how to apply to medical school
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How to Apply to Medical School. There and Back Again: A Student’s Tale Austin Park 3/24/2013. Outline. Timeline So you want to be a doctor Preparing to apply The MCAT Primary application Secondary application Interviews Acceptance (or not) Encouragement. Disclaimer. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
How to Apply to Medical School
There and Back Again: A Student’s Tale
Austin Park3/24/2013
Outline Timeline So you want to be a doctor Preparing to apply The MCAT Primary application Secondary application Interviews Acceptance (or not) Encouragement
Disclaimer
The following is the advice I can give concerning the process of applying to medical school
There is more that one way to do this I might not have the best way This is not gospel
Timeline January to September: Take the MCAT May 1: AMCAS primary application opens June 4 to ~ December: AMCAS primary
application opens for submission Schools have differing deadlines for submission
July to ~ January: Secondary application submission
September to ~ April: Interviews October to August: Acceptance/waitlist/rejection
Before We Get Ahead of Ourselves
APPLY EARLY This CANNOT be said enough
So you want to be a doctor
Make sure you meet the requirements for ALL schools you apply to usually: 1 year General Biology with lab 1 year General Chemistry with lab 1 year Organic Chemistry with lab 1 year Physics with lab 1 year English (Literature or Composition) 1 year Math (Calculus or Statistics)
Schools have different requirements Check each school for individual requirements
Here’s what you can do now:
So you want to be a doctor
Shadow Physicians Find a doctor you can shadow
Explore different specialties
Volunteer Schools place HIGH value on volunteerism
Volunteer clinically in hospitals Doesn’t need to be medical related
GFU James Project, Urban Outreach
Be Involved Clubs, Athletics, ASC
Pro Tip: Whatever you do, show commitment
Here’s what you can do now:
So you want to be a doctor
Research! Helps familiarize you with the scientific process
Understanding primary literature Running experiments Grant proposals
Some medical schools require scholarly projects (AKA research)
Publications look great on resume Get to know faculty better
Here’s what you can do now:
So you want to be a doctor
This process is expensive. Start saving now MCAT: $270 Primary Application: $160 base, $34/school Secondary Application: $50-$150 each Flights and Hotel: $200-$500 depending on
location Getting into medical school: Priceless AMCAS has Fee Assistance Program
Start thinking about your personal statement and which schools you might attend.
Here’s what you can do now:
The MCAT
The MCATBasics
Medical College Admissions Test Last eligible MCAT for the year you are
applying is in September Try to take it before you apply
Pro Tip: You don’t *need* your MCAT scores to submit your primary application
Scores are good for three years Format is changed for 2013 and will change
again 2015
The MCATBasics
National median: 27 Median for accepted students: 32 Scores over 30 are considered competitive Better to score 10/10/10 than 14/8/8 You can retake the MCAT
Generally, your most recent score is the one used in evaluations
The MCATBasics
The MCATPreparation
Pay attention in your classes Don’t take classes to “study” for the MCAT
That being said, Biochemistry and Developmental biology helped me on the test
The AAMC has ~8 practice tests you can take For a fee, of course, 1 is free These WILL help you study, 100%, no doubt
Kaplan, Examkracker, Princeton Review Prices range from $100-$2000 May or may not help
That being said, I shelled out for a Kaplan Course
The MCATFormat: 2013 & 2014
Three sections Physical Sciences: Physics and General
Chemistry (50/50) Verbal Reasoning: Excerpts from written works Biological Sciences: General Biology and
Organic Chemistry (75/25) Writing was taken out
Lucky punks
The MCATFormat: 2013 & 2014
Physical and Biological 52 questions over 70 minutes 39 questions based on passages 13 free standing questions (like your gen bio tests)
Verbal Reasoning Considered the hardest section for us science folk 40 questions over 60 minutes 7 passages
Pro Tip: Passage based questions are different from those on your science tests. You are not expected to be an expert on the passage information, only able to understand and apply it.
The MCATFormat: 2015 and
beyond A different horse indeed Disclaimer: I don’t know much about these
changes 4 Sections
Chemical and Biological Foundations of Living Systems 67 questions over 95 minutes
Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems 67 questions over 95 minutes
The MCATFormat: 2015 and
beyond 4 Sections cont.
Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills 60 questions over 90 minutes
Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior 67 questions over 95 minutes
HOLD UP That’s right ladies and gentlemen, The MCAT
WILL test psychological and sociological concepts
Primary ApplicationBasics
Opens May 1, available for submission June 4 Sent to all schools 9 different sections
Some take longer than other It takes 4-6 weeks for the AMCAS to verify
your application after you submit it
Primary ApplicationSection overview
1) Identifying Information Name, Social Security, Place of birth, ect
2) Schools Attended High school, any undergraduate institutions
(including community college!) Institutional action
Don’t pay a visit to student life
3) Biographical Information Citizenship, languages spoken, criminal record
You designate yourself as disadvantaged in this section
Underrepresented in Medicine (URM)
Primary ApplicationSection overview
4) Coursework Every. Single. Class. You’ve. Taken.
Also your class grades
5) Work/Activities List up to 15 activities, given 700 characters to
describe them. Volunteering, research, clubs, ect
List up to 3 activities as “most meaningful experience” Given 1325 additional characters to describe why you
designated activity as most meaningful My meaningful: Rock climbing, Organic Chemistry TA,
and OHSU research
Primary ApplicationSection overview
6) Letters of Evaluation Most schools require 3-5 letters of recommendation
Some schools require letters to be sent with the primary application, others with secondary
Almost all schools participate in the AMCAS Letter service
Who writes the letters Remember those doctors you’ve shadowed and researchers
you’ve worked for? Ask them. Basic science faculty
Some schools require one letter from non-science faculty Employers The more your recommenders know you, the better
Include resume Give plenty of time (1-2 months)
Primary ApplicationSection overview
7) Medical Schools Designate which medicals you send primary
application Also designate which letters of
recommendation to send to which schools Apply to a wide range of schools Things to consider:
Cost, geographical location, public vs. private, research vs. primary care focus
Students *usually* have a home state advantage (sorry Oregonians)
Primary ApplicationSection overview
7) Medical Schools Cont. MSAR: Medical School Admission
Requirements Resource put together by AAMC
Costs ~$35 (as applying isn’t expensive enough) Tells you school stats, programs, entering
GPA/MCAT score, selection factors, ect
Primary ApplicationSection overview
8) Essays AMCAS Personal Statement 5200 characters including spaces Prompt: “Use the space provided to explain why you want
to go to medical school” You MUST address the two golden questions
1) Why do you want to go to medical school? 2) Why are you a good medical school candidate?
This is a good space to differentiate yourself from the pack I compared myself to Samwise Gamgee from “The Lord of
the Rings” Pro Tip: Don’t talk about your most meaningful activities
(that you listed earlier), you would get bored reading the same thing twice too
Primary ApplicationSection overview
9) Standardized Tests See the results of your MCAT test.
Secondary Applications Schools either:
Review your primary application and then decide whether or not to send you their secondary
Automatically send you secondary application Completed Online Usually require 0-5 more essays
Why X school? Give us a brief autobiography of your life. What do you want to do in medicine? How will you contribute to this school’s diversity?
More biographical info required Deadlines range from 3 weeks (from time of receipt)
until ~December
InterviewBasics
Invitations to interview can come from October – April
Good opportunity to check out campus Some schools will assign you a date, others will let
you choose one Choose the earliest possible interview
Schools may have option to stay with student host Great way to see the school from the students’ eyes
Save money on hotels
Interviews are an excellent indicator that the school likes you (duh)
Interviewing Arrive early; helps reduce stress Interviews can take on many forms:
One on one Panel Group Multiple Mini Interview (MMI)
One on one and MMI interviews are most common
You can be interviewed by both students and/or faculty
Interviewing Interviews can be conversational or question-answer Dress to impress Know and understand the basics of current issues in medicine
as well as ethical scenarios Health care reform, euthanasia, stem cells, ect
Be ready to address any troublesome aspects of your application Poor GPA, institutional discipline from our pals at student life,
contradictions in application, ect Have a couple well thought out questions Pro Tip: Consistency is good, so is answering questions based
on your life experience, it shows depth of character
InterviewingPreparations
Set up mock interviews with GFU faculty Look up possible interview questions on the
internet Helps get you in the right mindset
Research the school before you go Understand unique aspects of the curriculum
The function of the interview is the same as the personal statement Why would you make a good doctor? Why should X school want you in their
program?
Acceptance Congratulations! Be sure to send in acceptance paper work to
reserve spot Schools require a non-refundable deposit
Not due until late in the summer (July)
You may hold multiple acceptances until May 15.
If you are definitely not going to a school, politely decline to free up your spot for another student
So You Didn’t Make It In...
I’m sorry. It sucks. Some schools offer workshops to improve
application for the next cycle Most schools looks at re-applicants favorably Try to improve upon weak portions of your
application Volunteer Shadow Take more science classes
Encouragement We can all agree that the process is awful Hang in there, keep your eye on the prize You can overcome a poor GPA or bad MCAT score
Acknowledgements
John Schmitt Paul Chamberlain Jeff Vargason GFU Faculty
Questions?