Sarah’s Nontraditional Path to DO School: From Humanities Major to Med Student [Episode 630]
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Sarah shares how she moved from English and book publishing to DO school, and she offers advice for nontraditional medical school applicants.
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Sarah shares how she moved from English and book publishing to DO school, and she offers advice for nontraditional medical school applicants.
by Mary Mahoney

It’s June, and you’ve submitted your application to medical school. That’s perfect, but are you feeling restless now? Many medical school applicants feel as though they are pacing the floors during the down weeks between submitting their primary application and receiving secondary essay prompt invitations. If this is you, why not begin prewriting your secondaries …

With matriculation data from the AAMC indicating approximately 40% of applicants successfully get a seat in a medical school each year, that means 60% of applicants are left deciding whether or not to reapply. While an unsuccessful application cycle is difficult to handle both financially and emotionally, reapplicants who demonstrate growth, determination, and resilience on …
by Mary Mahoney

Once you file the AACOMAS application and choose your schools, the process is not yet over. You will start to receive secondary essay prompts for each school, often with a two-week deadline. Although some prompts are common and expected (e.g., “Explain your biggest challenge” or “Tell us about significant volunteer experience with a vulnerable population”), …

If you have retaken classes in the past – or expect to need to retake a class in the future – this post will help you understand this element of your profile, in general, for the AMCAS application, and for the AACOMAS application, as needed. 1. All grades earned are calculated into the cumulative GPA. …

Planning to apply to medical school in the upcoming cycle? With so much to do and so many deadlines to stay ahead of, the next few months can be a hectic time. These ten tips will help you hit the ground running. Table of Contents: 1. Get cozy with AMCAS and AACOMAS (and TMDSAS, if …

Having worked in admissions for more than two decades, I have read thousands of experience and activity descriptions from applicants to medical schools and schools in healthcare-related fields. Some candidates seem to view this element of their application as less important than their personal statement, writing only cursory descriptions of their tasks. This “job description” …

We cannot stress enough how important it is to understand and think about a medical school’s mission statement when you are applying. Successful applicants not only demonstrate that they have the essential qualifications a particular school wants, but they also prove that their interests and values align closely with those of the school. Why are …
by Mary Mahoney

The AACOMAS requires one personal statement that is a maximum of 5,300 characters long. Below are five tips to help make your AACOMAS personal statement shine. The AACOMAS personal statement is the one place in the application where you speak in your own voice and give the admissions committee an idea of who you are: …
by Mary Mahoney

The Experiences section in the AACOMAS application asks you to list your non-academic work, including healthcare-related work, non-healthcare work, volunteer work, and extracurricular activities. The Achievements section is the space for you to include academic honors, awards and scholarships. Below are five tips for completing this section of the AACOMAS. Categorize your activity by type.The …
by Mary Mahoney

If you are planning to apply to osteopathic medical schools, the AACOMAS allows you to upload up to six letters of recommendation. You can’t upload different letters for different schools, so make sure that your recommenders know that they should write general letters of recommendation. You should request your letters through AACOMAS, which sends an …

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 …