Guide to Medical School Application

Overview

• Introduction
• High school
• College
• Application process
  
• MCAT
• Personal statement
• Resume
• Letters of recommendation
• AMCAS and secondary applications
  
• Interviews
• Selecting a medical school
• Conclusion and final thoughts
• Frequently asked questions
  

Introduction

High School

First and foremost, you should enjoy high school- participate in school activities, play sports, join clubs, spend time with your family, listen to music- you will miss all of these activities soon enough!  You should not be doing anything to prepare for medical school admission at this point in time.  You should do well in your classes and plan to attend a reputable college.

The only suggestion I have is that if you plan to get a job, get a job that gives you some type of exposure to a potential career path.  Paid summer internships are the best.  Unless you absolutely have to do so, working in the local grocery or fast food store adds very little to your overall high school experience.

College

Freshman

Sophomore

By this time, you should have explored your options and have a rough idea of what you want to do.  If not, I would recommend 6 more months of exploration time but you need to intensify your volunterring activities to help you decide if medicine is right for you.

Once you have decided on medicine, continue with your required course work for admission into U.S. medical schools.  Ideally, you should finish all the science courses (general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, and biology) that you will need to study for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) by the end of your Sophomore year or the 1st quarter or semester of you Junior year.

It is also the time to get more involved in extra-curricular activities.  Working in a hospital or a clinic is a must but deciding on which other activities to participate in is up to you.  Whether it's research, building houses in low-income communities, organizing health fairs, or leading a charitable or academic student organization, I suggest you choose a couple causes that matter to you the most.  It is not uncommon for students to be under the impression they need to publish, be a Rhodes scholar, a Westinghouse finalist, save starving children in Africa, and be the president the local student honor society in oder to gain admission into a medical school.  I am exaggerating, of course, but the point is normal people simply do not have the time or the talent needed to excel in every aspect of their lives.  The purpose of these activities is to demonstrate that you, as a future physician, leader, and role model, will be passionate and altruistic enough to participate in the advancement of our society and local communities.

Junior

At the beginning of your Junior year, you should continue your course work and your extra-curricular activities.  You may want a  little lighter schedule when you need to study for the MCAT (see application below).

Senior

Your last year is spend on preparing your application and interviewing at different schools (see application below).  Once you have gained admission, I recommend that you take it easy and take some time to enjoy yourself! It is MANDATORY that you engage in activities unrelated to medicine between graduation and the beginning of medical school- free time is going to be hard to come by after this!

Application

The application timeline should be as follows:

• Take MCAT in April of your Junior year
• Start personal statement the week after your MCAT (do take the weekend off)
• Start your resume
• Ask for letters of reference
  
• Once you have gotten your MCAT score (mid-to-late June), turn in your AMCAS application as soon as possible once you have gathered everything for your file (July-August)
  
• Interviews start as early as October (this may vary)
  
• Acceptances are mailed out as early as November (this may vary)
  

MCAT

The MCAT is given twice a year, in April and in August (this may change in the near future).  I suggest you take the April administration because you will know your scores by the time you prepare your application.  I also recommend you take a commercial course in preparation for this test.  It is difficult to really study for this test because the amount of material is just too overwhelming (unlike your midterms or finals) and taking practice tests is probably the only way to help you do well on the exam.  It is possible to do well from self-studying, but I think commercial courses offer the regimented schedule needed to keep most of us on track.

What you need to get on the MCAT was a much debated topic when I was in college.  The MCAT simiulates medical school work because there is an overwhelming amount of knowledge in medicine.  This test assures medical schools that the applicants who do well will be able to complete the rigorous course work required of them.  The number that is needed varies by school, but in general, a combined score of 30 is considered acceptable for most schools.  A score of 30 indicates that you are on the top 25% of the applicant pool.  I would be hesitant to take the test again if my score is 30 or above because a lower score will count against you.  Unless you just did not study for the test, it is difficult to improve substantially on repeat testing.  Some traditionally top-notch schools do demand higher scores (I would say mid-30's), but again, the specific number you need varies by school (and it is also likely to vary depending who is reviewing your file).

Personal Statement

Once you have completed your MCAT in April, you should start writing your personal statement right away.  A well written personal statement will get you the interviews you desire, especially if you are not a stellar applicant.  The most common mistake people make is they wait until the last minute to start their personal statement.  A statement that is quickly put together can readily be identified by a reviewer and can translate into an instant rejection- why would medical schools want to take you if you didn't even bother to put in the time to tell them about yourself?  I suggest at least 6 weeks to prepare your statement.  You can quickly write a first draft, put it away, and then re-read it several times to edit its contnent.  The process of re-reading and refining your work is crucial in producing the perfect personal statement.  You definitely should have several other people read your statement to give you suggestions and to correct your grammar.  Reading other people's statements is also helpful.

The content of the statement should reflect who you are and what is important to you, although most people discuss, at least in part, the reason for choosing medicine.  Other common topics may include family, hardships, or a life changing experience. 

The personal statement should be a well structured, succinct, and straight-forward essay that portrays who you are as an individual- a reviewer wants to find some distinct positive human qualities about you which cannot be ascertained from a mere listing of numbers and achievements in your application.  Unless you are an excellent writer, the use of excessive imagery, attemping to be comical, or displaying your literary skill with allegories or poems will likely backfire on you.

Resume

While working on your personal statement, you should also start your resume.  You will need both of these items to ask for letters of reference.  A resume will also help you complete your medical school application quickly.  While you don't need to have it commercially prepared, you resume should be professional.  I suggest some modification to the template wizard in MS Word.  Printing on high grade weighted  paper is a plus.  Some schools may ask for a copy of your resume as part of the secondary application.  For cotent, please contact your school's pre-professional office.  You can also use my resume as a reference.  Just like your personal statement, your resume should be straight forward and succint.  However, I suggest you list all your honors and activities, even the ones you consider to be not very important.  Your resume is a conversation starter for your letter writers and interviewers.  Therefore, it doesn't hurt to have additional information for them to find something in common with you.  For activities, I find it helpful to also include a short discription (1-2 sentences or phrases) to describe the organization and your level of involvement.

Letters of Recommendation

You should obtain at least 4 letters of reference- some schools have different requirements but 4 should suffice for most places.  You should obtain letters from those who know you well and will write a great letter on your behalf.  A common problem with recommedation letters is that students have limited contact with their professors.  Even though this maybe the case, I recommend only one letter coming from someone without an academic title.  While it is nice the local homeless shelter director wrote you a glowing letter of recommendation, his or her statement may or may not carry as much weight for the admissions committee.  School faculty members are likely to have had extensive contact with medical school applicants and when they write "John is one of the brightest and most  personable individual I have had a chance to work with in the last 10-years as a Professor in Chemistry," it certainly puts you on top of the applicant pool.  Teaching assistants are good resources as well- they may contribute significant input to your letter from your professor (but a letter should not come from them directly).  It maybe advisable to have planned your extra-curricular activities with certain individuals in preparation for recommendation letters. 

Letters of recommendation do carry quite a bit of weight because it is difficult to find out everything about an individual from a 30-minute interview.  Committee members rely on these letters to find out more about your character and to assure themselves that you have the qualities and disposition needed to become a caring physician.

AMCAS

AMCAS stands for American Medical College Application Service.  It is a centralized application processing service with participation from most the U.S. medical schools.  There maybe some medical schools that require a separate primary application.  You should turn in your AMCAS application as soon as possible because medical school admission is done on a rolling basis, meaning that acceptances are sent out once the interviewing process begins.  By the later half of the process, there maybe only a limited number of spaces available to offer!

A common dilemma facing applicants is deciding on how many schools to apply to on their AMCAS application.  The conservative approach would be to apply to more schools initially and then to pick and choose which interviews to accept later.  Here is a general guideline:

• Outstanding applicants (MCAT 35+, GPA 3.75+, great letters and extra-curricular activities)- apply to 15 schools but do remember to apply to some 2nd-tier schools as well.
• Good applicants (MCAT 30+, GPA 3.50+, good letters and extra-curricular activites)- apply to 20-25  schools with a mix of 2nd-tier schools as well.
• Average applicants (MCAT <30, GPA<3.30, OK letters and extra-curricular activities)- don't give up yet!  This is obvious a generalized guideline but sometimes an applicant maybe a little weak in one of the numbers (i.e. MCAT) but have otherwise an outstanding application!  I suggest you apply to a good mix of schools (30) but do also include some top choices!  You'll be surprised sometimes what types of interview offers you may get!
  

Secondary Applications

Interview

Once you have been offered an interview, it means you are academically qualified to attend that particular medical school.  I believe your numbers do not matter once you have reached this stage of the process.  It is difficult for me to coach someone on how to give a good interview because I think you should just be yourself!  Here are some tips that I found useful:

• Schedule some practice mock interviews- most college pre-professional offices and MCAT preparation courses offer this type of service.
• Video tape and review your mock interviews- you'll be surprised how much you can learn from this little interesting exercise!
• Do not schedule your top choices as your first 2 interviews.  You'll find that your interviewing skills will improve over the first few interviews.  Some people feel the quality of their interviews actually decline toward the end of the interview trail after having to repeat the same answer over and over again.  Ideally, you should schedule your top choices in the middle of your interview cycle.

Selecting a Medical School

If you have multiple acceptances, you will have to choose a school.  If you start getting multiple acceptances early on, please be considerate of others and hold only one acceptance and quickly decline the others.  Here are some thoughts to factor into your final decision:

• Basic sciences: you may hear a lot of different types of curriculum (i.e. traditional vs. problem based) on your interview trail.  I feel this does not make a big difference because medicine is a large body of knowledge and studying it is difficult regardless of the approach.  This should not be a decision maker for you.
• Clinical training: you'll be trained well clinically in most if not all medical schools.  I trained at a school with a university hospital (UCLA), a private hospital (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center), VA Hospital, county hospitals (Harbor and Olive View Medical Center), and a HMO (Kaiser Los Angeles).  I was able to get a good exposure to different types of practice settings as well as different patient populations, both of which I found to be useful experiences.  Therefore, the available clinical facilities may factor into your final selection.
  
• Research: if you have interest in research, then a top 25 school with a large amount of research funding and research opportunities maybe important to you.  Realistically, it is difficult to carry out meaningful research unless you are pursuing a Ph.D. as well.
  
• Reputation: this becomes important when you apply for residency, especially for competitive residencies such as dermatology, radiology, and ophthalmology.  I believe each residency applicant should be evaluated on his or her own merit but unfortunately the medical school's reputation will give you a distinct advantage.
• Student body: each medical school probably has a character of its own.  Pay attention to the current students during your interview- will you be happy for 4 years as a student at the particular institution you are considering?
• Tuition: private vs. public education makes a big difference financially, especially if you have to take out loans.  If the private institution is a lot more reputable than the public one you are considering, I would choose the former- you should not compromise on your education.
  
• Location: I don't believe this should factor into your decision at all but it maybe important to some people.  I actually think you should go see different parts of the country if possible!

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

If you are still reading, you must be very serious about going into medicine.  Medicine is a great field- job stability and compensation aside, I derive a great sense of personal satisfaction from connecting with and caring for others.  If I had to do it all over again, I would not change a single thing! 

Here are the major points that I hope I have conveyed above:

• Carefully consider you career choices and select one that is most suitable for you- medicine may not be the right choice for everyone. 
  
• College offers an once in a life time opportunity to expand your horizon, use it wisely.
• Applying to medical school is a very tedious process.  It is the culmination of all your hard work and careful and early preparation will give you the best chance to succeed.
  
• Enjoy your life!  Never forget to have fun while you are working hard to reach your goals!

Frequently Asked Questions