Getting into Medical School For Dummies
Overview
Your plain-English guide to getting into the medical school of your dreams
Getting accepted to medical school is a long and rigorous process and many students find they need help. If you're one of these students, Getting into Medical School For Dummies is the perfect tool to help you through the process and realize your dream.
By providing you with concise information about preparing for and applying to medical school, Getting into Medical School For Dummies prepares you for the application process. Written by an industry expert, it gives you a distinct advantage in the competitive medical school admissions
process, preparing you for every step and helping you create your best application.
- Takes you through the often-overwhelming process of applying to medical school
- Explains what medical schools and admissions committees are really looking for
- Provides plain-English explanations of complicated medical school admissions processes
If you're one of the over 40,000 students who apply to medical school each year and need help sorting through the admissions schedule, writing statements of intent, and preparing to take the MCAT, Getting Into Medical School For Dummies has you covered!
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About The Author
Carleen Eaton, MD, has used her expertise in admissions and test preparation, as well as her experiences as an applicant who received acceptances to top-ranked medical schools, to guide hundreds of applicants successfully through the medical school admissions process. She is the founder of prehealthadvising.com, a medical school admissions consulting firm.
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getting into medical school for dummies
CHEAT SHEET
Getting into medical school is extremely competitive, and the application process is long and complex. Keeping track of the application timeline is essential because early applicants are at an advantage when it comes to getting admitted to medical school. The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is a particularly important part of the admissions decision, and doing well on it will greatly enhance your chances of acceptance.
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Medical School
In medical school, you hear so many unfamiliar terms flying around, especially on the hospital wards, that you may start to feel like medicine has its own language. In a way, you’re right; however, you won’t find translations for the many slang terms used by physicians in those sources in a medical dictionary and in your textbooks.
As a medical student, you have days when you wonder why you got yourself into this field in the first place and others when you actually find med school fun. To help you get ready to take on the challenge of med school, here is a glimpse of what the experience is really like along with strategies for surviving, and even enjoying, the next four years.
Going from premedical student to attending physician is a process that requires more than a decade of test-taking and clinical training. To become a physician, you will overcome many hurdles. Here is an overview of each of the phases of the education and training you need to complete to become a practicing physician.
Medical School
There are many factors to consider when choosing which medical schools you might like to attend besides the sheer cost of medical school. Factors such as rank, educational curriculum, and others should be considered as you narrow the list of medical schools you want to apply to.
You need to compile a list of medical schools that include several safety schools – schools that, based on your GPA and MCAT scores, should be easy for you to get into – and several dream schools, along with several schools you like but perhaps don’t dream about.
Medical School
Securing a seat in medical school requires you to go through a very comprehensive admissions process. By completing each aspect of the medical school application early and well, you maximize your chance of ending the cycle with an acceptance in hand.
1. Take the MCAT
Taking the MCAT is one of the most important and most dreaded parts of applying to medical school.
Medical School
To create a successful medical school application, you must obtain the required letters of recommendation from your professors and others. But what is the best way to approach an evaluator and request a much needed letter of recommendation?
As you’ll soon learn, how you ask for a letter of recommendation is important; by approaching a letter writer in a professional manner and providing her with the information she needs to write a great letter, you give yourself the best chance of having a strong letter submitted correctly and on time.
Medical School
As an osteopathic (DO) medical school applicant, you find yourself faced with some form of the question “Why do you want to be an osteopathic physician?” many times during the medical school application process.
Although DO schools have a lot in common with allopathic (MD) schools, they’re also proud of their unique history, traditions, and principles, and they seek students who are genuinely interested in attending an osteopathic medical school.
Medical School
If you’re considering applying to osteopathic medical schools, you need to explore the profession to determine whether an osteopathic medical career is right for you. Because the medical field is dominated by MDs in terms of sheer numbers, finding out about osteopathic medicine takes some extra effort.
To get started, check out the AACOM site.
Medical School
If you’re considering medical school, your options include an M.D. (doctor of medicine) or D.O. (doctor of osteopathic medicine) degree. Students in osteopathic medical schools represent an ever-growing population, comprising more than 20% of all medical students.
Despite the ever-growing presence of DOs, many people, including premedical students, are unsure of exactly what a DO is, sometimes confusing these doctors with chiropractors or other types of alternative practitioners.
Medical School
Your medical school primary application is the first step in getting admitted to medical school. The application services submit your primary application to every medical school you apply to, so completing it properly is an admissions must.
The primary application contains detailed information about every aspect of your candidacy for medical school, from your academic record and list of activities to a personal statement and biographical information.
Medical School
The key to formulating great answers to typical medical school interview questions is identifying major points you want to include for particular interview topics, as well as a general framework for answering questions. Don’t compile an exhaustive list of responses and attempt to memorize them, which not only is impractical but also results in your sounding rehearsed rather than natural.
Medical School
Medical school applicants must decide whether to focus only on MD schools or DO schools, or to consider applying to both allopathic and osteopathic medical schools. For some applicants, whether a program leads to an MD or DO is of little importance; they apply to whichever schools provide them with the best chance of admission.
Medical School
When preparing your medical school application, you can obtain either a premedical committee or individual letters for your letters of recommendation (also known as letters of evaluation). A premedical committee letter is obtained from your academic institution’s premedical committee, while individual letters are obtained from individuals you can speak about you personally.
Medical School
Before reapplying to medical school, consider increasing your clinical, research, and other life experiences. Often, students are denied admittance to medical school because they have minimal exposure to clinical medicine, an overall thin resume, or a lack of in-depth involvement in community service and leadership activities.
If you’re sure about becoming a physician, consider pursuing a baccalaureate and medical degree through a combined Baccalaureate/MD (Bacc/MD) program. Acceptance into a Bacc/MD program means you’ve secured not only a seat in an undergraduate institution but also provisional acceptance into a medical school.
Some osteopathic medical schools offer Bacc/DO programs.
You’re probably well aware that medical school is expensive but may be unsure of exactly what costs are involved. Medical school tuition, while the largest expense, is not the only one you’ll face. In addition to tuition and fees associated with medical school, you need to pay for things like books, rent, utilities, food, health insurance, transportation, and other necessities.
Medical School
Sitting across a table from a faculty member and talking one-on-one about your medical school application, doesn’t represent the full the range of interview formats used by medical schools. At some schools, applicants face multiple interviewers at once, interview alongside other applicants, or participate in a multiple mini-interview (MMI), which involves rotating to a different station every ten or so minutes.
Medical School
The multiple mini-interview is very different from a traditional one-on-one or panel interview some medical schools give. With an MMI, you don’t meet with one or more interviewers for an extended length of time and discuss standard questions such as “Why medicine?” and “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” Instead, you rotate through a series of stations, encountering a different case, question, task, or role-playing scenario at each.
Medical School
If you’ve followed the nontraditional road to medical school, your application should reflect your maturity, determination, and life experiences. As a nontraditional medical school applicant, the key to success in the admissions process is to create a compelling application package that highlights the experiences, skills, and qualities you’ve developed as a result of traversing a longer, less direct path to medicine.
Medical School
Getting into medical school is extremely competitive, and the application process is long and complex. Keeping track of the application timeline is essential because early applicants are at an advantage when it comes to getting admitted to medical school. The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is a particularly important part of the admissions decision, and doing well on it will greatly enhance your chances of acceptance.
Medical School
Even if you went away to college, there are some special logistics related to attending medical school that you should be aware of. Attending medical school takes a lot of planning, from deciding where to live to figuring out the best route to campus. By the time medical school starts, you need to be set up and ready to go.
Medical School
GPA and Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores allow admissions committees to assess your academic potential; work, research, clinical, and extracurricular activities show your interests and the extent to which you’ve investigated medicine. However, schools also want to know about your motivation for pursuing medicine, your interpersonal skills, your personal qualities, and your character.
Medical School
Socioeconomically disadvantaged applicants are underrepresented within medicine, so medical schools take such disadvantages into account when they review applications. Medical school cost, lack of exposure to the profession, limited educational opportunities, and other factors are barriers that prevent individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds from becoming doctors.
Medical School
Applying for financial aid of any type means entering a complex world of regulations and interest rates. The starting point for medical school financial aid, like undergraduate financial aid, is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
The information you enter on the FAFSA is transmitted to the financial aid offices of the medical schools that you select and is used to determine your EFC (eligibility for aid) and financial need.
A Baccalaureate/MD allows you to pursue a baccalaureate and medical degree at the same time, through a dual-degree. To gain admission to a Bacc/MD program, you need to do two things: Build a strong application portfolio during high school and present your application package effectively.
How to be a strong contender for Bacc/MD programs
Applying to a Bacc/MD program means you’re trying for admission to a college as well as to a medical school, so the factors that Bacc/MD programs look for are a combination of what undergraduate programs and medical schools seek in their future students.
Medical School
One of the most critical elements of your medical school application is the personal statement. Your personal statement tells the medical school application committee who you are and what brought you to where you are now. In other words, your personal statement helps to distinguish you from other medical school applicants.
Medical School
Getting through medical school is a lot easier and more enjoyable if you have a strong support system. Support systems in med school are even more important, because when you go through a tough period (and you will!) then your support system will provide you with someone to turn to for help and advice.
If you’re attending medical school in or near your hometown or where you went to college, you may already have family members and friends nearby, which is a good thing.
Medical School
A medical school primary application contains basically anything about you that is remotely relevant to determining your suitability for the medical profession. A medical school primary application contains not only your personal statement, but a laundry list of details, such as the dates you volunteered at a homeless shelter your freshman year and the name of the art history course you took at a community college two summers ago.
Medical School
If either your overall or science GPA isn’t up to par, getting admitted to medical school will be extremely difficult. When applying to medical school, even a strong MCAT score and extensive extracurricular activities may not be enough to compensate for a weak GPA.
For students who initially apply to medical school at the end of their junior year but aren’t accepted, senior year provides more opportunities to get great grades and increase their GPAs before reapplying.
Medical School
Obtaining great letters of recommendation is critical to the success of your medical school application. When you request a letter of recommendation for someone and they do not respond with an enthusiastic “I’d be happy to write you an outstanding letter of recommendation!” you need to be prepared with a plan.
Medical School
It’s a happy problem to receive multiple acceptances to medical school, but you must manage them carefully to retain your spot. Allopathic and osteopathic medical schools handle acceptances differently, so familiarizing yourself with their admissions policies can help you successfully manage your acceptances properly.
Medical School
Whether you are submitting premedical committee or individual letters of recommendation with your medical school application, the letters of evaluation you solicit from professors, physicians, and so on need to show that these folks have a strong grasp on you and your strengths.
Your recommenders need to be people you’ve cultivated a strong relationship with over time.
Medical School
Nontraditional medical school applicants traverse an indirect path to medicine that still requires traditional premed course work. Preparing academically for medical school as a nontraditional student can range from starting from scratch with the prerequisite course work to jumping straight into more-advanced science courses to further strengthen an already-solid science foundation.
Medical School
You should first prepare for a multiple-mini interview (MMI) the same way you do any other; by researching the medical school and your application, and preparing answers to current healthcare and bioethics issues being debated publicly.
By completing those tasks, you gain the foundation needed to excel at MMI stations requiring you to analyze ethics scenarios as well as to respond to questions at a short standard-format interview station, which is a part of some MMIs.
Medical School
Traditionally, a medical school interview is conducted one-on-one or with a panel. Preparing for these kinds of interviews as part of your medical school application begins with basic information gathering about the prospective school and current healthcare/bioethics issues. With this raw material to work with, you have the foundation to respond to many of the interview questions that come your way.
Medical School
Whatever the reasons you may have for making the decision to apply to an international medical school, you need to research the school thoroughly if your end goal is to practice in the United States.
Check an international school’s certification
By gathering information from different sources regarding international schools, you can get a broad perspective of a school’s strengths and weaknesses.
Doing well in medical school requires being organized but flexible, as well as having a strong support system. Staying organized is important in med school because you’ll be called upon to learn more information in a shorter time than you would’ve imagined is possible.
The learning curve for being a medical student is steep and often requires on-the-job training; however, you can do some things to help start off strong and lay a solid foundation for the rest of your education.
Medical School
Successfully timing your medical school applications can improve your changes of generating acceptances rather than waitlists or refusals. Submitting medical school applications early requires planning and stamina. So when and how should you start to prepare in order to hit your application target dates? The following tips can help keep you on track throughout this long process:
Be ready for a long haul.
Medical School
Even the strongest applicants to medical school may receive rejections, so if you’re far from alone. However, you can turn a rejection from medical school into a constructive piece of feedback if you assess your application to determine the likely reason for the rejection and then take steps to address your weaknesses.
Medical School
If you’ve been waitlisted after applying to medical school, you should continue to work toward gaining admission until the admission cycle is over. Being waitlisted for a particular medical school shows you that you are qualified for that medical program, but were not chosen for other reasons.
Distinguish between types of waitlists
To understand why waitlists (alternate lists) are used, keep in mind that the goal of each school is to ensure that its class is full and is composed of high-quality students.
Medical School
Medical students in international schools face challenges when it comes to matching into a residency and obtaining a license to practice in the United States. License and residency issues for international medical students are not impossible to overcome however.
As you know, obtaining a U.S. medical license requires more than just having a medical degree.
Medical School
Getting a license and completing residency requirements in osteopathic medicine is similar in many ways to allopathic medicine. As an osteopathic physician, you can be granted a license to practice in any one of the 50 U.S. states.
Like graduates of allopathic schools, osteopathic medical school graduates must pass a series of licensure examinations as well as complete one or more years of residency training per the requirements of the state medical board in order to obtain a medical license in that state.
Medical School
Your Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) score is a crucial factor in admission to medical school. A stellar MCAT score can take your medical school application from good to great in the admissions committee’s eyes. Here are some tips to help you nail this challenging exam:
Make a detailed (but flexible) study schedule.
Medical School
The personal statement you include with your medical school application tells the application committee who you are. Through your personal statement, you can distinguish yourself from other medical school applicants. To craft the best personal statement, you need an organized approach. After brainstorming ideas and selecting a theme, you’re ready to start organizing your thoughts into a clear, logical story.
Medical School
Doing a practice or mock interview is a great way to replicate the medical school interview experience. Mock interviews prepare you for a medical school interview by giving you a chance to work the rough spots out of your delivery and identify problems with the content or presentation of your responses. You’ll also be more comfortable going into your first interview if you’ve simulated the experience before.
Medical School
There are programs in place to help minority and disadvantaged applicants prepare for, apply to, and pay for medical school. Minority or disadvantaged students can make their dream of going to medical school come true by taking advantage of these resources.
For example, individuals who self-identify as a member of a group that has been historically underrepresented in medicine or who are economically disadvantaged and who are U.
Medical School
If you reapply to medical school, be sure to revise your personal statement. Do not reuse your previous personal statement; as a reapplicant to medical school, you really need to differentiate your current application from the previous one as much as you can. Some medical schools keep previous applications on file and compare the old and current applications.
Along with absorbing vast amounts of information and learning clinical skills, an important task you need to complete as a medical student is choosing a specialty. The major exposure you have to various specialties occurs during your clinical rotations as a third- and fourth-year student. You spend time doing rotations in many different areas of medicine and get a sense of what you like — and what you don’t.
Medical School
With so many things to fill out, submit, and keep track of during the medical school application process, you can easily overlook or mishandle a detail. However, every element of your application, from your personal statement to your performance on the interview, can make the difference being between gaining an acceptance and landing in the “rejected” pile.
Medical School
To achieve success with your medical school application, you need to start early and stay on top of the application process. The timeline for applying to medical school begins in your junior year if you plan on entering medical school right after college, or the year after that if you are taking a gap year to improve your MCAT scores, GPA, or relevant experience.
Medical School
Success with your medical school application depends on perseverance and timing. During senior year, you finished up secondary applications and give medical school interviews. You deal with multiple acceptances if you get them and waitlists if you’re put on one. If all goes well, you spend the summer after you graduate getting ready to head off to medical school.
Medical School
You may have set out on one career path and started to feel a pull toward medicine along the way. If you’re in this position, you may be wondering just what becoming a physician requires and whether making such a major change is worth the sacrifice. For some career-changers, becoming a physician sounds good in theory, but the reality of the educational requirements and the job itself lead them to decide against it.
Understanding the timeline for applying to medical school helps ensure you complete every step early in the application cycle. Submitting a timely medical school application improves your chances of acceptance to a med school.
With rolling admissions (where schools review applicants’ files as they receive them), early applicants are at an advantage while those who delay face worse odds of admission to medical school.
Medical School
Updating your letters of recommendation is another way to strengthen your medical school reapplication. Exactly how you handle letters of recommendation as a reapplicant depends on whether you use a premedical committee letter or individual letters of recommendation.
If you applied with a premedical committee letter previously, check with your premedical advisor to find out the committee’s policy regarding reapplicants.
Medical School
How do you assess your chances of acceptance into medical school? The best way of determining whether you will get into medical school is to look at some of the statistics pertaining to medical school admission and the factors that schools consider when evaluating applicants.
Keep in mind however, that statistics are just a guide and that your chance of admission can be increased by managing your application strategically in terms of your timing, choice of schools, and your primary application package.
Medical School
Having a disability doesn’t necessarily preclude you from becoming a doctor. Many people with various disabilities have attained medical degrees, including those with learning disabilities, hearing and visual impairments, and other disabilities. Physicians with disabilities contribute to the diversity of the profession and bring unique insights to the practice of medicine.
Medical School
To obtain the best individual letters of recommendation for medical school, it’s best to ask early. This is true when asking for a premedical committee letter as well, since the evaluation process often begins early in the academic year. That’s why it’s best to become familiar with the guidelines and timetable set by your school’s premedical committee and to stick to it precisely.
Medical School
After you’ve been denied admission to medical school, you need to regroup and decide whether to reapply immediately or sit out a cycle before applying for admission to medical school again. Because medical training takes so long to complete, you may be eager to get started with medical school as soon as possible; however, reapplying immediately isn’t always the best strategy.
Medical School
You will need to include a personal statement with your medical school application. Through your personal statement, you can distinguish yourself from other medical school applicants by highlighting your personal qualities. To craft the best personal statement, you need an organized approach.
With a basic outline, an overarching theme, and your list of ideas, you have the tools to write your first complete draft.
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