How You Can Start Preparing for Medical School Applications Now

Hey guys, I just wanted to share some tips on applying to med school! This post is applies to you wherever you may be in the process; from freshman year to pre-application season premeds. Learning about it now will help you begin or make sure that you are headed towards the right direction, so let’s get started! For my premeds:#1: The most important step to building a well thought out application is including d e t a i l s. Make sure you are very meticulous and comprehensive about everything you have done that has led you to pursuing medicine. The committee has nothing to base you off of except a picture, the numbers (scores and GPA), and what you chose to tell them about yourself. Therefore, include valuable information such as activities you’ve participated in, long-term/big volunteer projects, your medical and shadowing experiences, jobs, academic achievements, research, extracurriculars. There are also areas for leadership, hobbies, coursework, and future plans.  In addition to listing them, be prepared to write a condensed but informative description about each activity. Being able to fill in all of these sections with quality and interesting details will add to the overall desirability of your application. My best suggestion to ensure you are thorough is to start documenting what you think will be beneficial to your application early on. You might not be able to recall all of this information on the spot. When something impacts you that made you a better person or furthers your interest in becoming a doctor, record how you felt and what happened. These stories are what make you unique compared to everyone else. #2: Make sure that you plan enough activities to fill in all the sections. Have a timeline for yourself of when you want to start volunteering, working, or shadowing. Do what fits with your schedule and your interests.#3: Retake classes (or MCAT) if necessary to improve your GPA. Med schools will not see this as a negative. If anything, this shows that you knew you could do better and that you are not going to give up. You don’t have to be genius to be a doctor; you just have to have the qualities of one. Some schools replace the grades completely which means you will be able to boost your grades to help you get past the preliminaries when the committee is scanning through the applications. For my applicants:#1: Submit your application early! You should be submitting it by the end of May at the latest to take advantage of rolling admission. Many med schools offer this type of admission where applications are evaluated as they are received. This means that if you apply nearer to the deadline, your chances of getting an interview will decrease because during this time, schools have already sent out interviews and are filling out their spots as they go. #2: Filling out the “future plans” section for your benefit. Let’s say you’ve only had 1 shadowing experience and feel that it would be a weakness to your application. In this section, you are able to put activities you plan on doing but have not done yet once you submit the application. You should fill out that you are going to continue taking courses at your university and participating in the usual extracurriculars. You can also add that you will be shadowing a doctor, or pursuing something that is missing from the body of your application. This way, the committee can understand that you are planning to do it and it doesn’t make them guess have you or have you not done it. It indicates that you know your application is not perfect but that you acknowledge it and are working on completing it. #3: Reach out to professors for recommendations as soon as possible. It is always a courtesy to give them a month’s notice to write you a letter! You should reach out to people that have seen you grow, know who you are, and will vouch for you. They should know you on a personal level that is different from just the typical classroom teacher and student interaction. Examples of who to ask for recommendation letters are professors you were a teacher’s assistant for, lab supervisors, doctors you’ve shadowed for at least 1 month, pre-health advisors, etc. When asking them to write a letter, make sure you provide them resources such as a resume, your personal statement, your unofficial transcript, and other points you would like to mention. You can also explain why you want them to write your recommendation letter to build that personal connection. This is of course not an exhaustive list but it highlights the most important aspects that med schools look for. I hope that you feel less anxious about what to do to apply after reading this. If you have any more questions, please reach out to me for answers! Lub dub, Shanon