applying to medical school

May 09 2019

Two surprising things that medical schools really care about

Medical schools care about alot of things. They have many expectations of those who apply to their programs. They want a high GPA, good MCAT, shadowing hours, volunteering, unique experiences that make you a good candidate, letters of recommendation. These are the things that most pre-meds know about. There are however many other things that medical schools value in a candidate which they don’t put onto their website. Knowing the things that medical schools value in their candidates is what can tip the odds into your favor when applying against other strong applicants. You can leverage this information to your advantage in your medical school applications and you should. During my first year of medical school I realized two things that I wish I knew before applying that could have made my application even more competitive! I want to share that with you all.

1. You have the ability to be self-sustaining and can cope with stress

This was made surprisingly important during our orientation of medical school and through out the year by faculty. During orientation we went over about the realities of physician burnout and how medicine can be stressful. We also went over various coping strategies and self-care methods to know for at least an hour! They also spent an incredible amount of time talking about all the services the school offers for students for their well-being. Then throughout the year we had several mandatory wellness sessions that included activities such as teaching us how to cook simple meals and talking about the importance of mental health. This includes taking proper measures to ensure you have health coverage, whether through insurance or savings (HSA Future Value Calculator). So it can go without saying that they really care that their students are healthy and happy! How can you use this to your advantage as a pre-med? Simple. Make sure that you emphasize in your application and during your interview numerous ways that you cope with stress in healthy/positive ways. This could be things like running, meditating, reading books, playing sports, etc. You want this to be authentic though, you should have more to say than I like to run. Maybe mention that you have ran a few marathons. This will be more memorable and impactful than just saying you like to run. As a side note, remember you always want to try and find ways to be unique and stick out in a good way to the admissions team! Besides showing that you have ways to cope with stress you also want to emphasize that you are self-sufficient and can take care of yourself. This can be done via certain activities such as cooking or if you lived abroad before. Ultimately just try to find authentic ways you can show the medical team that you have what it takes to handle the stress load of medical schools because that’s what they want to know.

2. You can help your classmates be successful

This goes along with the last point which is that medical schools want to know that their students can handle the stress load of medical school. The medical schools are investing alot of time and resources into turning you into a doctor! They want to make sure that everyone they accept will succeed and become a doctor. They don’t want students who will give up and quit out, that represents a loss of time and resources on their behalf and makes them look bad. You must remember this when applying! They want all of their future students to succeed. That is why they require such high GPAs, MCATs, volunteering, shadowing, letters of reccomendation, etc. It is because they want to be assured that their students can succeed. This is why having the ability to help your classmates succeed is something that medical schools want in an applicant. Often times the success of students lies not just in themselves but in having great classmates who will help eachother out. Showing to medical schools that you will be a student who is group-oriented and is a team player will make them feel you are a good addition to the class and can provide some benefit to the other students.Knowing this will help you fine-tune your application to making the medical schools want you! If you can not only show that you can handle medical school and succeed but also show that you can help support your classmates do it then that makes you really appealing in the eyes of the medical school! You can show this through activities such as being a tutor, being a peer mentor, serving a leadership position in some club at school, and even if you have done alot of team sports (soccer, basketball, etc.). These activities help provide the image of someone who is team oriented and knows how to work well with others.

Alright so keep these tips in mind when you are deciding on what extra-curricular activities to choose as a pre-med and what you want to emphasize on your application! Think like the medical school and know what their agenda is. If you know what they want then you will be able to turn yourself into a stronger applicant! Its the small things like this that add up and make you get that spot in your dream medical school!

Check out this video I made on the topic! Youtube video

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

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.

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Apr 15 2018

5 Tips Every Pre-Med Needs To Hear Now

The process of applying to medical school is long and complicated. It requires pre-med students to use their undergraduate years wisely to build up a good application. As a pre-med it is important to know what to focus your time on and to have a game plan on how to accomplish what you need to. After applying to medical school, these are my 5 most important tips I can give to pre-medical students.

1.GPA and MCAT are not everything. Don’t underestimate the value of your extracurriculars

Many pre-med students fall into the trap of thinking that their MCAT and GPA are the only factors that matter to whether they get accepted into medical school. This is definitely not the case! Your GPA and MCAT are certainly important but they are not everything. Your extracurricular can be even more important to some schools than your GPA or MCAT. This will be especially obvious when you are filling out your primary and secondary applications. Medical schools care about your shadowing, research, and volunteering! If you don’t have a good list of activities you have done, you will have a very hard time impressing any medical school even with a good GPA or MCAT. Remember, GPA and MCAT are just one component of your medical application. Don’t get so caught up in them that you forget to do your extracurricular activities! In fact, if you have a bad GPA or low MCAT score, your extracurricular activities can be what still give you a chance at getting accepted!

2. Start early on building your “pre-med resume”

What I mean by “pre-med resume” is your list of activities and extracurriculars that you can write about on your primary and secondary applications. You should begin working on building up your pre-medical resume as soon as possible. It is much easier to get in a variety of volunteering, extracurricular activities, and shadowing in when you have 3-4 years before applying than if you waited till the last year. My advice is START EARLY on building your pre-medical resume. Start looking for physicians to shadow as soon as possible and getting those volunteer hours in. It looks better to medical schools as well if you have a long history of volunteering than if you just tried to grind it out over a month or two. Another advantage of starting early is that you will have more time to build relationships that can lead to quality letters of recommendation.

3.Try to start finding opportunities that will present you with memorable experiences

Medical schools love to ask about memorable experiences that you have had that is related to medicine or motivated you to pursue medicine. There will be questions about this all over your secondary applications and during your interview. That is why it is important you seek out opportunities that other pre-med students probably aren’t doing. This could be things such as a volunteer trip to help serve people in an underserved area or country, volunteering for hospice, being involved in some non-profit organization, going on a trip to present your research at a conference, or even just something memorable from shadowing.

4.Learn about the school’s you plan on applying to

If you haven’t done this, do it right now. Knowing about the schools you are applying to will help you realize what the ideal applicant is for their school. If the school you are applying to values research a lot, you better make sure to get some research experience under your belt. You will have a big advantage by knowing what the schools you are applying to are looking for in applicants. This will help you tailor your application to the schools you are interested in applying to.

5. Plan out your pre-med years

Take the time to plan out your pre-med years ahead of you. Figure out what your goals are for your freshmen, sophmore, junior, and senior year as a pre-med. Come up with a game plan for how you are going to get in your shadowing, research, and volunteer hours. You also want to come up with a general timeline for when you want to take the MCAT and when you plan on actually applying for medical school. Take some time to create a document where you basically outline the way you want to allocate your time as a pre-med. This will help you stay organized and be on top of all your pre-med goals. Doing so will make your life much easier!

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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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Feb 01 2018

Medical School Interview Tips

Medical School Interview Do’s & Don’ts

Hey Pre-Meds! I got a simple article for you today! These are some of the Do’s and Don’ts for a successful interview day!

Do:

Always smile and be on your best behavior. (Make sure to be nice and on your best behavior throughout the whole day. You are being judged every moment you are on campus)
Be nice to everyone. (This includes receptionists, other candidates, and anyone else you run into. Your interaction with them could either benefit or hurt how the admission committee sees you.)
Be professionally dressed.
Arrive to the interview at least half an hour early. (Try to scope out the interview location the day before so you are prepared.)
Ask meaningful questions during your interview.
Understand current events in medicine and health care policy.
Memorize what you wrote for your secondary and primary applications.
Research the school thoroughly.
Practice answers to common medical school interview questions ahead of time.
Be confident when you speak.
Be attentive and interactive with others.
Pay attention to your interviewer’s body language.

Don’t:

Be late to your interviews!
Check your cell phones during the interview day
Ask how well you did in the interview or if you got accepted.
Be biased in answers you give about ethical or political questions.
Ignore body language cues from your interviewer.
Talk too little or too much to the interviewer.

If you would like more help for your interview, check out our other articles for more tips on preparing for a medical school interview!

Seven keys to being ready for your medical school interview.

45 common medical school interview questions

Making a great medical school interview cheatsheet

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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