Given the principles for BCM, I recommend covering your clinical, research and community experience in their secondary application essays. They place special emphasis on recruiting students from diverse backgrounds and from ethnicities that are underrepresented in medicine. Highlight your personal connections, volunteer work, and leadership roles in medically underserved communities. Baylor College of Medicine 2021-22…
UC Davis Medical School Secondary Application Essay Tips [2021 – 2022]
According to the U.S. News and World Report, UCDSOM is ranked #11 for primary care and #48 for research. This medical school campus is unique in that they have seven student-run clinics: Paul Hom Asian Clinic, Clinica Tepati, Imani Clinic, Shifa Clinic, Joan Viteri Memorial Clinic, Bayanihan Clinic, and the Willow Clinic. Medical students can…
Brown Alpert Medical School Secondary Application Essay Tips [2021 – 2022]
Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University is the only medical school in the state of Rhode Island. For this reason, it offers unparalleled access to all types of clinical settings and hospitals. It has seven teaching hospitals near its medical school campus. Its mission is “The pursuit of health to benefit society.” First and…
5 Dont’s for Your Medical School Personal Statement
The personal statement is the only place in the AMCAS, AACOMAS and TMDSAS primary applications where you get to present yourself directly to the admissions committee. Here, you can persuade them to give you an interview, or – if you’re not careful – unknowingly reveal red flags that undermine your entire application. Since it plays…
3 Tips for Writing the Optional Essay in Medical School Secondary Applications
Many medical schools include an optional essay in their secondary applications. Obviously, this “optional” essay is not required, and the essay prompt sometimes emphasizes this point. Often, the question will include the stipulation that you cannot include anything that was already mentioned in your primary application or other essays. Some schools even state that most…
How Does the Med School Adcom View Multiple MCAT Scores?
In 2007, the MCAT was first offered electronically. Prior to this technological shift, the MCAT was only offered a limited number of times a year – as a paper and pencil exam. AAMC also restricted the number of times you could take the exam in one year as well as in your lifetime. Now that…
4 Tips for Applying as an Underrepresented Applicant in Medicine
The ethnicities that are considered Underrepresented in Medicine (URM) include: Latino, African American, Native American, Laotian and Hmong, as well as a few other groups. If you are from one of these groups, it would help your application to demonstrate your connection to these communities and your fluency in the languages which are most sought…
How to Write the Statement of Disadvantage
If you have experienced any form of social, economic or educational disadvantage—at any time in your life—you can apply to medical school as a disadvantaged applicant. To receive this designation means that you will need to complete an additional essay on the AMCAS application. The character limit for this short essay is 1,325. Examples of…
What to Include in the AMCAS Work and Activities Section [With Examples] for 2021
The AMCAS Work and Activities Section is where you can share all of the awards, memberships, research, clinical experiences, paid employment, publications, leadership, extracurricular activities and volunteer work you received or participated in during college and after. To give you a better idea of what to include in this section of the application, I am…
What Every Premed Student Needs to Know About Retaking Classes
If you have retaken classes in the past or will need to retake a class in the future, reading this post will tell you what you need to know about how the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOMAS) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AMCAS) view these grades. AACOMAS and the AAMC…
What to Include in the Activities Section of the TMDSAS Application
Similar to the AMCAS application, the TMDSAS has an activities section for you to list all experiences since your high school graduation. They have nine sub-sections that include: Academic Recognition, Non-Academic Recognition, Leadership, Employment, Research Activities, Healthcare Activities, Community Service, Extracurricular and Leisure Activities, and Planned Activities. Unlike the AMCAS application, you are expected to…
Writing Your Essays for the TMDSAS (Texas Medical and Dental Schools Application Service)
The Texas Medical and Dental Schools Application Service (TMDSAS) has its own application process. You can begin filling out their electronic application by May 1 and the deadline to submit their application is October 30. The timeline is similar to the AMCAS application, but a little earlier. On the TMDSAS application there are two required…
5 Tips for Submitting Your TMDSAS Secondaries
When you apply to TMDSAS, you can select from thirteen medical schools in Texas to submit your application to. Twelve of these schools require secondaries. The secondary essays are due when you submit your primary application. You submit these essays directly to the schools, at the same time that you submit your primary application on…
Collecting Letters of Evaluation for the TMDSAS
There are two options when submitting letters of evaluation to TMDSAS. They request either a committee letter or three individual letters of recommendation. For the committee letter, they will accept three different formats: a committee letter that introduces and includes an unlimited number of letters, a committee letter that includes quotes and excerpts from the…
Writing Your Physician Assistant (PA) Personal Statement [Plus Sample Essay]
While there are many different ways to approach writing a personal statement (PS) for your PA application, I am including a successful example here. The character limit for the CASPA application PS is 5,000 characters with spaces. In this essay, you are responding to the question, “Why PA?” To write a compelling essay, take some…
How to Get Into Dental School
So, you want to be a dentist? This post will guide you through the dental school admissions process and how to get accepted. To become a dentist, you will need to obtain either a doctor of dental surgery or doctor of dental medicine degree. It’s the same curriculum. The school that you attend will determine…
UCSD School of Medicine Secondary Application Essay Tips [2020 – 2021]
The UCSD School of Medicine prefers applicants with extensive research experience. If you have not described your research experience in your personal statement, include a description in the secondary application’s autobiographical essay. They offer a PRIME-HEq Program with training in treating medically underserved communities. For students interested in global health, five students from each class…
4 Tips for Discussing Failure at Your Med School Interview
Inevitably, you will be asked to describe a time when you have failed. It’s a common medical school interview question, and it’s a tough one. This post will help you prepare for this question. Strategies for tackling the failure question When selecting an example to discuss, consider the following strategies: Choose a recent example. It’s…
How to Approach VITA, AAMC’s New Video Interview
To address the novel challenges the pandemic has created, the AAMC will be using a video recording in place of in-person interviews. They are calling it the AAMC Video Interview Tool for Admissions (AAMC VITA). It is being offered at no cost to applicants since it is a pilot program and will be available from…
Track Your Secondary Application Progress with a Spreadsheet
After you have submitted your primary application, the real fun begins! Depending on how many schools you are applying to and the number of school systems, it can be challenging to keep track of all of your secondary applications and deadlines. To help you get organized, I’m sharing a spreadsheet I’ve created for you so…
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