means that only 42% of students who applied for medical school got accepted.
Of the students who applied: 49% were White, 21% were Asian, 8.9% were Multiracial, 7.1% were African American, 6.5% were Hispanic, 3.6% identified as Unknown Race, 1.8% identified as Other, 1.3% were Non-U.S Citizen, 0.2% were American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.1% were Native Hawaiin or Pacific Islander.

Average GPA:

The average GPA of applicants was 3.57.
The average GPA of enrollees was 3.71.

This is a pretty decent indicator that GPA is not as major a factor as most pre-meds think. While you definitely do not need a 4.00 GPA to get into medical school, you should still have a decent to high GPA. This gives a good idea of the GPA we want to be around (3.71).

Language and Age:

30.2% of enrollees speak another language other than English
The range of ages for enrollees was 19 to 49 years old.

This indicates that being bilingual could be beneficial to your chances of getting accepted into medical school. Being bilingual could show your ability to communicate well with others and understand different cultures.

The age range shows that it doesn’t matter how old you are when it comes to getting accepted into medical school. So don’t fret if you are an older applicant! I was about 3 years older than the normal applicant age when I got accepted! What really matters is if you can show the medical schools that you are serious about medicine and have the ability to handle the rigors of medical school.

Average MCAT score:

The average MCAT score of applicants was 502.9
The average MCAT score of enrollees was 508.9

This is good news to alot of pre-meds! This goes to show that the MCAT also doesn’t need to be as high as you would expect. You definitely don’t have to have a 515 or higher to get into medical school! And since the average MCAT score for those accepted was about 509 that means there were plenty of people who were accepted that got a few points lower than that.

Enrollee profile:

12.8 million community service hours provided by enrollees
85.1% of enrollees had research/lab experience
80.9% of enrollees had shadowing/clinical observation

This tells us what medical schools really value in their applicants. Volunteering, doing research, and having clinical exposure are incredibly important to getting accepted into medical school. Volunteering shows medical schools that you are willing to sacrifice your time for others and that you want to help the community. Research is important to medical schools because they have research programs they want you to partake in at their school usually. Clinical exposure (especially shadowing) is super important for medical schools, this one is probably the most important for most medical schools. They want to see that you know what medicine is really like and that you will be okay with a career in medicine. Make sure you have a good amount of volunteer hours (about 100 hours logged is decent), experience doing research, and a variety of clinical observation and shadowing before applying. It really matters.

Summary:

One of the main takeaways from these statistics is that there is a lot that goes into a medical school application. While GPA and MCAT are still very important, they are not everything. Having volunteering hours, research experience and shadowing experience are just as important. Try and make sure that your GPA and MCAT are at least within the range of what enrollees are and focus on really standing out in your research and clinical exposure. Remember, even if your GPA or MCAT score is not as high as you would like, you can still get in by having exceptional clinical experience. Go ahead and analyze the statistics from the AMCAS yourself and see what else you can learn from it!

Click here to view the document from the AAMC.

You can also download the document here.

Tell us what you think by leaving a comment down below! For more pre-med tips and advice, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Facebook, twitter, and pinterest!

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Mar 26 2018

8 Tips for Writing a Personal Statement For Medical School

8 Tips for Writing A Personal Statement for Medical School

So, you want to apply to medical school. We’re impressed already – this requires a tremendous amount of intelligence, dedication, and optimism, and will set you off on a journey which will doubtlessly lead to a long and highly rewarding career. However, to get to that place at the college of your choice, you’ll have a few hurdles to get over first.

You’ve already passed your exams with flying colors, and have proven your level of intelligence and ambition. You’ve thought carefully about which colleges, schools, or universities best suit your needs and aspirations. Now all that’s left is to score that interview and get that place; and for that to happen, you’re going to need a killer personal statement.

This aspect of the applications process is not to be overlooked, and in many ways, is one of the most important things you’ll have to produce to achieve your goals. Medical schools are looking for bright, intelligent, empathetic and communicative individuals for enrolment on their courses… and a correctly written medical personal statement is your key to showing you fit that bill perfectly. Check out our 8 top tips for personal statement success below!

1) Write, re-write, then write it again!

Your statement for medical school is not -, and we mean not – something you should be leaving to the last minute. It’s going to take some real time and concentration, and it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to nail it on your first go.

Produce a draft, and take some time to go through it with a fine-toothed comb. Imagine you’re the one receiving the statement: what impression does it make? Is there anything missing? Make sure you get at least one of your tutors to take a look through your statement and listen to their advice on what should be changed, added, or removed.

2) Be focused

It’s common for students to ramble a bit during their statements, and try to cram in as much about their life as possible. Remember – you aren’t writing your memoirs; this is a document with a specific purpose and needs to be sharp, focused, and relevant. Try to choose a particular theme or thread from your educational journey and onward ambitions. Stick with that theme, support it with examples, and you’ll be on to a winner.

3) Avoid the cliches

Your future tutors and directors of study will be bored stiff from reading countless application letters from students claiming they love science and want to help people. Apparently, you shouldn’t be saying the opposite of these things, but just try and avoid the predictable and cliched. Find something new to say, and your statement will stand head and shoulders above the rest.

4) Find a unique angle

You are an individual. You are unique. You have experiences, hopes, dreams, memories, and skills which are entirely your own. In your statement, you need to be putting this across in the most reliable ways possible – it’ll help your document catch the eye of the people receiving it.

Write in your voice, and include personalized examples of times you’ve succeeded, or failed and learned from your mistakes. It could make all the difference.

5) Don’t be flowery

It’s sometimes tempting to write a personal statement in a highly elaborate or impressive way. Our advice? Steer well clear of this. You aren’t going to be accepted on the strength of your poetic skills, but rather on your ability to be clear, concise, and appropriately communicative. Write in direct, simple language, and avoid anything which might confuse.

6) Stick to the word count

Your medical school personal statement will come with its word count. Make sure you keep an eye on this and stick to it as closely as possible (within 10%, at a minimum). Your recipient doesn’t want to have to wade through page after page of information, and following precise instructions is a crucial skill for future medics, so demonstrate you’re capable of doing this from the beginning!

Remember the 5-point essay format.

The 5 point essay format exists for a good reason: it works.

Your first paragraph should be snappy, concise, and catch the attention of the reader.

Paragraphs 2-4 should introduce who you are personally, with one reflecting your clinical experience or understanding, and one dedicated to medical service and aspirations.

Your final paragraph should be a neat conclusion; one which reflects your introduction, summarises you as an applicant, and ends with your thoughts on future challenges.

I hope you found this advice helpful! Tell us what you think by leaving a comment down below! For more pre-med tips and advice, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Facebook, twitter, and pinterest!

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Aug 01 2017

9 Tips to write a personal statement that captivates your reader. (Medical School essay)

Nine Tips to write a personal statement that captivates your reader

The personal statement is one of the most important aspects of your medical school application and one of your best opportunities to separate yourself from other applicants. Your personal statement is your chance to convince medical schools that you would be a great physician. Do not underestimate the value of having a good personal statement. There are many medical schools that accept students who don’t have the highest GPA or MCAT, but have excellent personal statements. And it is often the personal statement that plays a major role in encouraging the medical school to invite you to an interview. Please take your time to review the tips I wrote down below, these tips come from personal experience as well as advice from medical school admission officers. So what are some tips to help you write a spectacular medical school essay that no school can resist?

1.Treat the essay as if you are writing a novel. Tell a story.

One of the most important things you can do when writing a personal statement is to write it as if it were a novel. You want to start the essay strong with something that catches the readers attention, use suspense, build up to major events, and give the reader closure at the end. It is important that you are able to maintain the readers interest in your story.

2. Use powerful language.

An easy way to improve your essay is to use strong and emotionally powerful adjectives. When describing events use metaphors. You want all of the language that you use to really leave an impression. This ties in with the first tip about writing a novel, you really want to use strong and symbolic language that will captivate your reader.

3. Make a list of several key points and themes you want your personal statement to include

This also goes back to the idea of writing a story and is honestly one of the best ways you can guarantee you say everything you want to and give the right impression to your reader. By having themes and key points in your essay you are both implicitly and explicitly emphasizing why you would be a great addition to their medical school program. Make a list of all of the major points you want to emphasize and the main themes that will define your essay. This list will be a valuable asset as you write your essay.

Heres a list of some things you might want to focus on: Showing you really care about helping other people, illustrating your hands on experience with patients, showing that you love to volunteer, showing all the different struggles you have overcome and how you have grown from them, showing your growth and evolution as a person over time, showing that you understand the rigors and realities of medicine, showing strong and resilient character, and showing that you are humble.

4. Make sure to subtly repeat your key points and themes throughout your personal statement

It is important to be able to subtly remind your reader of your key points as you write your essay. You want to be able to tell them that you are awesome without having to say it directly. Having consistency in your key points and themes makes it more authentic. For example: If you want to get the key point across that you have learned a lot from patient interaction, mention in the beginning of the essay how one patient was memorable to you. And then later in the essay bring up how the lessons you learned from that patient played in an impact in a separate situation. Once your essay is able to show consistency in your key points they become themes of your essay. And having a theme is much more powerful than trying to tell your reader explicitly why you are awesome. Being consistent and subtly repeating your key points and themes makes your essay more genuine.

5. Give examples for your claims

Having examples for each of your key points will greatly increase how believable your essay is and also the impact it leaves on your reader. Make sure you have good examples for your key points. Also make sure to use strong and emotional language, see tip #2, when describing that example. For example: If you are trying to show your reader that you are compassionate for others, then have an example where it shows you are compassionate.

6. Stay humble.

This is one of the most common pitfalls that many pre-med students fall into. Many medical school admission officers emphasize the importance of being modest and humble when writing your personal statement. Often one of the biggest turn off’s to medical school is being too full of yourself. That is why it is best to imply rather than directly state that you are good at something. Remember, being subtle and consistent is key.

7. Make sure not to go over the character limit

This one is actually really important for saving you lots of time and annoyance. The character limit is only 5300 characters! That is only about one page long. When I wrote my essay I accidentally misread it as 5300 words! That was a big mistake. Because when I copied my essay into the AMCAS essay box, it was literally twice as long. Then I had to go back and try and cut certain things out to make it fit. It was a very painful and upsetting process. So make sure you are constantly checking that you don’t go over the character limit. If it helps, you should write the essay in the essay box instead of a word processor.

8. Don’t have any grammar mistakes

This is an obvious one but also one that is easy to avoid. Having grammar mistakes is one of the easiest ways to show a lack of professionalism. So just make sure to double-check that.

9. Have multiple people proofread your essay and give feedback

This tip is a must. It is critical that you get other people’s opinion on your essay. Other people will see things that you won’t and have advice that you wouldn’t have ever considered. You will most likely have to go through several drafts of your essay before it is truly ready. I went through 6 drafts before I submitted my essay.

Follow these tips and you will have an essay that truly stands out and makes medical schools interested in you. The main key points to take from this article is: Write a story that will captivate your reader and keeps their attention, develop major themes and key points that your essay is based around, and to have others check your essay. Remember, the personal statement is your biggest opportunity to let you stand out. Write a powerful essay that will blow the socks off your reader! I believe in you! You can do this!

Tell us what you think by leaving a comment down below! For more pre-med tips and advice, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Facebook, twitter, and pinterest!

Did you find this article helpful? Let us know!

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