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Our clients are bright, accomplished people—who make these mistakes all the time. Here's what to avoid in your writing. Trying to include everything. You *cannot* fit every pivotal experience you've ever had into your essay—and hey, that's why you have Work and Activities. Stick to one or two...

Does my hobby have to have a purpose? As we've mentioned, we encourage you to use you hobbies in your W&A section. We once advised a client to write about being a "Disney Adult." She was hyper-involved in a club for enthusiasts. It might sound silly—but it’s also compelling, right? In a W&A...

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) recommends researching schools several months before submitting your AMCAS application. In a perfect world, we like our clients to start by February or March at the latest. You've likely thought about your top picks—but you need to apply to...

Critical thinking. Every question you’re asked in an MMI is going to require critical thinking and explaining your thought process. We’re simply adding this short selection of questions that obviously require critical thinking so that you can more consciously practice meeting those goals. A...

The Picture Station. It’s possible that your MMI will include a picture station, where you are presented with an image and asked to describe it. The image could show something emotionally evocative or medicine-related or look like a vacation photo. Like most MMI stations, this one tests your...

If you're still waiting to hear from a medical school or you are on the waitlist, you can bolster your chances by continuing to demonstrate your enthusiasm for the program. After sending a letter of intent or update letter, consider the following ways to showcase your interest. Follow the...

News you have been waitlisted at one of the medical schools on your list is disappointing. But the game isn’t over. "What are my chances of getting off a waitlist (in a good way)?” Your chances of getting off the waitlist are directly related to the school’s yield percentage. If, for example, a...

Medicine is a team sport. To gauge your collaboration skills, some schools will assess you in teamwork activities that you complete with another applicant. The pair of you might be asked to create an action plan together or one of you may act as an instructor and the other as a doer. (And then...

"Enter the room and…" Not every school that utilizes the MMI will use role-play. But if they do, you could be presented with scenarios—in an in-person interview, it is sometimes taped to the door of a room—in which you must enter the room and speak to the actor inside as if they were your...

You've now reviewed our last two posts on how to answer Moral & Ethical Situation Prompts. Here are some prompts to put what you've read into practice. Don't forget to verbalize: What information is missing? What assumptions are you making? How do you work through the situation? You’re a...

There are times when your personal beliefs may conflict with your ability to provide a legal medical procedure, such as abortion or physician-assisted death. So, what then? You can be a conscientious objector. But that doesn’t preclude you from providing your patient with information on a doctor...

In an MMI interview, the Moral & Ethical Situation prompts are the ones that terrify applicants. They feel so high stakes. For example: Decide which of these two patients gets an organ transplant. Geez Louise. Many MMI questions—especially the ones about morals and ethics—may omit details you...

Students with lower MCAT scores and GPAs are more likely to be accepted to allopathic schools abroad than in the U.S. Due to Israel’s 2022 announcement that foreign students may no longer matriculate to Israeli medical programs, you'll be looking at the islands. Schools in the Caribbean are...

Sometimes what you're being evaluated on will be obvious, other times, not so much. "We do not tell applicants what characteristic we are testing them on in a given MMI prompt," an admissions team member told us. You don't have to emphasize all of these in every response, but qualities and...

Despite what you may think, med schools don’t expect you to be perfect. Everyone has had a “failure” they’ve overcome. So for this Secondary Essay prompt, you might feel a bit vulnerable—good. To get a little Brené Brown: Vulnerability leads to bravery. Look at this essay as an opportunity to...

It’s easy to want to kick back and celebrate once you finish your Personal Statement and Work and Activities section. And you definitely should! But don’t let this sense of relief stop your application momentum. Get started now on your Secondary Essays by drafting responses to recurrent themes...

Before you submit your application, don’t forget to review and update, where necessary, your social media pages. Admissions officers should never be surprised by your online presence. Rather, it should provide further depth on the person they will get to know through the application process...

If you’re a pre-med on the hunt for some high-quality clinical experiences, medical scribing could be an excellent fit. This paid position can help you to develop a strong network of provider relationships, gain an excellent foundation in medical terminology, observe clinical decision-making...

The AMCAS application allows for a total of 15 entries. For each entry, you will provide a description of the activity (700-characters including spaces), experience dates, and completed/anticipated hours. You will then designate three of these entries as your “most meaningful,” which will give...

The MCAT doesn’t just test your understanding of the material—it also tests your time management and strategy skills. Dr. Stuart Donnelly aka “Dr. MCAT,” a beloved test tutor we routinely recommend to our clients, advises that you take at least ten practice tests to build up your stamina. And to...

The U.S. News and World Report just removed the Best Law School and Best Medical School previews, which were posted earlier this month. In place of the previews, which showed the Top 14 Law Schools and Top 15 Medical Schools: Research, U.S. News posted this announcement, which explains that the...

The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) just announced that the 2024 application will include a new experience category in the Work and Activities section: Social Justice/Advocacy. AMCAS defines a social justice/advocacy experience as “one in which the applicant worked to...

In the U.S. News’ preview of its 2024 Best Medical Schools (Research), Johns Hopkins University overtook perennial leader, Harvard, for the top rank. The full rankings will be released April 18th. In addition to the noteworthy change at the top, significant movement occurred elsewhere within...

The AMCAS “disadvantaged applicant” question is no more. This year’s AMCAS application has introduced a new question in its place that asks more broadly about an applicant’s “impactful experiences.” The 2024 AMCAS application will now include the following question and guidance: In a pop-up...

Many pre-medical students have spent the majority of their lives receiving praise and playing starring roles both inside and outside of the classroom. Your commitment to success is part of why you made it into medical school, but it can also make the transition particularly tough. Medical school...

According to social media reports, this year's National Resident Matching Program left 555 unfilled positions in emergency medicine. While the positions will likely be filled in the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program, it is noteworthy because, as recently as three to four years ago, the...

A pre-med/pre-health advisor can be an invaluable resource. In addition to providing academic support, they can tell you about the school’s internal processes (such as requesting letters of evaluation), as well as available shadowing, clinical, and/or research opportunities. But, to make the...

Throughout your medical school primary and secondary applications, you will want to highlight the following skills and qualities. Leadership. This is a key quality that separates physicians from other members of a healthcare provider team. Throughout your application, you will want to showcase...

A memoir requires more than a recounting of events from your life. Rather, you must show the reader that you’ve experienced transcendence. Marion Roach Smith calls it the “golden rule” of memoir. She writes, “Memoir is not about what you did. Memoir is about what you did with it.” The experience...

Good news! No one who hates you will agree to write you a Letter of Recommendation. It's too annoying of a task to bother with if you don't have nice things to say about someone. Still, some letters can be lackluster, especially if they're rushed. There are ways to make sure that recommenders...

If you’re looking to start medical school in the Fall of 2024, now is the time to get started with the application process! Applying to medical school is arduous, but with proper planning, you can reduce your stress and maintain a manageable task load. The four components of the medical school...

Harvard Medical School’s Dean, Dr. George Daley, announced Tuesday morning that the school will no longer participate in the U.S. News & World Report “Best Medical Schools” ranking. In an open letter to the Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine community, Daley noted that...

It is not unusual to retake the MCAT. Data from the AAMC shows that between 2019 and 2021, 38 percent of test-takers were “repeaters,” who had taken the test at least once before. And “repeaters” tended to achieve score improvements. --Those with an initial score between 472 and 517 saw a...

If you're still waiting to hear from a medical school or you are on the waitlist, you can bolster your chances by continuing to demonstrate your enthusiasm for the program. After sending a letter of intent or update letter, consider the following ways to showcase your interest. Follow the...

Studies show that individuals who identify as LGBTQ report worse health care experiences and poorer health outcomes. But in following the lead of the AAMC, medical schools are working to remedy these health inequities by incorporating more LGBTQ-focused initiatives into their curriculums...

Last weekend, the President and CEO of the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), David Skorton, MD, addressed over 4,200 leaders in academic medicine on the “four things that keep me up at night.” These include structural and cultural inequities in academic medicine, deteriorating...

Despite the prevalence of obesity and related diseases, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and stroke in the US, there is little training on nutrition in American medical schools. Dr. Stephen Devries, a cardiologist and co-lead of the Nutrition Education Working...

News you have been waitlisted at one of the medical schools on your list is disappointing. But the game isn’t over. You can influence your chance of being selected from the waitlist of any school by continuing to showcase your interest in their program through update letters, visits, and...

Earlier this year, researchers Joseph M. Maciuba, Yating Teng, Matthew Pflipsen, Mary A. Andrews, and Steven J. Durning published findings from early research into the qualitative differences in the AMCAS applications of medical students identified as high performing (via entry into a medical...

The autumn is often a waiting game for medical school applicants. You will wait for interview invitations and admissions decisions. It can be excruciating! But there’s more to do. You can begin writing your update letters. If you haven’t heard anything from a school for six weeks (after...