First drafts. These are probably the hardest part of the whole process for would-be applicants. There’s a sense of overwhelmedness, of trying to capture so much of your experience onto a single page. I’ve read hundreds of first drafts over the years. To be honest, most were okay. Not stellar, granted, but most could be…
GPA Issues when Applying to Med School: What To Do With A “W”
Almost everybody has a dark spot on their GPA. Usually it’s a failed class or a semester of poor grades. But lately, I’ve received several queries about how a “W” on your transcript will affect your chance of admission to medical school. The truth is that withdrawing from one or two classes is not going…
Early Decision for Medical School: Does It Make Sense For You?
Do you have a dream school, the one place where you’ve always wanted to study medicine, and no other place will do? Do you have a compelling reason for this one program, maybe a spouse whose job requires them to be in this location or your only living family member is in the area? There…
Residency Applicants: Get the Recommendations You Need!
Have you started collecting recommendation letters yet? The LoR Portal explains the process of submitting your letters to ERAS, but how can you ensure that you receive the strongest possible recommendation letter? • Ask as early as possible. Your recommenders are busy people, and you don’t want to wait until the last minute to add your request…
Meaningful Experiences For Medical School Applicants
“From volunteering on help lines, I became a better listener.” “Joining the college debate team enhanced my ability to organize and present a case clearly.” “Despite communication barriers, I made strong personal connections with my host family while studying in Costa Rica.” I’ve done all these things. It’s obvious that they’re meaningful, right? Well, not…
Watch Words: Advice for Third-Year Medical Students
Last week, I mentioned keeping a diary during your rotations. But what exactly should you be keeping track of in your Diary? Here are three things you can watch for that will get you in great shape for later: 1. Watch your attendings. What did your attending do today that struck you? This can be anything,…
Dear Diary…: Advice for Third-Year Medical Students
What are you doing to prepare for the residency match? Chances are, you’re up to your eyeballs with rotations and exams and everything else that goes into finishing your medical degree. Chances are, you’re really not thinking much about your personal statement. Not to sound like a Bowflex commercial, but what if I told you…
The Activities Section: The Side Dishes That Make Your AMCAS Application Delicious
It’s summertime, and here that means barbecues on the deck – grilling meat, specifically, if you’re one of a certain group of friends who invited me over for a recent Stanley Cup game. Gracious as my hosts were, I felt a bit daunted by the huge piece of steak that filled my plate, accompanied by…
Experiences That Count for Medical School Reapplicants
In the final section of our Medical School Reapplicant Advice: 6 Tips for Success series, we’ll discuss how reapplicants should improve, and then present, their experiences. One last factor that can seriously hurt your chances is a lack of substantive, ongoing experiences. Medical schools want students who are passionate and committed – to the world around…
Improve Your MCAT Score for Medical School Acceptance
In the next section of our Medical School Reapplicant Advice: 6 Tips for Success series, we’ll move from increasing your GPA to improving your MCAT score. Fortunately, it’s easier to tackle a poor MCAT score than a poor GPA. While you should not retake the exam too many times (don’t bother retaking if you’ve scored above…
Boost your GPA for Med School Acceptance
In our last Medical School Reapplicant Advice: 6 Tips for Success segment, we talked about how to best present yourself in your secondaries and interviews. Today we’ll move forward and discuss ways to boost your GPA, another important feature of your med school application profile. Feeling a bit fragile after these first two sections? That’s to…
Med School Kick-Off: Ten Tips to Get You Through the Season
In just a few weeks, medical school hopefuls will start submitting applications. This can be an awfully hectic time as you try to stay on top of everything. Here are ten tips to help you hit the ground running: 1) Get cozy with the AMCAS/AACOMAS. These two services (the acronyms stand for the American Medical…
Presenting Yourself to Medical Schools: Other Communications
In the last part of our Medical School Reapplicant Advice: 6 Tips for Success series we discussed the importance of assessing your dinged application, especially your personal statement. Today we’ll talk about other opportunities for you to shine – not through the personal statement, but through secondary essays and interviews. With the multi-staged admissions process, applicants…
Presenting Yourself to Medical Schools: Your Primary Application
In Part 1 of our Medical School Reapplicant Advice: 6 Tips for Success series we talked about taking a step back and reevaluating your desire to go to med school, as well as your qualifications and skill. Today we’ll move on to assessing your application to determine what went wrong. The second part of your assessment…
Reapplying to Med School: Evaluating Your Medical School Profile
This is the first blog post in our new series, Medical School Reapplicant Advice: 6 Tips for Success. Hopefully by now, you have your acceptance in hand and are gearing up for Fall. If so, then congratulations and good luck! But what if all you’ve received are rejections? To start with, know you’re not alone. Last…
Medical School Rankings: What Are They Worth?
Last week, US News and World Report released their list of the 2014 Best Medical Schools (designed for applicants to the Class of 2014). Their rankings are not at all surprising – in primary care, nine of the top 10 are still holding strong, with only the University of Alabama Birmingham rising from last year’s…
