Professional Documents
Culture Documents
J Ca -S d , MD
Ho pi al Ph ician
JenniferMCaputo
B a aC
MD PhD S den
BriChristophers
R A C a , MD
Ob e ician G necologi ACF S anfo d School of Medicine
CatchTheBaby
R b cca L
MD S den
M. G ac O , MD
Re iden in Famil Medicine Uni e i of Kan a
MGraceOliver
T c a Ra P d a
MD S den
TRaePendergrast
Sa a B P c , MD
Re iden in Radia ion Oncolog Medical College of Wi con in
SaraBelPon
A a a Sa , MD P D
Ba ia ic Fo eg S geon Wa hing on Uni e i in S Lo i
Arghavan Salles
Ca a S a , MSc
MD PhD S den
CarinaSeah
J a Y , MD
Pedia ician
BetaMomma
Timeline............................................................................................................................105
Communicating with schools: when, why how.......................................106
Secondary applications.............................................................................................108
MD interviews.................................................................................................................112
DO interviews.................................................................................................................122
MD PhD Interviews.....................................................................................................123
Making the most of informal sessions...............................................................124
Advice for interviews with current students..................................................125
Interview red flags........................................................................................................127
Interviewing on a budget..........................................................................................130
Post interview correspondence.............................................................................132
AAMC policy on holding acceptances.........................................................134
The Waitlist...............................................................................................................135
Reapplying.................................................................................................................136
AAMC policies for schools.................................................................................138
Second look...............................................................................................................139
Factors to consider................................................................................................140
Declaring deposit...............................................................................................144
Conclusion...............................................................................................................146
Appendix...................................................................................................................148
Why does this guide exist?
Finding a mentor
The inspiration behind this guide is a tweet by
RoxanaDaneshjou that said: Any profession that requires
hours of free labor in order to even be qualified to enter a
training program e.g. shadowing in medicine, doing unpaid
research will have disparities in recruiting across socio
economic statuses. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Medicine clearly has disparities across racial groups and
socioeconomic groups systemic prejudice and privileged social
structures play a role in these disparities. Applying to medical
school requires insider knowledge, connections and financial
resources, and this shuts out individuals who would have
otherwise been talented doctors. Our patients come from
diverse backgrounds likewise, they deserve doctors from
diverse backgrounds that they can identify with.
There are many different routes to medical school, both
traditional and non traditional. Many spectacular practicing
physicians have stories about someone telling them, you ll
never get into medical school or you ll never be a doctor. If
you want to be a physician, you have to ignore them. As there
are many different paths to medical school, this guide does not
claim to cover all of them, but we hope to encourage you in
your pursuit of whatever path is best for you, and to give you
some ideas to close the gaps that privilege and structural
biases have put in your way. The medical school admissions
process has been shown to disproportionately favor upper
class, cisgender, heterosexual white men. This guide was
designed to help anybody and everybody succeed anyway.
10
Taking care of patients and providing quality health care
requires a HUGE team, and every member brings their own
strengths see figure . The physician is often the team member
that is most visible or recognizable to people because of their own
experiences receiving care from doctors or even watching
television shows . However, becoming a physician may not be the
right path for everyone to meet their goals. We encourage you to
think about what attracts you to medicine and whether those
skills, tasks, and qualities are actually more in line with what a
physician assistant, nurse, pharmacist or other health
professional does in their day to day roles. Remember. careers
often go in countless unexpected directions, so stay open to new
opportunities and explore your options!
Many personal statements start with a story about how I
wanted to be a doctor since age 6 after event X. First of all,
please do not start your personal statement like that more on
that in the personal statement section . You do not need to have
always known that you ve wanted to be a doctor. However, you do
need to know why you want to be a doctor because it is a long
road paved with loans, sacrifice, and delayed gratification.
For some, the path to medical school began in childhood.
Depending on the type of program you want to pursue, you don t
need to know until about two years prior to matriculation.
An exception to this is Direct Med Programs, or combined
BS MD programs. These are generally applied to out of high
school, similar to a college application timeline. A benefit of
these programs is that you get to skip the MCAT and the arduous
application process, and you may even get to shorten the overall
education process by up to two years. Because of these appealing
benefits, these programs are extremely competitive. Further,
they may not be accessible if you didn t happen to know you
wanted to be a physician in time, or if you didn t know about
these programs. There aren t very many, but as of the time of this
publication, a list can be found here.
This is just one view of the application process. For the
majority of American physicians, applying to medical school
starts about two years before matriculation. For instance, if you
decide to apply so that you would begin medical school the fall
after you graduate from college, you must prepare starting your
junior year. Ideally, you would take your Medical College
Admissions Test MCAT in your junior year to give yourself an
opportunity to take it a second time, if needed. Many students take the
MCAT whether for the first time or retaking it in the summer before
their senior year, though depending on the month and score return
timelines, you risk delaying the submission of your applications. In
general, delays in submitting are not advisable. The early bird gets the
seat in the rising class! During your junior year, you would meet with
your pre med advisor if you have one, start asking around for letters of
recommendation, and put together your personal statement. If your
school does not have a pre medical advisory committee and even if it
does but you would not mind some extra advice check out the Finding
a Mentor section of this guide. There are three major application
services for US medical schools: AMCAS allopathic or MD programs ,
AACOMAS osteopathic or DO programs , and the TMDSAS Texas
medical schools . The exact date changes every year, but they all open
the summer a year prior to beginning of the medical school term you
would be applying for. You would want to submit your application as
early as possible with almost no exceptions, submit on the earliest
possible date , and then senior year is spent going to interviews.
Because of this process, I recommend making a decision to attend
medical school or not by the end of your sophomore year of college
again, if you re not planning to take gap years, which is common and
often beneficial for students .
Prior to the application process, you do need to make sure that you
have satisfied the prerequisites for medical school this is why you need
to know so far in advance whether or not you want to attend medical
school. I always get asked what is the best major for medical school.
Honestly, it does not matter note, a few admissions committees may
give you a little GPA leeway if you are majoring in a notoriously difficult
subject, such as chemical engineering . There is no major that will give a
head start once in medical school, and non science majors often stand
out in the applicant pool because so many students accepted to medical
school were STEM majors in college. As long as you are able to complete
the prerequisites to apply to medical school, the best major is a subject
you a passionate about and can perform well in. A 4.0 GPA in an English
major is generally going to be better received than a 2.0 in a Physics
major. Prerequisites may vary between medical schools, but in general
this example is taken from Johns Hopkins specifically : two semesters
8 credit hours of biology with lab, two semesters 8 credit hours of
general chemistry with lab, two semesters of organic chemistry with lab
8 credit hours , two semesters 8 credit hours of physics with lab ,
calculus and or statistics varies by school , biochemistry varies by
school , social science humanities varies by school . Additionally, a
certain amount of upper level biology courses of your choosing are
often required. Every medical school has a website documenting their
requirements, so check these in advance when organizing your class
schedule and prior to applying.
Another resource to spend some time on is this guide from the
Association of American Medical Colleges AAMC on understanding the
application process. There, you can find a wide variety of topics on
admission officers advice to pre meds, from tips for international
applicants to feedback on social media activity.
By far one of the most important things you can do is to find yourself a
mentor or, really, several . Mentors will give you free and hopefully
good advice.
Note that a pre med advisor will give you advice but is not a mentor.
Additionally, most pre med advisors have never actually applied to
medical school, are not physicians, and might not even give good advice.
That is not to say you shouldn t work with your pre med advisor you
should, and usually have to in order to obtain a pre medical advisory
committee letter that many medical schools require for application but
other mentors are important. The pre med advisor is most helpful for
fleshing out your application timeline and making sure you have the
application requirements MCAT, letters of recommendation, course
prerequisites completed. They often have resources for interview
preparation, professional closets, and application review as well. If your
pre medical advisor does not, check if your college has a more general
career success center with these resources instead.
At minimum, it is good to have two mentors: a more senior physician
attending level and a medical student or resident who has been
through the application process more recently. The process is constantly
evolving in small ways such as how the MCAT is scored, trends in which
courses are required, etc. so having a mentor who went through the
application cycle recently is key. The less experienced mentor will also
have a more empathetic approach to mentorship in many cases since
their own journey through this process was not long ago. The more
senior mentor is more likely to offer large scale advice such as choosing
a specialty, as well as to be able to help connect you within your
community to shadowing, research, or volunteer opportunities.
So if they re so important, then how can one get a mentor? First, make
sure you have a CV or resume ready. We have an example from Dr.
Oliver s pre med CV in Appendix A. There are lots of formats for CVs and
resumes available online and in word processing programs like
Microsoft Word for free.
21
The decision to take a gap year or years can be made anytime
during your undergraduate career. When deciding if a gap year is right
for you, consider your desire to combine pre medical prerequisites with
your college experience, your finances, and readiness for medical school.
Scenarios where a gap year is appropriate include, 1 you do not feel like
you can balance a full course load and studying for the MCAT at the
same time, 2 you did not do extensive clinical or basic science research
in your undergraduate career and want to apply to a medical school that
emphasizes scholarly work, 3 you want to take a year and chill out
before being in school for the rest of your life, and you go to work at a
museum as a tour guide, 4 you need the extra year to create a financial
plan to pay for the costs during the application process, 5 you have
family obligations marriage, pregnancy, kids, parents that require your
attention at the present time. These reasons are varied, and all are valid.
If you ve already completed all of your pre requisite classes, but like
the idea of continuing to learn more and stay in this academic setting,
this may be a great option. This can also be helpful if you feel that your
undergraduate GPA is a weak point in your application and want to show
that you are capable of performing well in higher level courses. Earning
your Master s degree can also allow you to pursue a different interest and
provide a unique perspective in your medical training, something that
can add to the diversity of a medical school class and should be
highlighted in the interview. Examples of programs that previous
applicants have completed and noted by the participants to be helpful
include public health, social work, nursing, biology, literature, statistics,
population health, global health, psychology, and sociology. That does
not in any way limit you to pursuing those degrees, but they are simply
examples of the academic pursuits of current students that have added
to their ability to publish papers, understand social determinants of
health, or add a more humanistic perspective to the basic sciences.
Gap years are an opportunity to demonstrate your growth to medical
schools. These years should be filled with something meaningful,
whatever meaningful means to you. If you are passionate about clinical
research, go work in a lab. If you are passionate about teaching yoga to
children, teach yoga for a year. Ensure your gap year activities align with
your personal statement, and the way you plan to talk about your
interests during your interviews. For example: I a gh oga fo a ea am
a iona e abo e en ion and n i ion and o ld like o o k in medical
ed ca ion o im o e he a doc o lea n abo n i ion
Application and Entrance: Both have the same general requirements for
admission. Generally, MD schools are known to be slightly more
competitive and have more traditional track students. Though both
programs admit some of the most competitive students in the field, MD
schools are more likely to emphasize GPAs and MCAT scores while DO
schools have a slightly more well rounded student body that has more
students from non traditional backgrounds. The vast majority of both
student bodies are very similar in age and education background, but
DOs tend to have more students who have non science
degrees backgrounds and who have had previous careers.
Matching into your residency and career field: In the past, MDs and DOs
have had their own separate residency match process. Though DOs have
long been able to cross over and match into MD programs, as of 2019,
these two residency match programs have been integrated and all
medical students from any degree program are competing for the same
pool of residency spots. This has leveled out the playing field for these
two philosophies, practically speaking. Historically, all things being
equal, MDs have been more competitive in matching to more prestigious
residencies, such as surgical residencies, but that advantage appears to
be slowly diminishing with time. Osteopathic institutions more often
emphasize matriculation into primary care fields, such Family Medicine
in comparison to MD schools, but both programs fill positions broadly
across all specialties. More, there is a vast population of MDs that match
into primary care medicine and always a large group of DOs that match
into the most prestigious specialties at the best programs in the United
States. There are still some residency programs that continue to refuse
DOs entrance, but those are becoming less common as DOs demonstrate
their capability in medicine and stigma surrounding less traditional
training paths fades.
For the interview, remember not everyone there cares about the practice
of OMT or osteopathic principles. Many of the interviewees are
biochemists, physiologists, pulmonologists, etc. that could not care less
about osteopathy just like they could not care less about surgery. This is
true of any interview, where it is important not to emphasize a passion
for something that isn t actually an area of focus for that program,
because it suggests it may not be a great fit for your goals.
In the end, our best advice is to go to a place that you feel a connection to
and you feel accepted for who you are. Find somewhere that will support
you through four of the most difficult years of your life and will help you
retain your empathy and humanity at the end of the grueling process.
If you are a first or second year undergraduate student who is already
certain about attending medical school, many medical schools offer an
Early Assurance Program EAP for conditional early acceptance. Unlike
accelerated BS MD or BS DO 7 year programs which require
applications prior to starting college an EAP allows students to
complete the first one or two years of college courses at an accredited
U.S. College or University before applying to medical school, earlier than
the traditional application cycle after the third year. Depending on the
school, the EAP may or may not be an accelerated program.
To be considered as an EAP candidate, you will need to excel
academically in these courses and will typically need to complete at
least five pre medical courses by the end of your second year. As with all
medical school applications, you will also need to provide a personal
statement, supplementary essays, letters of recommendation, and
details about your extracurricular activities to demonstrate your
commitment to a career in medicine. In some cases, the MCAT exam is
waived for EAP applicants. However, you may be asked to provide high
school transcripts of AP credits or SAT ACT scores in addition to your
college GPA. Additionally, you may require nomination or approval from
a pre medical advisor. Offers of admission are ultimately decided upon
after an in person interview, just as with the standard application
process.
The advantage of applying through EAP is that you have some time as
an undergraduate student to take courses and gain experiences in
research or healthcare before committing to pursuing medical school.
You are also often freed from the pressures of the MCAT exam and
having to apply to multiple schools at once as you normally would be
doing if you were to apply as a junior or beyond. If you are admitted at
this stage, you also then have more freedom to explore advanced courses
related to your personal interests alongside any remaining prerequisite
courses for the remainder of your time as an undergraduate student. The
cons of applying through EAP are largely related to the pressures of
achieving highly during your first years of college.
Contact your pre medical advisor or the admissions team for the
school s you are considering applying to, since requirements vary
widely. Most schools only allow students from their own affiliated
institution or select linked colleges to apply. However, a handful of
schools allow students from any institution to apply for their EAP.
Finally, acceptance to medical school through an EAP may be a binding
agreement. If it is a non binding agreement, you are free to choose not to
commit by your senior year should you change your mind and this will
not impact your applications should you then decide to apply through
the standard application process at a later date. However, some of them
are binding and making this commitment early will prevent you from
being able to accept admission to a different medical school.
1. Through EDP you can apply to only one EDP participating U.S.
medical school, AMCAS or non AMCAS, by the stated deadline
usually August 1st . Check with your chosen school s admissions
office to confirm participation since many schools do not offer this
option and verify if you need prior approval to submit through EDP.
2. You must not apply through EDP if you have already applied to any
other U.S medical school for the current entering class. You cannot
apply to any other school AMCAS or non AMCAS until you receive
an admissions decision from the school you have chosen to apply to
through EDP.
3. You must attend the school you have applied to via EDP if you are
offered acceptance and follow the individual school s policies. This
may include submitting official transcripts for classes yet to be
completed prior to matriculation following a conditional acceptance.
If you are not accepted through EDP, you can apply to other programs.
Many schools automatically place applicants not selected for admission
through EDP in the regular admissions pool, and so you may ultimately
be admitted by your top choice school even after receiving a rejection
during EDP. However, not all programs will automatically roll over
applications from EDP, so be sure to consult with your institution.
Dual degrees open many opportunities, but make sure these are the
right opportunities for YOU! The next few sections have information
about some dual degree pathways, but be aware that these are not the
only options, so do your research.
A physician scientist is someone who bridges the worlds of academic
research and clinical practice; their research could be in the basic
sciences, translational applications, clinical trials research, medical
device design, epidemiology, or other fields like public health or history
of medicine. After training, one s career might be 100 research or 100
clinical practice or somewhere in between.
One way to train as a physician scientist is to join a medical scientist
training program MSTP . These are programs that operate under a
training grant T32 from NIGMS National Institute of Health to support
students. The recognized MSTPs are listed here. There are also MD PhD
and DO PhD programs that are not funded by the NIGMS. However,
training through an MSTP or MD PhD Program is not the only way to be
a physician scientist, as you can do research in medical school, join a
research track residency some of which will allow you to simultaneously
get a PhD , and or to participate in research as a fellow and attending.
For the primary application you will be required to submit the usual
personal statement and two additional essays for MD PhD programs.
One essay focuses on why you want to be a physician scientist 3,000
characters , while the other gives space 10,000 characters for you to
elaborate on your significant research experience s . Use these essays as
opportunities to highlight how you have prepared for a career in
research and what you envision for yourself down the line. For more
information, refer to the AMCAS guide to applying to MD PhD
programs.
Interviews for MD PhD programs can vary widely: MD PhD interview
day can be completely separate from the MD day s or you may
participate in an integrated interview day with MD and MD PhD
candidates. Either way, they almost always last just one day. Be sure to
pay attention to the format listed on the program s website or in their
communications to you. The MD PhD interviews can take the form as
informational interviews with faculty, an interview with someone on
the admissions committee or program director, a group interview with a
subset or full admissions committee present. The MD interview may
also vary in makeup. Interview days are long and taxing be sure to
dress comfortably, prepare, and enjoy yourself! See the the section
starting for more details.
Please note that many programs will ask about your ideal goals for
how you plan to split your research and clinical time. 50 50 is not a
viable answer. MD PhD programs often want to hear that you want to
do 70 research, 30 clinical even though in reality, that is not what
happens with the majority of their graduates .
Early contact with a DO PhD program director will clarify the specific
applications process for your school of interest. You will likely first
apply to the DO program and indicate on the application that you
would like to pursue the dual degree. Most graduate programs are
willing to accept the MCAT in place of the GRE for dual degree
applicants, however, be sure to ask about this requirement in advance.
While some DO programs still emphasize community medicine, as a
PhD candidate you may indicate interest in a more specific, often
research related, clinical interest. Maintaining this specialized clinical
focus as a physician scientist facilitates a more targeted research
trajectory. You will probably find out whether you are accepted to the
DO school well before the application deadline for the associated
graduate program, giving you plenty of time to prepare for this part of
the application process.
The interview process for DO PhD programs will look much like those
for MD PhD programs. You will be asked many of the same questions
listed previously in this guide, however you will likely also be asked why
you chose DO PhD vs MD PhD. Be prepared to explain the value you
think that osteopathic training will bring you as a physician and as a
scientist.
When applying to MD PhD programs, the AMCAS application
requires two additional essays: the MD PhD essay and the research
statement. Their content will overlap of course if you re applying to
pursue a physician scientist career path, but take full advantage of the
opportunity you have to allow each essay to say something unique about
you as an applicant.
The research statement is fairly straightforward: describe your
experience, how it has informed your decision to continue doing
research, and why you need the MD PhD program s training to continue
to do research the way you hope to do. After all, lots of physicians do
research without the PhD. Why do you want it? The essay content can
really begin to blur when you start writing your personal comment and
your MD PhD essay. The exact wording on the application points out a
distinction in their respective purpose by saying the personal
comments essay is an opportunity to distinguish yourself while the
MD PhD essay is space to state your reasons for pursuing the
combined...degree. In the AMCAS instructions you will also notice that
these essays are of different lengths: with the personal comments
section having 5300 characters and the MD PhD essay being limited to
3000 characters. Therefore, it is critical to use these word counts to your
advantage. Now, we won t give you an exact formula about what to write,
because of course that is up to you, but here are some tips to consider.
The personal comments essay will be read by both the medical school
admissions committee and the MD PhD committee. Spend time
illustrating a side of yourself that is not already apparent in the rest of
your application. You might want to avoid talking too much about
research here, since you will get more detailed in the MD PhD essay. If
you bring up your research, tie it back to your motivations to become a
physician. You need to convince the committee that the medical
training is important for you, which is why you did not apply for a PhD
only. You are more than your research and will also shine as a future
physician, and this generous word count is the place to go into detail
about that.
On the other hand, the MD PhD essay is close to half the length of the
personal comments essay. This means that your approach should be very
targeted in what you write with those 3000 characters. Again, leave the
details of your research experiences for the research essay, because the
MD PhD essay is where you will now show them why they should want
you as a future physician scientist. This essay is going to be more
important to the MD PhD program committee than it will be for the MD
side; we recommend that you imagine yourself talking directly to them.
Be sure to address clearly how you think completing both the medical
and scientific training aligns with your goals for the future. This could be
about what field you see yourself working in, the way that you will
incorporate findings and observations from your patients into research
questions in the lab, or even how it could better prepare you as a future
clinician educator. It s OK if you don t have concrete examples yet of how
you think your career will play out honestly, no one really does , but be
open about your curiosities and where your medical and research
interests intersect. Really explain why you require the combined
experience of a program rather than doing an MD and PhD separately.
You can even bring up examples from your scientific and non scientific
life that have given you insight into how you, as an individual, want to be
spending your time. Completing an MD PhD program is a long and
rigorous choice, so be sure to convince them that you are all in for this
training.
Applicants on average apply to 15 20 medical schools. If you are a
highly competitive applicant you may be able to apply to fewer and still
maintain a good chance of acceptance. If you are less competitive, you
may have to apply to more. Pre med advisors and mentors will be able to
guide you in how many schools to apply to based on your specific
application, but expect to apply to at least 15. A valuable but unofficial
tool is a template created by Student Doctor Network user WedgeDawg.
It uses your academic and testing statistics, research experience,
extracurriculars, teaching experience, and other metrics to
comprehensively recommend how many schools you should apply to. It
also breaks down the plethora of schools into categories. For example,
osteopathic medical schools fall under one category, allopathic schools
are broken down by competitiveness into their own categories, and your
state schools are in another. Be mindful that the results of this
calculator are inexact and unofficial, so don t let it be the only resource
you use!
An important factor in deciding which medical schools to apply to is
state residency. State schools accept a majority of their classes from in
state candidates, which gives you an advantage in the application
process. State schools also have lower tuition for in state residents.
While most osteopathic schools are not state institutions, many do take
residency into account to them, it seems more likely that you want to
attend school close to where you grew up or have family, so many
programs will have a section for out of state applicants to describe what
ties they have to the state.
Don t discount proximity to family and friends when deciding where
to apply. Medical school is stressful as is, and being far from your social
support network may be difficult. Additionally, if you have a special
interest, it is worth pondering if a certain school would enable you to
pursue that interest. It may behoove you to be closer to a city, or in a
more rural environment, depending on any special interests you may
have.
Next you should examine your competitiveness as an applicant to
your schools of interest. You should review the median GPA and MCAT
scores of matriculated students at the schools you are considering and
see how you compare to them. For allopathic schools, a reliable source
for this information is the Medical School Admission Requirements
MSAR website which provides a comprehensive listing of U.S. and
Canadian medical schools with each school s profile showing specific
admissions requirements along with their applicant and accepted
student data. This is a free tool, but the free version has limitations. For a
fully comprehensive look at schools requirements, there is a paid
version. Before you pay, ask your university s premedical or career office
if they have purchased a copy for students to use. For osteopathic
medical schools, the ChooseDO Explorer tool can be a great way to
determine where your statistics lie relative to students at a given school.
This tool is free, and comparable to the MSAR all you need to provide is
your email address, first and last name, state, and when you plan to start
medical school. You can also take advantage of the career fairs organized
by the AAMC a few times per year to talk to the admissions officers of
MD programs.
Cost should also be a factor in deciding where to apply. As stated
above, in state tuition will provide significant cost savings over out of
state or private schools. Also look into availability of financial aid and
scholarships. Some people may try to dissuade you from considering
cost at the application stage you ll be a doctor, you ll pay it off! but
student loan debt is a significant burden on physicians that may affect
your future lifestyle, specialty choice, and job choice, so you should at
least think about it. Most osteopathic medical schools are private
institutions, and therefore do not offer in state tuition. Further, the
application to each school involves a primary application fee, a
secondary fee, and further fees if you receive an interview. It is
imperative to look at your application critically, as it would be a waste of
money applying to too many schools beyond your target range. A few
reach schools are reasonable, but an entire application cycle of reach
schools is not.
Some other factors to consider in choosing which schools to apply to:
How do you learn best? Lecture format versus small group learning? Will
you be happy having to attend mandatory lectures? Do you want strong
research opportunities? Are you interested in a focus on primary care?
Just be honest about your interests if asked. Other elements to compare
are religious affiliation, a school s mission or values, and affiliations
with hospital systems or other programs.
There are many reasons that students choose to apply to DO programs
over MD: some apply because the GPA and MCAT requirements are
sometimes lower. Some apply because they want to learn about
Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine. Some apply because it is the
closest school to their home. Still others apply because they like the
philosophy that Osteopathic schools often proclaim and embody:
holistic patient care. Whatever the reason for applying, there is more to
choosing a DO school than simply applying.
When you are selecting which DO schools you will apply to, all of the
usual considerations apply. Make sure you are applying to programs that
will fit your needs for example if you would like to focus on rural
medicine then the school must offer rural medicine rotations in
locations you would want to live. Make sure you also consider the
tuition amount of each DO school. DO schools are private and, therefore,
tend to be more expensive for both in state and out of state students.
Cost is an important consideration for many medical students, and
students should look at the price carefully before selecting a school since
debt affects future lifestyle and specialty choice for many students.
Students must also consider the reputation of the DO school. There
are many schools with long standing reputations which are well
respected. However, there are also many new DO schools that have
opened up in response to the physician shortage. While these schools
might very well be excellent, they are not yet tested and some have yet
to even be accredited . Be cautious, because these schools will not have a
reputation among residencies and their curriculums are new. It is
harder to tell if the school will be successful long term without a record
to fall back on. It isn t just word of mouth popularity that we are
referring to here; the concrete measures of success you can look for are
board exam pass rates and percentages of their fourth year students that
successfully match into residency If those numbers are not available or
are significantly lower than those for other schools you are applying to,
this need not be an automatic dealbreaker, but it is worth thinking
about and is widely used as a red flag
In addition to new schools opening, many existing schools are
opening satellite campuses Be sure you understand what is the
relationship between these two campuses and how content will be
delivered Every student has a different learning style, and content
delivery between campuses will vary from school to school Some of the
ways will be conducive to certain learning styles, but some will not be
Be wary of this fact and make sure to inquire about content delivery
during your interview For example, some schools with satellite
campuses only have in person lecturers at the main campus, and the
students at the satellite campus teleconference into that lecture, and
this might be something you would hate
DO schools are historically thought of as focused on primary care
education However, that is no longer always the case Investigate what
opportunities each school has relative to the specialty that interests you,
but be aware that most people change their mind about their intended
specialty at least once Make sure to also ask questions during the
interview about the school and what their priorities are You want to
end up somewhere that can support your chosen career For example, if
you are interested in a traditionally competitive specialty, make sure the
school supports your taking both the COMLEX and USMLE Also,
recognize that schools with two campuses might have different
priorities on different campuses, such as a rural focus on the rural area
campus Take this into account when applying
Finally, take a moment to read each DO school s mission statement
Make sure your values align with this statement DO schools will expect
you to answer interview questions about why you chose their institution
and what you like about the Osteopathic philosophy Make sure you can
answer those questions confidently and honestly
Use the Student Doctor Network medical school application cost
calculator to estimate how much the application process will cost,
including MCAT test preparation and interview travel Take it now to
familiarize yourself with some of the fees, and then come back to it when
you are more certain of the services you will utilize and schools you are
interested in Furthermore, get familiar with the AAMC fee assistance
program to see if you qualify At some point, however, debt will be
accumulated with medical school tuition, so you will have to consider
how much debt and risk you are willing to take on and how early
Also, be informed about being in control of your finances and having a
financial plan early on part of that plan is having debt There are many
resources online for managing debt after medical school, but it is
important to at least know in advance of applying that this is a very
expensive path to take However, part of our goal in creating this guide is
to make the application process more accessible and successful for
people from all backgrounds
75
Fig e G ade Poin A e age GPA acco ding o AAMC
There are variety of courses, tutors, and book series that exist for
medical school applicants, but they are by no means necessary for your
success on the MCAT The cost is prohibitive to many students, but
there are high quality, affordable materials out there Contact your pre
medical advisors, your local library, students at your college who have
already taken the MCAT, or your school s career success center to see if
anyone has test prep books available to borrow, or even for sale at a
reduced price Khan Academy has also made a series of free videos
covering relevant tested material in partnership with the AAMC
The tests are held at private testing centers, so your experience at any
testing center will be different To be sure of what to expect, you can call
the center ahead of time and ask about their procedures and setup,
and or speak to any classmates or friends who tested there recently
Most testing centers will have lockers for you to place your belongings
including your cell phone switched off, any snacks or lunch, water, etc
You won t be able to drink water or snack while in the exam room
The testing room will have rows of desktop computers where you will
take the test There will always be a surface given for you to write scratch
work on Sometimes it is a pencil and scratch paper, and other times it
may be an erasable whiteboard and marker Many centers also provide
noise cancellating headphones at every station, as well as audio
headphones for any audio connected to test questions
Every time you enter the testing room, you will have to show
government issued ID like a driver s license and provide a signature
Proctors may use a metal detector to scan you prior to entrance, and
check your pockets Test takers wearing their hair in certain styles such
as large buns or dreadlocks may also have their hair patted
Depending on your test location, proctors may be strict about sitting
at your test station upright with both feet placed on the floor Consider
practicing sitting this way during all of your MCAT practice to get into
the habit and avoid any potential interruptions during your exam by
persnickety proctors
You should receive your score around four weeks after taking the test
Make sure to save a copy of your official score report you will be asked for
it even after you finish medical school
Your MCAT score is only one of a multitude of factors being assessed
Keep in mind that it is only one part of your application Even the best
schools admit students with a large range of MCAT scores There is a
growing body of work demonstrating the inaccuracies of trying to identify
quality future physicians with this exam, particularly when those future
physicians come from underprivileged and or underrepresented
backgrounds
If you want to compare your score to that of current students at schools
you wish to apply to, many schools will list the MCAT scores of their
previous incoming class For example, the 2017 incoming class at UCLA
had the following MCAT statistics Source :
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Many universities, research institutes, governmental research entities,
or biotech pharmaceutical companies may offer summer research
programs. These programs are designed to provide undergraduate
students and or post baccalaureates with exposure to research. Most of
these programs will focus on biomedical or bench wet lab research, but
some may provide opportunities for clinical or social sciences research as
well. Programs hosted by universities are usually competitive, with
applications open to undergraduate students from any institution.
Generally, these programs range from eight to twelve weeks in length.
Many are paid opportunities! Often these programs may provide a small
stipend typically 3000 5000 , and some include room board as well.
However, the length, financial incentives, and housing situations vary
between programs, so be sure to check this out as you are applying to or
choosing a program. It is not unusual that these financial factors would
have a significant role in your deciding how you spend your time off from
school, but we hope that this guide can help you spend time in a fun,
resume building way that doesn t assume you can afford to support
yourself for months with no income.
Wh con ide a mme e ea ch p og am
Summer research programs can be a great way to gain exposure to
research not otherwise available at a student s home institution. For
some students, this might spark a long term interest in biomedical
research or confirm whether or not a research heavy track e.g.
MSTP,MD PhD, DO PhD is right for them. For example, a student who
has not previously been involved in research may choose to partake in a
summer research program to get their feet wet and try out a research
experience before seeking a longer term research experience during the
school year. Students uncertain about the role research will play in their
future medical careers might use summer research programs to better
assess their interest in research. Additionally, with many medical
schools informally requiring research as a part of the application
screening metrics, it is helpful to have an example of research to discuss
in your application and in interviews.
Similarly, for a student with prior research experience, a summer
research program can provide exposure to a different research group or
environment than their current or previous experiences. Importantly,
summer research programs can provide research experiences for
students enrolled as undergraduates at institutions with limited or
minimal research opportunities. When hosted by a governmental
research institute e.g. National Institutes of Health or Centers for
Disease Control or a pharmaceutical biotech company, a summer
research program can provide students with exposure to careers in
medicine and biomedical sciences outside the traditional academic or
private practice routes.
Summer research programs can also be a great time to try out a new
city or get the feel of a different type of university as you prepare to
decide where to go for medical school. Being comfortable and happy in
your environment can be vital to supporting your mental, emotional, and
physical health during the challenging times of medical school, so
summer research programs can be a great, short term way to learn
whether you can thrive in a large city vs. a smaller town, far from or near
to your family, at a small college vs. a large institution hospital network,
in a mild climate or changing seasons, etc. before you make a longer
commitment to spending your medical school years there!
Summer research programs can also be a great time and opportunity
for networking. These programs often provide ample exposure to faculty
at the host institution, and you can take this opportunity to get to know
these faculty, identify mentors, and make connections at schools you are
interested in applying to for medical school. The faculty you get to know
through summer research programs may often be able to provide advice
for you as you go through the application process, and you could also ask
them for letters of recommendation when you have a good experience in
a program or strong relationship with a certain faculty person!
Participation in a summer research experience can open doors to
other application boosting opportunities including clinical exposure,
presentation opportunities, and publications. Programs targeting those
interested in physician scientist training these are typically branded as
pre MSTP will often build in weekly clinical shadowing experiences into
the schedule. The student may shadow their research supervisor in the
clinic and have the chance to get to know patients with the disease they
are spending the summer studying, or the student may get to rotate
through multiple specialties. This depends on the program. Many
summer research programs hold a poster symposium at the end of the
program, allowing all participants to gain experience presenting their
research. Some participants even generate enough data to submit
abstracts of their work to national meetings, including undergraduate
targeted meetings such as the National Conference for Undergraduate
Research or professional, field specific meetings. Other participants may
even earn authorship on the publication. If earning authorship during a
summer research program is an individual s primary goal, the student
should make the research mentor aware of this early to increase the
likelihood of contributing to an established project more likely to be
published. Not only can you list participation in a competitive summer
research program on your application, but you may also end up including
the significant clinical shadowing experience, your oral or poster
presentations at national meetings, your supporting authorship on a
published manuscript, and a letter of recommendation from your
summer research mentor. Now that s a lot of bang for your buck!
Authors Carey Jansen and Jacelyn Peabody Lever, current MD PhD
students, included their participation in summer research programs as
one of their 3 most meaningful experiences on their applications to
medical school. Carey participated in the WFIRM Summer Scholars
Program as the Kiersten J Sump Fellow, and Jacelyn attended the UMN
Pre MSTP Summer Research Program.
The excerpts from their applications below show how one may leverage
this type of experience on a medical school or MD PhD application:
Carey Jansen s AMCAS entry about the WFIRM Summer Scholars
Program as the Kiersten J Sump Fellow:
Experience description: Under the mentorship of Dr. Christ, I
worked to stimulate regeneration of skeletal muscle to combat
volumetric muscle loss. The project uses a rodent model with
keratin hydrogel delivery systems. Relevant skills included
microtomy, cryotomy, immunohistochemistry, histology,
microscopy, aseptic technique, rodent surgery, rodent pre and
post operative care, functional testing evaluation through
electrostimulation , rodent euthanasia, and tissue explant.
IACUC AALAS training was completed. After 10 weeks, I
presented my work orally and in poster form. Additionally, my
work has contributed to abstracts presented at NCTERMS Oct
2013 , Society for Biomaterials Apr 2014 , and BMES Oct
2014 .Most meaningful experience remarks: My experience at
WFIRM was profoundly transformative. At the conclusion of
the summer, I had the incredible opportunity to meet the
mother of the young girl in whose memory my fellowship was
named. She was a source of great encouragement and wisdom. I
learned that her daughter, who had suffered from a congenital
heart condition, had aspired to be a cardiologist so that she
could fix her grandfather's ailing heart. Her mother told me
that she saw the same qualities in me that stirred the
establishment of the fellowship: the recognition that the
absence of symptoms does not constitute a cure and that
anyone can change the world. My time with her left a lasting
impact. I will not forget her wisdom and insight that
investment in research represents hope for the Kierstens of the
future. Coupling my summer of deeply engaged translational
research with Kiersten's spirit, I am renewed in my
commitment to the critical importance of biomedical research
and renewed in my dedication to serving through both science
and medicine as a physician scientist.
Jacelyn Peabody Lever s AMCAS entry for the UMN Pre MSTP Summer
Research Program:
Experience description: Investigated immunomodulation of
agmatine on macrophages in a Cystic Fibrosis CF
microbiology lab. Identified agmatine binding receptors on
macrophages to help elucidate how agmatine hypersecreting
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is interacting with the CF patient's
immune system. Discovered that agmatine induces lung
inflammation through 2 adrenoreceptors via intratracheal
injections into NFB reporter mice. Conduced ELISA on
agmatine stimulated macrophage supernatants to show role for
2 adrenoreceptors in agmatine response. Quantified 2
adrenoreceptor and 5HT 2C serotonin receptor expression
levels on macrophages following stimulation with varying
levels of LPS and agmatine via western blotting."
Most meaningful experience remarks: After realizing a passion
for the scientific process following my first research experience
studying phage, I became interested in pursuing a more
translational project. When I chose a small liberal arts college, I
was not interested in biomedical research, so I did not see the
limited biomedical research opportunities as an issue upon my
enrollment. However, after conducting basic science, bench
research for a year and falling in love with the process of
discovery, I knew that a summer research internship in
translational medicine would be beneficial to elucidating my
planned career trajectory. Working in the laboratory of a
physician scientist and shadowing him in his CF clinic, I
observed how perfectly the lab and clinic
complemented each other. My PI s research questions were
inspired by observations in the clinic and his practice was
improved by science. From this experience, I cemented my
dream to pursue academic medicine and have a career that
balances patient care, research, and teaching. I presented my
research at the All Campus Poster Session at University of
Minnesota, Midstates Consortium at Washington University,
St. Louis, the National Conference on Undergraduate Research
at University of Kentucky, Posters on the Hill in Washington
DC, and Celebration of Scholars at Carthage College. I was also
awarded the 2014 Intern of the Year.
The AAMC notes that this is a chance to answer questions like Why
have you selected the field of medicine? What motivates you to learn
more about medicine? What do you want medical schools to know about
you that hasn t been disclosed in other sections of the application? This
is not the time to give a summary of your resume that s what the other
sections are for. In addition, you may wish to include information such
as: unique hardships, challenges, or obstacles that may have influenced
your educational pursuits and comments on significant fluctuations in
your academic record that are not explained elsewhere in your
application
Many applicants find it helpful to anchor their personal comments
around a salient experience, narrative, or theme and describe life events
that have prepared them to be a future physician. Remember that the
personal comment is fair game during interviews, so be ready to talk
openly about the topic s you choose to include. If you don t have any
heroic stories about medicine, don t worry, you don t have to. Some
applicants try so hard to have a cool story to tell that they blow things
out of proportion and seem disingenuous. Honesty and personality are
key here, not dramatic narratives worthy of an episode of G e Ana om
Many topics in medicine can elicit strong feelings in ourselves and
others, and there are two very different schools of thought on how to
approach such topics in your personal statement and or interviews.
This part requires a caveat if your opinion would be controversial
because it entails denying anyone medical care they want for any
reason other than it goes against prevailing medical science: the rest of
this section does not apply to you. You should keep this to yourself
while you reevaluate the morality of this opinion.
On the one hand, the case could be made that any program that
would not accept you because of your views on abortion, for example,
is not a program you would want to be a part of. It can be exhausting to
be surrounded by people who don t share your values, and for many of
us, our values are powerfully incorporated into our individual identity.
To hide any element of that can feel like a betrayal of those values.
However, it can also be argued that it is more important to get
accepted than it is to shout all of your views from the metaphorical
mountaintops. You can t go be the amazing doctor you re meant to be
with these values and bring them into the field if you don t get
accepted into medical school, so some believe it is arguably not worth
it to miss out on that even if it requires silencing yourself to an extent.
Ultimately, we are not here to judge you for the way you prioritize
representing your beliefs in this process, and there is no single right
answer we can bring you. You will simply have to weigh how
important it is to you to represent everything regardless of any
professional blowback you might face.
Don t write it all at once give yourself time to think through all
the topics you could write about, and don t procrastinate
starting
Write about your passions: what makes you unique? Where do
you see yourself in your future career? How have your
experiences informed who you are and prepared you to be a
doctor?
Make a few different drafts: you may have to try different
strategies to write about the same topic use anecdotes, try
different examples
Trust your gut: ultimately this is what you want to say about
yourself, so stay true to that
It s ok to write about something emotional: it can be a good idea
to be vulnerable and show how this plays into your desire to
become a physician. Tread carefully between telling your
authentic story and seeming melodramatic, or implying
anything problematic.
Be careful with what an anecdote might communicate about
you, and that it isn t overly cliche. It s awesome that the kind
emergency medicine doctor who helped your grandma after she
fell made you first interested in medicine, but unfortunately
things like that have become so common that admissions
committee members joke about that type of story. Further, be
wary of making a narrative sound more impressive than it
actually was. If you spend ⅔ of your personal statement talking
about how impactful it was to work with blind orphans in
Guatemala, it would be concerning for the admissions
committee to then see you were only there for a three day
mission trip because you likely didn t actually do very much in
such a short time and it makes it seem that you re really having
to stretch the truth to sound interested in medicine.
Find some people in your life who know you to get some eyes on your
draft. Emphasize what you want them to focus on, because some people
will be better at telling you if your draft sounds like you, and others are
better at editing for spelling/grammar/flow. It is ok to go through several
drafts! You want to show the best of yourself, and it is very difficult to do
that in one try. Write something, and then give yourself a few days
without looking at the draft before you go yourself and read it again with
fresh eyes. You may also want to keep sentences or anecdotes that you
decide to not use for your personal statement in a separate document
because it might be better for your secondaries, or for interviews.
Timeline
Communicating with schools: when, why, how
Secondary applications
A B ief O e ie f he AMCAS ACOMAS A lica i Ti eli e
105
Here is an example of an Excel spreadsheet to organize schools from
author Carina Seah:
The number one mistake that students make is not sending their
applications in a timely manner. Your primary application materials
should be ready before the submission date opens. We strongly
recommend you submit everything the day the primary application
opens, or at least within the first two weeks of the application opening.
Once interview invitation slots are filled, they’re filled, and you don’t
want to not get one just because your application was too late for them
to see how great you are.
106
The admissions staff exists not only to select the next M1 class from
among applicants, but also to help people become applicants. If you
have an ad i i ela ed question that you can’t find the answer to
on the school’s website or in any emails or documents they have sent
you as part of your application, reach on out. If the question isn’t
admissions-related, it can wait until interview day.
10
A secondary application is a second application that is offered by
schools that have decided to evaluate your candidacy further. Note that
these vary across schools--some will just ask for some clarifying
information, while many will expect several additional short essays. It
can be daunting to complete these, because they typically come around
the same time and require quite a bit of writing; but there are ways for
you to prepare yourself in advance for success!
Work smarter, not harder: try to group the essays into “themes”
(example of failure, example of teamwork, diversity/working with
someone different than you, why are you interested in this school)
and then be strategic in identifying where there is overlap between
applications. One way is to write the shortest essay about a
particular topic first, and then use this as a starting point for
drafting longer versions for applications that allow you more
characters/words.
Picking what to write about: In advance, come up with a list of
anecdotes or topics that you can write about for your own
experiences (this will also be useful for interviews). You don’t want
to be redundant with your personal statement because this is an
opportunity to show something new about yourself.
Be creative: Look around for some inspiration for examples of traits
that you may not have thought of initially. Check the AAMC Core
Competencies, ask your mom, ask someone who worked with you
on that volunteer project you did. With the amount of work most
pre-meds have done before applying, it’s easy for things to blur
together!
10
Stick to the limit: Keep the word/character limit in mind as you
are writing so that you don’t have to spend a lot of time cutting
out words just to get back under the limit. Use the limit as a
way of determining how much detail you can go into and what
information you should prioritize.
Consider pre-writing your essays: you can find the prompts for
some schools online which can make it easier to start planning
what you might be writing about. Start brainstorming, writing
outlines, finding overlap between applications and then start
writing! Remember there is often a lag between submitting
your primary and receiving a secondary application so use this
time efficiently. Even if the topic ends up not being the same to
a previous year, you can probably still end up using what you
wrote for another school’s application or for interviews.
10
Other considerations:
There is a cost associated with secondary applications, so you
will have to plan accordingly (some schools do offer fee waivers
in specific circumstances)
Typically you will be copying and pasting your essay into an
answer box, so double check your formatting and spacing
Check each school’s application website for details about when
they send out secondary applications and when their final
application deadlines are
Stay organized--this will help you set goals and priorities to
stay on track. Try using a spreadsheet to track your status for
each school:
School Name
Primary Submitted
Secondary Received
Secondary Topics and limits
Secondary drafted
Secondary submitted
Interview Offer
Follow-up Correspondence
Outcome
110
Interview Day: MD, DO, MD PhD
Making the most of informal sessions
Advice for interviews with current students
Interview red flags
Interviewing on a budget
Post interview correspondence
Many schools still use the traditional interview format. In this
format, candidates sit with admissions team members and speak about
their experiences and goals in a small setting. The person interviewing
you could be a practicing physician, a professor, a researcher, or a
medical student. The traditional interview typically lasts a 30 minutes
to one hour.
The content of these interviews can vary significantly, but be
prepared to tell your story: why do you want to be a doctor? What
inspires you? What future do you envision for yourself? Some may ask
about challenges in healthcare. They do not expect you to have an
MPH, but they may expect that you have some thoughts on challenges
such as caring for un or under insured patients, diminishing
reimbursements to physicians, the burnout epidemic, etc. Still others
ask questions such as these, or some other unexpected question to see
how you react to things you weren t able to prepare your script for.
You should be able to talk about what specialty you might be thinking
about, if there is one. No one expects you to stick to that, but it shows
you have at least thought about it. If you have done research, be
prepared to talk about it succinctly and coherently. If you cannot, that
will be a red flag suggesting you weren t actually really involved in the
work. Some interviewers will ask questions about life, and may ask
about your biggest personal challenges and successes. Do not shy away
from talking about important, meaningful experiences you have had; a
superficial response may be read as you having lack of insight or
maturity. Even if you made a huge mistake or encountered a major
obstacle in your path, showing how you overcame that and learned
from it shows your ability to manage adversity and can impress the
interviewer. In many cases, the interviewers are the ones you represent
who you are as a person to the admissions committee. You want to give
112
that person the tools he or she needs to be an advocate for you.
Some schools use blinded interviews, in which case the interviewer
may know nothing about you besides what you tell them during the
interview. Even when schools do not use blinded reviewers, sometimes
interviewers have not had a chance to fully review your file. That means
you need to be able to summarize your whole application in a very brief
statement. If you think through that in advance, you won t be stunned
when the person gives you the dreaded Tell me about yourself. A great
response to that question includes some personal information, such as
where you grew up and where you live now, as well as what you
consider to be the most important, relevant details of your application.
The latter might be any organizations you have worked with,
meaningful work you have done, impact you have made on others, etc.
In addition to knowing the ins and outs of your application, be
prepared to speak about the things that make you unique outside of
academics and the experiences listed in AMCAS. Interviewers often
want to get to know you as a person, not just as a future medical
student. What are your hobbies? What do you do with family and
friends? How do you relieve stress? How do you plan to keep
participating in these activities as a medical student? This shows time
management and maturity, as well as makes you a more personable
applicant. We so often forget that we are a whole person, not a robot
boxed into the world of medicine, and it s some interviewers top
priority to get to the root of who you are.
Most interviewers will give you an opportunity to ask questions. Be
prepared for this, and reserve questions for later in the day. These
questions show that you have thought about the school and any
opportunities or challenges you foresee there. If you know who your
interviewers are in advance, you can use this opportunity to ask
questions about their ideas or careers. If you can look up the
interviewers in advance and prepare two or three questions for each,
you will be able to fill the time and also show interest.
113
Here are some common interview questions you will want to prepare
for:
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced so far?
Tell me about yourself.
What are you most proud of?
Why do you want to be a doctor?
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing physicians
today?
Tell me about your research/clinical exposure/other broad
categories of activities.
What is your biggest strength?
What is your biggest weakness?
Tell me about a time when you made a mistake.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
How would your friends describe you?
Have you ever disagreed with other people you are working
with? If so, how did you resolve the disagreement?
How will you manage your interests outside of medicine
with a career in medicine?
Are you interested in doing research?
What questions do you have about our institution?
Why would you want to leave wherever you currently
live ?
If your best friend described you in three words, what
would they be?
You ve shadowed a number of physicians. What are traits
you saw in these physicians that you would like to emulate
in your future career? What are things you saw that you
wouldn t want to do?
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Some interviewers may ask inappropriate indeed, illegal questions
about your plans to have a family. You do not need to answer those
questions, and you may want to consider whether you want to go to a
school where people ask those questions. How you handle the question
will depend on your comfort, but you can always say something like, I
intend to focus on learning as much as I possibly can during medical
school, or, I am committed to being the best physician I can possibly
be.
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Keep in mind that different programs have different types of
interviews, and that not every MMI will use all or any of these room
types.
1. Ethical scenario
Sample question A patient comes to you with a terminal disease
wishing to only pursue alternative medical treatments. How would you
counsel the patient?
Here, the admissions committee is looking to see how well you can
think on your feet to consider an ethical issue and approach it from
multiple angles. It is important to understand that there are MANY
answers you can give, and oftentimes there is no "right" answer,
because the point isn t to see if you know the right answer.They want
to see that you understand the complexity of issues and can
communicate these intricacies well.
In the time allocated for you to read the prompt, take your time to read
it. Two minutes should be more than enough time to go over it slowly
and gather your thoughts. First, figure out if anything is unclear. If you
are confused about the wording of something or feel like you need
additional information, you should absolutely ask the admissions
committee member inside the room. Some questions you might want
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to ask for this sample question are as follows: Has the patient alread
been full educated about the current standard of care or Does the patient
have an religious or cultural beliefs that are informing their desires Not
only will this help clarify the situation for you, it also shows you have
put some thought into the specific information you would need to
approach this question as a doctor.
Next, center your thoughts around a general idea. Here, your idea might
be I ill ensure the patient has been adequatel educated or tr to educate
the patient to m best abilit and after this the ultimate choice is up to
them Now, gather examples or reasons you believe this. Compelling
examples can be drawn from experiences you have had or articles you
have read. One example here may be, While I as shado ing e had to
spend a lot of time educating patients about things the had read on the
internet I found hat as most effective to navigate these discussions as to
be non confrontational never treat the patient like ou kne better than
them and al a s approach it from the perspective of anting the best
outcome for the patient Bringing your personal thoughts and
experiences makes for a much more compelling discussion.
The purpose of this room is to evaluate how well you work in a team,
how you think on your feet, and how effective a communicator you are.
Keep in mind that you can be either the giver, giving instructions in
this room, or the receiver, who receives and must follow the
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instructions. The committee is looking for candidates who are
thoughtful and clear, and can also take into consideration what the
other person needs to be successful. Remember that the goal is NOT to
finish the puzzle. It is better to do a good job slowly and effectively
communicating your way through than to panic and feel like you will
not get done. Oftentimes, the puzzles are not solvable in five minutes,
because again, the point is not to finish the puzzle, but rather to see
how you approach it.
Some tips for this room are to think about being as clear as you possibly
can. What information does the other person need? Make sure you are
constantly checking in with the other person and clarifying. For
example, if you are the giver, asking something like, Can ou describe
hat ou have in front of ou helps give you an idea of where to begin.
As the receiver, saying, Just to clarif that s a straight line to ards the
right so no I have a square helps explain to the giver where you are at.
Providing the big picture is also a good idea, such as We are going to be
dra ing a rabbit or Ne t e ill be dra ing the ears
The last three minutes of the room will be spent talking about your
communication and reflecting on what you could have done better. Try
to think of something you think you did well, something you could have
improved on, and then compliment your partner on one thing they did
well and suggest one thing they could have improved on. This can be
specific, ie, When e dre the heel I think ou could have been more clear
about ho big it should have been or general, like, I appreciated ho ou
gave me the big picture before starting each ne task
3. Actor
Sample Scenario You are a rotating medical student. On your last
rotation, the attending used a racial slur that you felt was
inappropriate. You want to address this with him. He is in the room.
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This room aims to test your communication skills. Inside the room will
be an actor who will play the role indicated in the scenario. You should
expect the actor to respond to what you say. Think about how you
would approach this situation in real life. Put yourself into the scenario
and pretend that the actor is a real person.
4. Rest Station
Most MMIs will have a rest station where you can use the bathroom
and grab a drink of water. Use this time to relax and mentally prepare
for the next station! Once each station has ended, let it be over. Don t
carry worries about what you should ve done differently into the next
room.
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5. Traditional Interview
Some schools will have a traditional interview built into the MMI
rotations. This could be just for one rotation, or take up a double
rotation slot which would be an 18 minute interview . This is
conducted like a regular traditional interview where you are expected
to go over your experiences and your goals with a member of the
admissions team.
6. Writing Prompt
Some schools may also include a writing station. This will include a
prompt at a computer, and the same time alloted for the speaking
interviews. There is not the time to go back and change your mind, so
choose an idea and run with it!
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The first thing you should do is go over some practice questions.
Some resources for this are below. Take some time and go over them. It
may help to write out a list:
1. Things you should consider or questions you have after reading the
scenario
2. The main point you want to get across
3. Personal experiences anecdotes that will help support your answer
to the question
4. Other evidence you can use to help support your answer
5. Other perspectives on the issue
6. After you ve done this for a few questions, try it out verbally. Can you
structure a coherent discussion on this without writing anything
down?
7. Make sure you try this out with a timer. It helps to feel how long two
minutes of brainstorming is, and how long eight minutes of talking is.
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When interviewing for a DO school, recognize that it will be very
similar to MD school interviews. You are interviewing for med school
either way. The interview format will still vary based on the school and
the schedule will be similar to most MD school interviews.
However, there are a few themes that come up in most DO school
interviews.
1. Ethical Critical thinking question: you may be asked a hypothetical
ethical question scenario for a holistic review of the applicant.
However, most schools aren t paying attention to the answer itself
as long as it isn t horrific so much as they are paying attention to
your ability to think through a complex question with no
preparation. They want to know that you can think through a
complex problem in a time sensitive situation, as well as verbalize
your thought process.
2. Question about DO philosophy: most DO schools will ask you why
you applied to a DO school. Make sure to have an answer for this
that is more than just stating I agree with the philosophy and
definitely not anything remotely like Because my GPA was too low
for MD schools. A good tip is to look up the school s mission
statement before the interview and plan to answer relative to this
statement. There is no wrong answer besides an inauthentic
answer.
3. Holistic review: know that DO schools will tend to look at your
whole application rather than just your scores. They will also ask
you about all parts of your application, so be prepared to talk about
all materials that you submitted in your application. To do this,
make sure to review your application beforehand so you remember
what you submitted.
It is important to be prepared for all medical school interviews, but
hopefully, these tips will help you do the extra preparation required for
a DO program.
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Most MD PhD interviews consist of a medical school interview
which could be MMI or a traditional interview with multiple
additional research interviews with researchers structured like a
traditional interview as described above . The interviewer will likely
ask you to describe your research experience and ask in depth
questions about your research. They will also ask you why you want an
MD PhD, rather than just an MD or a PhD. One common question I
was asked that you should consider is that, as an MD PhD, you are
splitting your time between two professions, yet have to compete with
individuals doing one or the other full time. What will you bring to the
table that is unique once you enter the field as a physician scientist?
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xyz and that would help me answer your question because..." You don't have
to have all the answers but you should be able to talk about your
science and show that you can think on your feet.
This interview is also an opportunity to talk to Principal
Investigators PIs about their work, so be sure to look up their recent
papers projects and have a few questions prepared about what they are
currently working on. Background reading is a must with these
interviews. Some PIs will want to have a general conversation about
what they do, while others may have slides of data to show you.
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Current student interviews allow for candidates to get a behind the
scenes look of what a student at the school is like. Student interviews
will generally be more casual, but do not make the mistake that you
shouldn t put your all into the interview. They will typically ask similar
questions to traditional interviews including: what makes you
interested in this institution? Why did you apply to medical school over
any other professional schools? Why are you interested in going to
school in this area? What extracurriculars have you done and how does
it make you a better medical school candidate?. With that in mind, be
mindful about unnecessary embellishments or exaggerations.
Although tempting, student interviewers typically have a better
understanding of the extracurriculars on your application, and have
recently gone through the process. Some schools give these
interviewers access to your AMCAS personal statement and
extracurricular statements, so be prepared to be asked about the
nuances of your application.
Student interviewers also will offer you the opportunity to ask
questions. This is a perfect time to get a better understanding about
student culture, the atmosphere of the institution, etc. Although they
will answer honestly, be aware that these interviewers may share the
content of your questions. Save your most informal questions for the
students who will run your tour join you for lunch. Often the
interviewing student is on clinical rotations where as students who
join tours and meals are in their pre clinical years. Consider this when
deciding what questions to ask which people.
A current student interview is a unique opportunity to allow the
program to learn more about you, while in turn to give you a chance to
learn about their current students. If you discuss your interests,
activites, and passions enthusiastically and genuinely, these
interviewers can be an incredible advocate for your acceptance. Giving
institutions more information about you and all the ways you are
unique is rarely detrimental to your application!
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While we of course hope that everything will run smoothly on your
interview day, sometimes unfortunate situations arise. In general, any
situation that makes you uncomfortable not just interview day
nervousness can be a red flag about a program. Some of these red flags
can be well intentioned blunders, like faculty only wanting to talk
about themselves. Some are more serious and should definitely be
watched out for. The likelihood of encountering one of these more
serious scenarios is not high, but we want to make sure you understand
what options you have if something does happen.
On the more innocuous side, sometimes faculty or even students will
spend the entire interview talking about themselves, or only addressing
one aspect of your application and not getting to a comprehensive view
of who you are as an applicant. In this instance, there are a couple ways
to delicately steer the conversation back to where you want it to be. You
an use something your interviewer is saying as a jumping off point to
discuss an impressive aspect of your application. Alternatively, if your
interviewer is only talking about themselves, asking questions about
their career and role in medical education can show you re engaged in
the conversation and interested in them, and by extension in that
program. If they re researchers, asking questions about their work can
also show your curiosity and is also a great chance to tie the
conversation back to some previous experiences you ve had i.e. have
you ever tried ? Because when I was in lab we observed . .
There are also specific lines of conversation interviewers are usually
told are off limits things like what other schools you re applying to,
where else you ve interviewed, or if you ve been accepted anywhere.
While these are illegal questions, unfortunately some interviewers
will still ask them outright or will hint at wanting to know. There are
several different ways to go about addressing this situation: one option,
if you re comfortable with it, is outright telling them that you don t
want to answer the question and or that you know they re not allowed
to ask that. However, if you re uncomfortable being that direct, you can
also give a vague non answer, like, I m applying to a wide range of
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programs in a lot of different states. Usually when an interviewer realizes
they re not going to get a straight answer to these questions, they don t
push it.
Another line of illegal questioning that is important to address is
interviewers asking applicants, especially female presenting applicants,
whether or not they want a family or how they plan to balance career and
family or in any other way implying that an applicant s desire to have a
family would conflict with their medical career for what it s worth, it is
possible to do both . This occurs with increasing regularity if the
interviewer knows you are married and or already have a child or children.
How you answer this type of questioning is up to you, but giving a vague
answer, like I plan to focus on learning as much as I can in medical
school, or I am committed to being the best physician I can possibly be,
can be a good way to politely but firmly end that line of questioning.
Whether or not you report these instances is always up to you usually the
admissions coordinator has told all interviewers to not ask about these
topics, and so would like to know if someone who regularly interviews for
them is ignoring that guidance. Additionally, if an interviewer makes you
uncomfortable by pressing one of these lines of questioning, that
information can also be included in a report to the coordinator if you re
comfortable disclosing that. While we don t anticipate this regularly
occurring in any interviews, an egregious violation of professionalism or of
the ethical interview practices could be reported to the AAMC.
So how does this all affect your decision making process? Ultimately,
your interview day is a time to show off to schools all the reasons why they
should accept you, but it s also a good time to start evaluating whether or
not a program would be a good fit for you. Any of these aforementioned red
flags could make you want to rethink whether or not a school is
somewhere you d like to attend. However strongly you weigh any of these
is ultimately up to you. Sometimes interviewers act against the best
guidance they ve been given by the school. Sometimes people just have a
bad day and don t seem very welcoming or ask you good questions.
However, if something an interviewer says makes you uncomfortable,
that s a valid reason to reconsider whether a program is a good fit for you.
Additionally, if you see multiple red flags, that might be a sign that there s
a more systemic cultural problem at that school. Red flag behaviors also
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aren t limited to just faculty current students also can provide a very
good window into what your life would be like at that school, and
whether or not you should consider it. If they seem unhappy with their
curriculum or the way things are run more so than you d expect from
just someone having a bad week then that might be a sign you don t
want to attend. Even if you just get an indescribable bad vibe from the
students or interviewers, that is a completely valid factor to consider
when you re making your decision.
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The medical school interview trail can be an expensive process.
Typically, the more schools you apply to the more expensive that
process will be. However, there are a few key strategies for you to
implement in order to cut down the cost of medical school interviews:
T an o a ion Travel costs can easily drive up your total expenses.
But you can keep your travel costs down if you plan ahead.
Scheduling your medical school interviews in blocks based on
geography will save you airfare, bus fare, or gas money. The less back
and forth travel you need to do the better. For instance, if you live in
NYC and plan to interview in the Midwest, try to schedule the
Midwest interviews for the same week. One plane trip will likely be
cheaper than multiple. Another way to cut down on costs of
transportation is to use buses when feasible. Bus companies such at
BoltBus or Megabus often have one way fares for as low as 1 each
way. Though the bus will likely take much longer than a flight, if
your schedule is flexible and allows for the additional travel time,
consider using this cost efficient alternative. When booking your
travel, weigh driving vs. flying. Is your car reliable enough for a 10
hour drive? Is that preferable to a 250 plane ticket cost, once you
factor in gas money and time spent on travel? If you fly, remember to
check multiple websites to get a good price. Also consider airports
that are near ish, if the price difference will be large. Plane tickets
tend to be cheapest 52 days ahead of the date of travel, and
cheapest when purchased on a Tuesday or a Wednesday afternoon.
Lodging Hotel fees quickly add up as hotel costs usually start
around 80 per night. Staying with friends or family is a great
budget friendly housing option for medical school interviews. You
give yourself the opportunity to catch up with friends or relatives.
Even more, family and friends are likely to feed you for free, which is
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a two for one cost savings. Most schools will offer a program where
you are able to spend the night before the interview with a current
medical student, usually a first or second year. Not only is this a
great way to save money, but it s also an opportunity to ask
questions to someone who will not be interviewing you and will
have no stake in your acceptance. You re able to get the most honest
feedback in this setting, and the students volunteer to host, which
means they re usually very friendly. If staying with a student at the
program is unavailable, you have lots of other options. AirBNBs are
often going to be cheaper than a hotel room, but be sure to carefully
factor in how much farther you will need to travel to get to your
interview to avoid issues. Even cheaper than rentals by owner are
websites like CouchSurfer. Also see if you have any friends or family
in the area, even if you haven t talked to them in a while!
Food: You will inevitably have to eat on your medical school
interview trail. Airport food and restaurant stops for meals are a
quick way to spend a lot of money. Though it will likely be
impossible to avoid eating out altogether, you can cut down on the
cost of food by packing snacks or homemade meals for your
travels.Clothes You don t need to have a new outfit for each medical
school interview. In fact, it is quite common for applicants to rewear
the same outfit throughout the medical school interview process.
Discount department stores like Ross, TJ Maxx, or Burlington often
carry great designer suits at affordable prices. Second hand stores
like Buffalo Exchange are also great to check out for affordable
interview attire. Finally, check with your undergraduate institution,
as many have professional closets you can borrow from.
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The thank you note is a subtle, underappreciated art. It s hard to
know how much it affects anything the admissions process, but
thanking people for their time is rarely a bad idea either way. Most of
the people you encounter during your interview will be volunteering
their time.
When crafting a cute and personalized thank you note or a quick and
eco friendly thank you email, there are several opportunities to take
advantage of in addition to thanking those awesome people for
volunteering their time and hopefully singing your praises to the
admissions committee. This is a way to stay salient in an interviewer s
mind; they meet a lot of people, and probably interviewed several
people even just in the day they met you. It is also a way to reconnect
from afar by bringing up something positive from your interview: an
aspect of the program that impressed you i ea d eh
dedica ed The Be P g a E e i ca i g f de e ed c i ie ,
a hobby you connected over I ea e j ed di c i g ic c i g i h
, or even an element of their career you admired c i e
g a ack ec c i e ge ie a i e i e .
All of this shows you were 1 paying attention, 2 are nice, and
maybe even 3 are insightful. Plus, you thanked someone who gave
their time to you when they didn t have to, so that s all good. Keep it
short and sweet. If you don t get a response especially to a paper card ,
don t take it personally. Different programs have different policies
about what they are allowed to send to you in the way of post interview
correspondence. Some may write even if you don t reach out to offer
to answer any questions you still have, and whether or not you actually
had any more questions: come up with some if someone offers to
answer them. Positive interactions like that are important to utilize
plus you ll get to learn more about a program you re presumably
interested in, which could help you decide if it s the right one for you.
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AAMC Policy on Holding Acceptances
The Waitlist
Application Updates
Reapplying
AAMC Policies for Schools
Second Look
Factors to Consider
Declaring Deposit
After interviewing, it is possible that the admission committee
will vote to place you on a waitlist. This is not a rejection and many
candidates are accepted off of waitlists to various schools. You may
be accepted or rejected off of a waitlist any time up until August, but
most schools finalize their classes by July. The majority of waitlist
movement occurs starting May 1st, when accepted students must
narrow down their decisions to just one school. Keep in mind that
you must narrow down your accepted offers to one school by the
April 30th deadline but may remain on any waitlists. Once you
commit to enroll at a school, you must withdraw all waitlist offers
and may no longer be considered on a waitlist.
Different schools have different procedures for waitlisted
applicants. Some schools will not consider any updates and will ask
that you do not contact them. Other schools may ask for updates
monthly, or even biweekly. Regarding potentially moving from
waitlisted to matriculated, some schools have the list in a rank
order, and as spots in the rising class open they will be offered to the
waitlist in the order of that rank. Note, this rank has already been
made prior to any updates. Others will keep the waitlist as a pool to
select from each time as spots open up in the rising class, and so
application updates may play a pivotal role. If it is not clear what
the policy of a school is, do not hesitate to ask.
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After interviewing, it is possible that the admission committee will
vote to place you on a waitlist. This is not a rejection and many
candidates are accepted off of waitlists to various schools. You may be
accepted or rejected off of a waitlist any time up until August, but most
schools finalize their classes by July. The majority of waitlist movement
occurs starting May 1st, when accepted students must narrow down
their decisions to just one school. Keep in mind that you must narrow
down your accepted offers to one school by the April 30th deadline but
may remain on any waitlists. Once you commit to enroll at a school,
you must withdraw all waitlist offers and may no longer be considered
on a waitlist.
Different schools have different procedures for waitlisted applicants.
Some schools will not consider any updates and will ask that you do not
contact them. Other schools may ask for updates monthly, or even
biweekly. Regarding potentially moving from waitlisted to
matriculated, some schools have the list in a rank order, and as spots in
the rising class open they will be offered to the waitlist in the order of
that rank. Note, this rank has already been made prior to any updates.
Others will keep the waitlist as a pool to select from each time as spots
open up in the rising class, and so application updates may play a pivotal
role. If it is not clear what the policy of a school is, do not hesitate to ask.
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One common update many waitlisted students send is a Letter of
Intent. This should be sent only to the school where you would
matriculate if given an offer. In the letter, you should express your
intent to matriculate if given the opportunity, and provide reasons why
that is the one school you have chosen. You may choose to include any
updates to your application in this letter as well. The reason programs
might like this is because they want any extended admissions offers to
be accepted, so they know from this that if they were to send you one
that you would accept it.
Some schools also will allow additional letters of recommendation to
be submitted. This can be helpful especially if you have worked closely
with a new faculty member, physician, etc within the time since you
submitted your primary application. Follow the same guidelines for
letters of recommendation as described earlier in this guide.
For many people, reapplying is part of the path to medical school. For
some, reapplying multiple times is part of the path. As you can see in this
study from the AAMC, there are yearly fluctuations in the number of
first time and repeat applicants but overall the trend is that there are
lots of them. Oftentimes, admission or rejection to medical school comes
down to the fact that there are more qualified applicants than there are
spots, and there may not always be a substantive reason that you weren t
selected this year. Take the time you need to grieve, then start forming
your action plan.
An important note is that, barring any extreme personal
circumstances preventing you from attending this year, reapplying is not
a good option unless you received zero acceptances. Not only does it go
over very poorly with admissions committees to know you chose to
reapply rather than attend the medical school s you were accepted to,
we don t recommend the added time, cost, and effort. All medical schools
in the US are accredited by the ACGME or the AOACOA and will enable
you to become a physician, and the differences in one program versus
another are not going to be great enough to be worth declining an
acceptance in favor of reapplying.
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Some medical school admissions officers will meet with you to
discuss your application following a rejection or the end of the
admissions cycle. Call each school you applied to and see if this is an
option, even if it s just a discussion via phone or email. Express your
continued strong interest in attending this program, and that you
would like their input on your application so that you can improve for
the next cycle. Common concerns in rejected applicants may include:
poor interview, low MCAT score, low GPA especially in the sciences ,
and lack of clinical experience. Be prepared to accept criticism without
defensiveness, especially if you intend to reapply to this program.
However, it may have just been an issue of more applicants than they
could accept, and you may not get a clear answer about why you
specifically were rejected. Truly, there may not have been a clear reason.
In these cases, consider asking then what the weakest area of your
application was. It may not have been a dealbreaker, but it could give
you a direction for what to focus on between now and the next cycle. If
none of the medical schools you applied to will provide this
information and even if they did , consider asking any friends or
classmates who are in medical school or recently graduated these same
questions. Also ask them to take a look at the list of programs you
applied to. Sometimes an unsuccessful admissions cycle was a matter
of applying to too few programs, or to programs that were too
competitive for your application. Not everybody can or needs to
attend the number one medical school in the country. Everyone who
graduates will still be a physician, and the reputation of the medical
school matters significantly less for residency and future jobs than the
reputation of undergraduate program did for medical school
applications. This is not the time for ego, it is the time for pragmatism.
When deciding what to do between now and the next admissions
cycle, take a look at the Taking a Gap Year section of this guide for tips
on areas to consider and how to get into them. Be realistic about what
you need to do to eat and be financially solvent between now and then,
and then fill in the remaining available time with targeted efforts to
improve the weakest areas of your application. Many people choose to
retake the MCAT or science courses before reapplying, but be realistic
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about whether this extra time and expense is likely to result in an
improved score for you. Make sure you have a plan for what you will do
differently to ensure improvement. On the other hand, choosing to
spend time on clinical exposure or research experience is a guaranteed
improvement in these areas.
13
Additionally, if you re holding onto an acceptance from a program
you know you won t be attending, informing that program frees up that
spot so that it can be offered to another student. While the AAMC
doesn t have enforceable guidelines about informing programs within a
timely manner if you know you won t be attending that institution, it s
good practice to do. The admissions process is stressful for all
applicants, and by being courteous you make it so that another
applicant can be offered the chance to be a doctor as soon as possible.
13
When you get there: have fun! See if the current students seem happy
with their decision and ask them any questions you might have about
their experience so far. You ll be in their shoes soon, and they will
provide honest opinions on the pros and cons of their school.
Bring your family or significant other if possible. It s great of have a
second set of eyes and ears to help provide advice, especially from
someone who has your best interests at heart. They will also be given
separate sessions which provide additional information to share with
you to help guide your decision making process.
Also consider taking time to explore the city if you re not from the
area. Medical school should have some balance between academics and
your personal life, and you want to make sure you re in an area where
you can thrive, not just as a student, but as a person.
Consider what you saw and how you might fit into that school. If you
have a list of must haves, did the school check all of the boxes? If no
school does, weigh what s most important to you and use that to gauge
your decision. If you are still unsure, you may even try reaching out to
the school and ask to sit in on a lecture or connect you with a current
student to chat further.
Ask advice from current students or friends who are going through
similar situations. Sometimes talking out loud can help in making
decisions.
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without a home program, and it will create more stress and pressure for
you to prepare yourself for what is to come.
What is the cost of tuition? Did you receive any financial aid or
scholarships through the school? What is the cost of living like?
Many students will take out loans that cover the entire cost of
tuition plus an additional loan for living expenses each year. Although
this is possible regardless of the total tuition burden, these loans accrue
interest during your schooling, residency, and beyond which makes
every dollar borrowed equate to several paid back in the long run. If a
school is not a great fit, don’t compromise based solely on tuition since
doctors who graduate from that school are still successfully paying
their loans, but if it’s a tough call between two institutions, this may be
an important factor.
Also consider the cost of living in a particular city. It may be more
challenging to meet your needs in a more expensive location. Ask
current students how they are managing on their budget and make
sure that you feel comfortable managing with something similar.
Are there certain activities/hobbies that you need access to? Are you
hoping to stay close to family? Do you have a significant other who
needs to find a job in a certain sector?
Although it’s only four years, having an environment you enjoy being
in for medical school is so important. If you don’t enjoy life in the big
city, steer clear of those programs. If you need the hustle and bustle, it’s
appropriate to choose the school where you can find the best balance
between work and your personal life. Other location considerations
include weather, proximity to family and friends, the needs of your
family, diversity of the population, etc.
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Are there extracurriculars that I’m interested in? Is the school
diverse? Do students spend time together outside of class? Are
students competitive with each other?
If you have specific interests such as health disparities, LGBTQ
issues in medicine, global health, advocacy, etc., ensure that your
prospective school has opportunities for you to participate. Most
schools will have organizations for all major specialties, but they may
not have groups, mentors, or other students that focus on your other
interests. It’s also important to consider the diversity of the student
body, faculty, and community as a whole as well as how students
interact with each other. It’s important to be at a school where you are
comfortable with the learning environment and people around you.
How did you feel on the interview day? Do you feel like you would be
friends with the current students that you interacted with?
One of the most important, if not the most important, things to
consider is how the interview made you feel. Medical school will be
your home for four years, and you want to be comfortable in the place
you choose. It’s like having a second family - where can you see yourself
building that? Schools have unique personalities, and it’s ideal if your
own matches.
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Once you have chosen a school, they will require that you sign and
submit a form stating that you plan to enroll in their upcoming class.
Often, this will be accompanied by a small deposit ( $500) which will
hold your seat. Not every school with require this, so don’t be alarmed if
you’re not prompted to pay anything.
At this time, ensure that you also reach out to any other schools that
accepted you and inform them of your decision. Many other students
are hoping to get off of wait-lists, and you can pass those opportunities
on to others by declining an offer that wasn’t right for you. The longer
you delay declining offers, the longer other students are waiting. Don’t
rush into the decision, but be respectful of your peers who may be on
the waitlist when you have solidly chosen a school.
At this point: kick back, relax, and do whatever you love doing in your
spare time! You've finally made it.
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There are so many barriers to getting into medical school. We don’t
have the power to make every research opportunity out there come with
a living wage, or to level racial biases in MCAT scoring, but we do have
the power of experience. From incoming medical students who just went
through it themselves to attendings with years of experience on
admissions committees, this diverse set of authors came together to
bring the pre-medical community our collected advice with the goal of
making the medical school admissions process more accessible to
everyone, but especially to people without the privilege of friends or
family in medicine/robust pre-medical advising/etc. We ourselves are a
diverse set of people, and we’re doing this because we care about seeing
the future of medicine become more diverse, because that’s how
medicine gets better for our patients.
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A: CV Example
B: Example Emails for Seeking Mentors
C: Example Emails for Guiding Writers of
Letters of Recommendation
D: MCAT Study Plan Examples
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Dear Dr. Daneshjou,
My name is X and I am a student at Y College majoring in Z, and I am
interested in going to medical school. I’m emailing you because I am
fascinated by your work in studying (insert the subject of their work or
practice you are most interested in). I read your paper, “Title of paper”,
and I am excited about this field. I would love to meet with you to talk
about your work and get some advice. My resume is attached.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
X
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Dear ______,
Thank you for agreeing to write a letter of recommendation for me! I
have included as much information as possible below to perhaps
assist you in writing about me. Please feel free to use as much, or as
little of it, as you find useful. Also, please do not hesitate to contact me
for more information if needed.
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Personally, what I view to be my attributes:
I am ambitious and optimistic about my future impact.
I am self-motivated and work extremely hard
I joined the [ ] Lab in my freshman year and work almost every day,
spending over 15-20 hours a week in lab, and up to 40
hours/coming in on weekends when necessary, in addition to
maintaining a full undergraduate course load and a concurrent
master’s degree. I will have received both degrees in 4 years, and
will likely be a coauthor on 3 published papers by the time I have
graduated.
I have attended [ ] conferences as well as the [] annual meeting,
where I presented a poster, and have a uniquely high level of
understanding of my work for an undergrad.
I genuinely love science and medicine.
In my spare time, I read scientific literature, I’m actively engaged
with scientists through twitter, I listen to the Science/Nature
podcast, etc.
I’m always the person in class asking questions, wanting to hear
more from the speaker, emailing my professors outside of class with
cool articles I’ve found, contacting speakers who have given guest
lectures to meet for coffee outside of class
I am passionate about science communication and science
awareness
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Your unique insight on me:
As my research mentor and supervisor, I think you have the most
unique insight as to who I am as a person and how I have grown as a
researcher in the years you have known me. I went from not knowing
how to pipet to understanding how to design experiments/test
hypotheses relatively quickly. I think you can speak to my ability to
critically evaluate experiments and come up with strategies to
troubleshoot or re-design experiments. I also hope that you can vouch
for the many hours I spend in lab despite the amount of class I have,
and how I genuinely enjoy being there.
Finally, because you are a researcher, I hope you can speak to what you
believe my potential in the field is, and how you may be able to
imagine me contributing to research in the future. Bringing in my
contributions to the [ ] project, [ ] project, etc here would be very
valuable.
Once again, thank you so much! Please let me know if you have any
further questions. I am once again honored by your willingness to
write this letter for me.
Sincerely,
X
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