Often, top medical schools in the U.S. offer predoc and premed summer undergraduate research programs. We’ve compiled an all-you-need-to-know chart that includes admissions requirements, deadlines, financial perks, and much more for top programs. Check out the preview below and then fill out the form to get your copy of the comprehensive chart! Why do these…
Applying to Medical School: Selecting Extracurricular Activities
When considering your goal of attending medical school, you need to choose extracurricular activities that you will enjoy and that will also help you highlight the characteristics that med schools are seeking. 3 strategies for choosing the right extracurriculars Below we will provide you with strategies for finding and selecting activities that will set your…
How to Choose the Best Experiences for Your AMCAS Application
This is a repost of a popular article from our series Journeys with Joshua. It’s that time of year when premeds across the world are gathering everything they need to put on their AMCAS application. In this article, I’ll walk through one facet (one of the largest) of this dainty little application, the experiences section. I will outline what…
6 Tips to Improve Your AMCAS Application Activities Section
It’s almost summer, and for me that means barbecues on the deck, specifically with the company of friends. I was recently enjoying a cook-out at one friend’s home in particular, and gracious as my hosts were, I felt a bit daunted by the huge piece of steak that filled my plate, accompanied by a small…
What NOT to Do in the Activities Section of Your Medical School Application
Don’t underestimate the importance of the activities section! Let’s take a look at some of the biggest mistakes to avoid in your activities section so you can make sure that you’re doing it right: Mistake #1: Providing less than 15 activities Simply submitting an application with less than the required 15 activities can lead to…
How to Spend Your Gap Year Between College and Medical School
Many students do not attend medical school immediately following undergrad for a variety of reasons. Many traditional applicants spend the year in between college and med school – their “gap year” – improving their academic credentials and gaining additional research or clinical experience. While improving premed credentials is probably the most common reason for the…
How Important is Research for Medical School Admissions?
Why Medical Schools Value Research Experience Research experience isn’t a requirement for med school admission. You won’t find a section about it on your application, but it is still valued and important. So important, in fact, that at some of the most competitive research-oriented med schools, 80-90% of admitted applicants have at least some research…
What Are the Pros of a Gap Year Before Medical School?
You’re almost at the end of four years of undergrad school and are thinking about your GPA, MCAT, and everything else that goes into your medical school application. Are you ready to go straight to med school, or do you want to take a “gap year” – a year off between college and medical school?…
How to Shadow a Doctor
When looking for activities to include on your AMCAS application, shadowing is a powerful way to demonstrate your interest in and realistic knowledge of the field of medicine. Shadowing as many different kinds of doctors as you can is helpful; the only way to know whether you will enjoy a career in a particular area…
What to Include in the AMCAS Activities Section
You have a limit of fifteen activities that you can include in the activities section of the AMCAS application. It will hurt your application if you have less than fifteen activities. The types of activities that you include, the length of time you participated, and how you describe them all have an impact on how…
5 Ways to Stand Out in the AACOMAS Experience and Achievements Sections
Looking for the best osteopathic med school admissions advice out there? Ace those AACOMAS apps by reading our osteopathic application tips series – each post, another set of 5 expert tips that will help you get ACCEPTED. The Experiences section in the AACOMAS application asks you to list your non-academic work, including healthcare-related work, non-healthcare…
Meaningful Experiences For Medical School Applicants
Part of your AMCAS application requires that you write about your “meaningful experiences.” Do you want to create a winning AMCAS application? Then let’s jump right into learning about how to choose and write about your experiences… “I became a better listener from volunteering on help lines.” “Joining the college debate team enhanced my ability…
Med Applicants: Be Strategic With Your Activities
This is the second post in our series on applying to med school in the most efficient and timely manner. You’ve got six months to make this happen. Make sure you do it right by following the tips in Med School Action Plan: 6 Steps for the 6 Months Before You Apply. In the time…
5 Tips For Aspiring Premed Researchers
Gaining research experience won’t just make you a more competitive medical school applicant—it’ll also help you sharpen your critical thinking skills, and give you training you’ll draw on as a medical school student and physician. How can you find the right research opportunity for you? 1. Start early. Ideally, it would be great to have…
5 Reasons Why Med Applicants Should Volunteer
Med schools aren’t just looking for science geeks who’ve never stepped outside the lab. They’re looking for students who will not just succeed in the classroom, but who have also had rich and varied experiences that will make them stand out as an interesting and passionate individual and future doctor. It’s not that test scores…
What Do Scribes Do – And How to Become One [Episode 191]
Medical schools across the board want to know that the people they admit know what they’re getting into and have an understanding of clinical practice based on personal experience. Clinical exposure is virtually a requirement for acceptance to ALL U.S. medical schools. A great way to get such exposure is by working as a scribe….
4 Tips for Writing About Last Minute Extracurricular Activities
You want to write about all your fantastic non-school and non-work endeavors so that you really stand out from your competition, but when you start to think about it…you draw a blank. There must be SOMETHING you can show for how you use your free time, but what? Have you found yourself in a last minute…
How to Show that YOU Want to be a Doctor
“My mom is a doctor, my dad is a doctor. How can I prove to the med school admissions committees that I really want to be a doctor?” Concerned that your application doesn’t demonstrate the extent of your personal commitment to medicine? An experienced admissions consultant can guide you as you craft an application that…
Shadowing Experiences Around the Globe with Gap Medics [Episode 141]
If you’re a pre-health student interested in international travel and one of a kind clinical experiences, this is the show for you! Meet Ricky Persson of Gap Medics [1:40] Gap Medics overview [2:16] Gap Medics coordinates short term shadowing placements in the health professions for high school and college students. The placements are in 1-week blocks;…
What I Learned from My Shadowing Experiences
As a pre-med, I was grateful to shadow seven physicians in different medical environments. Some were primary care doctors, others were D.O. physicians. I even had the opportunity to learn alongside an orthopedic surgeon. People constantly say shadowing is important for resumes, applications, and medical school acceptances– and that’s true. But shadowing is more than…
