Ask LizzyM (Almost) Anything 2012 edition

[Goobs]

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what do you mean i've already won?

Cause it's beautiful here! Except now we have to leave for school 😛


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[IlDestriero]

what do you mean i've already won?

You get to enjoy the glory that is The Golden State.

 

[La Presse]

Was that really you in the Chatroom last night? There are so many trolls that it is very hard to tell.

 

[SaturnRX]

Lizzy,

I'm starting to prepare for reapplication. I scored poorly on my first MCAT (26R, physics 6), but a 33R second round (11 across), and was told by both schools I interviewed at that this was a major reason I was finally rejected the first round. In prepping to reapply, I've noticed several schools ask reapplicants how they have strengthened their application since the previous cycle if they are applying to the specific school for the second time. That got me curious as to how much of your previous application the average school stores. Just the scores/GPA/basics or everything down to LORs? I'm trying to decide how much I need to specifically state I've changed versus how much they'll already have on hand.

Thank you!

 

[noncon]

This question is for you as a faculty and not as an adcom, although I am not sure if this is in your area of research. I used to hang out on an academic internet forum and again made the mistake of taking all posts at face value. I learned Stata but when I was transferred to another program office, I had to learn to use SAS. Then I moved to my present university and there I had to learn SPSS. Finally I was transferred to this Minority Student/Diversity Center which has no access to either Stata, SAS or SPSS. I was frustrated by the wasted money and effort on Stata and SAS and SPSS. The internet forum members told me about PSPP, a clone of SPSS but urged me to learn R, which is freeware. PSPP was highly inadequate/incomplete and seemed to be frozen in a permanent development state, so I invested several weeks learning R. Which got me nowhere. All those months were wasted because R is a rather advanced package with a very frustrating learning curve. Then those forum members were laughing in some posts about how they waste time of clueless graduate students and faculty by recommending R to them. Still, R is one of the best software packages around, except for the learning curve. Would you suggest I continue to struggle with R (freeware) or bite the bullet and pay the outrageous sum for the professional/full version SPSS and keeping renewing the license every 12 months? (about $300 every year I think)

 

[LizzyM]

thanks for answering all the questions LizzyM!

i have another one.

does an honors thesis in a non-science field (in the humanities) carry the same weight as a typical biology honors thesis? my honors thesis took me an unhealthy amount of time, and i really want adcoms to give it some substantial weight.

thanks again

A thesis is evidence of scholarly work in a field of study.

Most of the adcoms are physicians or natural scientists with a few social scientists and the very rare person who is a specialist in the humanities, public health, library science, etc.

For the most part, schools that are research focused are looking for students who might be interested in working in the school's labs or who might be persuaded to do so. A senior thesis is evidence that a student has engaged in research in the past. Those students are considered more likely to engage in research in med school compared with those who did not do bench research before med school.

If a thesis outside of the natural sciences is related to medicine (e.g. a oral history project describing early hospital ethics boards and their decisions related to kidney dialysis) then you might catch the eye of someone who sees medical history and bioethics as an important area of scholarship and, particularly if there are faculty with similar interests, you might have a good shot at that school.

If a thesis is really far afield, like the role of the tuba in martial music of the late nineteen century, then it isn't going to be very impressive to a med school admissions committee.

 

[LizzyM]

Wait, I have a question about that as it sort of contradicts advice I've heard from Catalystik (unless I misunderstood one of you). I personally am planning on having a Teacher/Tutor listing under non clinical volunteering that lists my various corresponding activities, start and stop dates, and descriptions of each. Is that not allowed since they have different dates and contact info?

I've seen it done that way and it is ok...

If something is one of the top 3 most significant activities you've done, I think it deserves its own spot.

 

[LizzyM]

Was that really you in the Chatroom last night? There are so many trolls that it is very hard to tell.

Chatroom? Never. I was watching a movie last night.

 

[LizzyM]

Lizzy,

I'm starting to prepare for reapplication. I scored poorly on my first MCAT (26R, physics 6), but a 33R second round (11 across), and was told by both schools I interviewed at that this was a major reason I was finally rejected the first round. In prepping to reapply, I've noticed several schools ask reapplicants how they have strengthened their application since the previous cycle if they are applying to the specific school for the second time. That got me curious as to how much of your previous application the average school stores. Just the scores/GPA/basics or everything down to LORs? I'm trying to decide how much I need to specifically state I've changed versus how much they'll already have on hand.

Thank you!

Make the assumption that the application reviewer sees only your current application. At my place we can request to see an old application but it is a major production and not something we do more than once or twice in a cycle and I'd never seen it done before this year. (It is electronic and only one person has access to old files.)

What have you done since you last applied? Well, you improved your MCAT score by 7 points including a 5 point improvement in the physical science section That is huge. Whatever else you've done in terms of work, volunteering, learning about the world.

 

[LizzyM]

This question is for you as a faculty and not as an adcom, although I am not sure if this is in your area of research. I used to hang out on an academic internet forum and again made the mistake of taking all posts at face value. I learned Stata but when I was transferred to another program office, I had to learn to use SAS. Then I moved to my present university and there I had to learn SPSS. Finally I was transferred to this Minority Student/Diversity Center which has no access to either Stata, SAS or SPSS. I was frustrated by the wasted money and effort on Stata and SAS and SPSS. The internet forum members told me about PSPP, a clone of SPSS but urged me to learn R, which is freeware. PSPP was highly inadequate/incomplete and seemed to be frozen in a permanent development state, so I invested several weeks learning R. Which got me nowhere. All those months were wasted because R is a rather advanced package with a very frustrating learning curve. Then those forum members were laughing in some posts about how they waste time of clueless graduate students and faculty by recommending R to them. Still, R is one of the best software packages around, except for the learning curve. Would you suggest I continue to struggle with R (freeware) or bite the bullet and pay the outrageous sum for the professional/full version SPSS and keeping renewing the license every 12 months? (about $300 every year I think)

Which is more valuable to you; the time it will take to learn R or the money you'll need to spend to use SPSS? It all depends on what you value.

 

[ur2l8]

what do you mean i've already won?

He didn't win, it ain't as good as Georgia! Ain't nothin as good as Gawgia!

 

[k12123]

Hello LizzyM!

My pre-med advisor keeps telling us that adcoms hate seeing science courses done over the summer session especially prereqs. Is this true? I have taken gen physics I over summer and received a B (A in the lab) and gen bio II and received an A (A in the lab). Are these going to be looked down upon?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[ohsowhat]

Thank you so much for doing this!

I'm a junior and have a 3.7 cGPA, 3.6 sGPA.

Does upward trend count for anything? I started with a 3.5 cGPA 3.4 sGPA for 1.5 years, and since then have had a 4.0. If I continue with this trend, will my initial bad grades not matter as much?

How much do grades in pre-req courses matter? I've gotten an A, B in Gen Chem, B, B- in OChem, A-, B in Bio so far. My other BCPM grades in math and neuroscience are all As, but I'm worried my pre-req grades, which aren't good, will count much more against me.

I also didn't decide to try for medical school until a few months ago, so I just started my volunteering and shadowing now. I plan on having about 50 hours of shadowing and 200 hours of volunteering by the time I apply (taking a gap year so I'll have another 1.5 years to get these hours). Will it count against me that I started these activities late?

Thanks again!

 

[noncon]

Curious about one aspect of minority statistics in medical schools.

It is well known that Asians need higher MCATs than even whites to get into medical schools. Asians, however, are two distinct races grouped together. I don't know why they are grouped this way but they are.

Group A - The Chinese/Japanese plus people from countries like Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, North Korea, Vietnam, etc.
Group B - People originally from countries like Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.

Both groups look vastly different from each other and are stereotyped differently.

Women of group A are highly sought after and desired as sex slaves, sex symbols, etc. Some white males prefer them to white women.

Men from group B are especially hated in post-911 America. They are also mistaken for terrorists - recently in New York a woman pushed a Hindoo male under a train and killed him, thinking he was Muslim.

I have long suspected that if you separate Asians into distinct groups you would get different results. Based on PhD admission data at one business school (sample size over 500 but certainly not representative because this is only one school and a top school at that), this was my finding for accepted PhD students:

Average GMAT scores:
Whites: 670
Asians: 691
So clearly Asians need higher scores than whites to be admitted to the doctoral program in Business at that school.

But when you separate out the Asian races, this is what you get:

The "Chinese" females: 634
The Indian/Pakistan/Bangladesh/Sri Lanka, etc males: 714

So adcoms appear to be favoring the "sex symbol" group and giving them an easier path while discriminating against the "mistaken as terrorist" group and holding them to a much higher standard.

Is this also happening in your field of medicine?

 

[Si Se Puede]

Curious about one aspect of minority statistics in medical schools.

It is well known that Asians need higher MCATs than even whites to get into medical schools. Asians, however, are two distinct races grouped together. I don't know why they are grouped this way but they are.

Group A - The Chinese/Japanese plus people from countries like Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, North Korea, Vietnam, etc.
Group B - People originally from countries like Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.

Both groups look vastly different from each other and are stereotyped differently.

Women of group A are highly sought after and desired as sex slaves, sex symbols, etc. Some white males prefer them to white women.

Men from group B are especially hated in post-911 America. They are also mistaken for terrorists - recently in New York a woman pushed a Hindoo male under a train and killed him, thinking he was Muslim.

I have long suspected that if you separate Asians into distinct groups you would get different results. Based on PhD admission data at one business school (sample size over 500 but certainly not representative because this is only one school and a top school at that), this was my finding for accepted PhD students:

Average GMAT scores:
Whites: 670
Asians: 691
So clearly Asians need higher scores than whites to be admitted to the doctoral program in Business at that school.

But when you separate out the Asian races, this is what you get:

The "Chinese" females: 634
The Indian/Pakistan/Bangladesh/Sri Lanka, etc males: 714

So adcoms appear to be favoring the "sex symbol" group and giving them an easier path while discriminating against the "mistaken as terrorist" group and holding them to a much higher standard.

Is this also happening in your field of medicine?

It is true that women are considered minorities in certain fields, especially engineering and most science fields. This may explain the difference between scores across genders, although that is a very big gap you found.

 

[LanLan]

Hello, Lizzy,
I am sophomore in college. I am from China, and I have been to US for five years. Currently, I take off a year to take care of my mom since she has cancer. I am very interest in medicine, especially during this year, I went to hospital with my mom. However, my question is I did not speak very well English. Should I take a year off to improve my English skill as well as my clinical experience ? Will it matter when I apply for medical school?
Thanks so much.

 

[Long Way to Go]

How disadvantageous is it, if at all, for someone to take a prerequisite course at their home institution during a summer session? Would it matter if the course was physics or organic chemistry as opposed to biology, general chemistry, or another course?

 

[LizzyM]

Hello LizzyM!

My pre-med advisor keeps telling us that adcoms hate seeing science courses done over the summer session especially prereqs. Is this true? I have taken gen physics I over summer and received a B (A in the lab) and gen bio II and received an A (A in the lab). Are these going to be looked down upon?

Thanks for all your help!

As long as you did it as your home institution, it is not a big deal at all. If you took summer classes at a community college or a lower tier school than your own, then it might be looked down on.

 

[LizzyM]

Thank you so much for doing this!

I'm a junior and have a 3.7 cGPA, 3.6 sGPA.

Does upward trend count for anything? I started with a 3.5 cGPA 3.4 sGPA for 1.5 years, and since then have had a 4.0. If I continue with this trend, will my initial bad grades not matter as much?

How much do grades in pre-req courses matter? I've gotten an A, B in Gen Chem, B, B- in OChem, A-, B in Bio so far. My other BCPM grades in math and neuroscience are all As, but I'm worried my pre-req grades, which aren't good, will count much more against me.

I also didn't decide to try for medical school until a few months ago, so I just started my volunteering and shadowing now. I plan on having about 50 hours of shadowing and 200 hours of volunteering by the time I apply (taking a gap year so I'll have another 1.5 years to get these hours). Will it count against me that I started these activities late?

Thanks again!

What's done is done. Keep working hard and getting A's!

If you volunteer from January 2013 until you apply in June 2014, you should be in good shape. You can always include in your personal statement a description of how you came from whatever career plans you had around to medicine.

 

[LizzyM]

Curious about one aspect of minority statistics in medical schools. <snip> So [MBA] adcoms appear to be favoring the "sex symbol" group and giving them an easier path while discriminating against the "mistaken as terrorist" group and holding them to a much higher standard.

Is this also happening in your field of medicine?

I have no idea. I've never looked at the data and I don't have access to that data.

 

[LizzyM]

Hello, Lizzy,
I am sophomore in college. I am from China, and I have been to US for five years. Currently, I take off a year to take care of my mom since she has cancer. I am very interest in medicine, especially during this year, I went to hospital with my mom. However, my question is I did not speak very well English. Should I take a year off to improve my English skill as well as my clinical experience ? Will it matter when I apply for medical school?
Thanks so much.

Good written and spoken English is very important for admission to medical school in the US. In addition to earning good grades in college, you should work on your English language skills. You should also spend some time testing your interest in medicine through work, volunteering and shadowing doctors. You might start by asking some of the doctors who are treating your mother if you can shadow them.

 

[LizzyM]

How disadvantageous is it, if at all, for someone to take a prerequisite course at their home institution during a summer session? Would it matter if the course was physics or organic chemistry as opposed to biology, general chemistry, or another course?

Summer courses at your home institution are just fine. I often see this strategy in people who want to take a semester abroad during the academic year.

 

[Volha]

There are a million reasons why someone could be found to be less than the top 20% of applicants (or whatever proportion of applicants it is that gets an interview). No one will admit that it is because you have kids but there is going to be a concern that a MD/PhD candidate with kids, particularly if one of the kids has a chronic condition, is going to be less productive than a student who has no dependents. Fair? Of course not.

As a physician, you should not provide medical care to your family members. So, while you might be inspired by your children or have great respect for the physicians who care for them, why do you want to be a physician? It can't be so that you can provide for your kids becuase for the next 10 years you are going to be making a pitifully small stipend/salary first as a MD/PhD and later as a resident (add a fellowship and that's 2-3 more years!). Why do you want to be a physician scientist? What are your professional goals in life? That should be the focus of your essay.

The major reason why i decided to be medical scientist because i saw how medicine is limited based on how numerous doctors were trying to cure my son. All they did was to treat simptoms without even making a diagnosis.He had asthma, but he was too small to be diagnosed with this condition because there were no special tests for kids under 4 years old with asthma...so you just wait untill you kid will be hospitalized with asthma attack and hopefully he will survive if paramedics will bring him to hospital in time (because when airways are inflamated, kid can't breath)...after all, all asthma medicine doesn't cure anything, it is just to control symptoms which is doesn't make any sense for me to have a bag full of medicine including 2-3 different steroids just to treat symptoms from asthma in 3 yeasr old kid. At that time i was desperate mom looking for answers how to help my kid. In most cases physicians are helpless if there is no medicine or special test were developed in a lab. Therefore for me medicine and research are non-separable things. Again in order to talk about it in personal statement I need to talk about my son but it is not-allowed to talk about kids as i understand🙁 If you will read this story would you more concern about if I will be able to finish med school or you will understand that if I was able to finish BS in physics and accomplish 2 years of lab research I will be able to continue...

 

[moosetracks]

Hello! Thanks for doing this.

I just had a quick question about clinical volunteering. I am fairly vested in non-clinical volunteering in performing a wide array of activities.

I have always resented clinical volunteering based on the experiences of my peers where all they do is sit around/stock shelves, etc. I have done clinical volunteering a long while back (high school) and have had a similar experience as well. I have felt that my time is better spent doing things that I personally have a direct impact in and that clinical volunteering does not provide that. Nevertheless, I will be doing some clinical volunteering this semester (about 50 hours and this would be the semester before I apply).

I have fairly extensive shadowing background (~150 hours in various specialties).
I also have done a fair amount of clinical (chart review) research in an a field that coincides with my basic science research as well (I have read that some include that as research and some in clinical volunteering, not sure which one).

Sorry for my rambling, but would this lack of clinical volunteering put me at a disadvantage? From my understanding, one of the purposes of clinical volunteering is to pretty much gain exposure to the 'work place'. I feel that shadowing as done a sufficient job at doing that.

And a question that I have seen you talk about in the past but what I am presenting is a somewhat a different circumstance.
Does a triple major have a significant impact on an application, given good gpa, mcat, and extracurriculars? (and to be more specific, a major in the sciences, a major in the social sciences, and a major in the humanities)

Thanks again in advance for your help!

 

[Volha]

There are a million reasons why someone could be found to be less than the top 20% of applicants (or whatever proportion of applicants it is that gets an interview). No one will admit that it is because you have kids but there is going to be a concern that a MD/PhD candidate with kids, particularly if one of the kids has a chronic condition, is going to be less productive than a student who has no dependents. Fair? Of course not.

As a physician, you should not provide medical care to your family members. So, while you might be inspired by your children or have great respect for the physicians who care for them, why do you want to be a physician? It can't be so that you can provide for your kids becuase for the next 10 years you are going to be making a pitifully small stipend/salary first as a MD/PhD and later as a resident (add a fellowship and that's 2-3 more years!). Why do you want to be a physician scientist? What are your professional goals in life? That should be the focus of your essay.

The major reason why i decided to be medical scientist because i saw how medicine is limited based on how numerous doctors were trying to cure my son. All they did was to treat simptoms without even making a diagnosis.He had asthma, but he was too small to be diagnosed with this condition because there were no special tests for kids under 4 years old with asthma...so you just wait untill you kid will be hospitalized with asthma attack and hopefully he will survive if paramedics will bring him to hospital in time (because when airways are inflamated, kid can't breath)...after all, all asthma medicine doesn't cure anything, it is just to control symptoms which is doesn't make any sense for me to have a bag full of medicine including 2-3 different steroids just to treat symptoms from asthma in 3 yeasr old kid. At that time i was desperate mom looking for answers how to help my kid. In most cases physicians are helpless if there is no medicine or special test were developed in a lab. Therefore for me medicine and research are non-separable things. Again in order to talk about it in personal statement I need to talk about my son but it is not-allowed to talk about kids as i understand🙁 If you will read this story would you more concern about if I will be able to finish med school or you will understand that if I was able to finish BS in physics and accomplish 2 years of lab research I will be able to continue...

 

[NewYorker9]

If an applicant chooses to matriculate at School A by May 15th, and then following May 15th is contacted by School B where he was previously waitlisted and expresses (genuine) interest and is subsequently accepted to School B, is it frowned upon for the student to decide to matriculate at School A if the financial aid package at School B simply is not as competitive as that of School A?

In other words, the students tells School B he wants to attend so he is pulled off the waitlist after May 15th and then due to financial reasons decides not to attend School B. How do medical schools view this type of decision?

Thank you!

 

[okazaki123]

Hi LizzyM,

I was wondering if/how going to a Canadian med school (specifically McGill) would affect my chances at matching for residency in the US. I'm a US citizen and completed undergrad in the US, but am considering McGill as an option if I get in. Thanks for your help!

 

[MD22412]

If an applicant chooses to matriculate at School A by May 15th, and then following May 15th is contacted by School B where he was previously waitlisted and expresses (genuine) interest and is subsequently accepted to School B, is it frowned upon for the student to decide to matriculate at School A if the financial aid package at School B simply is not as competitive as that of School A?

In other words, the students tells School B he wants to attend so he is pulled off the waitlist after May 15th and then due to financial reasons decides not to attend School B. How do medical schools view this type of decision?

Thank you!

By genuine interest you mean an letter of intent? I don't think anything as far as interest goes

 

[sciencebooks]

Hey there! 🙂 I've been following this thread and have a few questions that I don't think overlap. Thanks a ton!

1. I participated in a certain performance-based sport all throughout junior high/high school. As I progressed, coaches would choose select athletes to help with the younger girls, coreograph routines, and teach them. We never used the term "captain," but I *did* coreograph and teach to my own division/the team I performed with as well (basically what a captain would usually do). Once I graduated, my coach also invited me to serve as a paid assistant coach to my old team and I was eventually promoted to head coach of my own team in a different city. Would this qualify as leadership? Either way, I'll be writing about my involvement as an EC, but because I was chosen to teach and coach my peers, I feel it was also leadership... I'm only nervous because when I was transitioned a head coach position, I did youth coaching so then it was no longer girls my own age. Should I split up the positions? (Wow, sorry, this is so verbose and hard to explain, lol.)

2. For applicants who have ONE borderline measure in their application -- say they have a solid GPA and satisfactory activities but a ~30 MCAT -- is there any number of schools you would suggest they apply to? I know it's unlikely I would get in to your school with my MCAT, but in general... I'd rather go big and apply to many schools WITHIN RANGE (using the MSAR) to lower the chance of reapplication but do you think there's a point of diminishing returns?

3. Reading over the personal statement thread you posted, the main purpose should obviously be WHY MEDICINE. However, one of my friends who interviews students suggested also arguing WHY ME... Would it be appropriate to include interesting aspects about myself and upbringing that I think would contribute to the diversity of the school and strengthen my ability to work within diverse settings? I wouldn't say these things shaped my path to medicine as much as they could have (I was very blessed to divert quite a few obstacles most people with similar situations might not have been able to), but I do think they make me a better candidate if that makes sense.

 

[MelissaThompson]

Good written and spoken English is very important for admission to medical school in the US. In addition to earning good grades in college, you should work on your English language skills. You should also spend some time testing your interest in medicine through work, volunteering and shadowing doctors. You might start by asking some of the doctors who are treating your mother if you can shadow them.

She sounds very much like a chinese girl I tutored during college.

I would advise you to reconsider a career in medicine - just because you will have so much difficulty passing VR (especially the new MCAT that will heavily emphasize reading comprehension) - as well as your speaking skills during your interview will surely hinder you.

 

[Anathema]

She sounds very much like a chinese girl I tutored during college.

I would advise you to reconsider a career in medicine - just because you will have so much difficulty passing VR (especially the new MCAT that will heavily emphasize reading comprehension) - as well as your speaking skills during your interview will surely hinder you.

There's no need to reconsider medicine if she can learn to tackle English and get some shadowing in to know what its like.

 

[MelissaThompson]

There's no need to reconsider medicine if she can learn to tackle English and get some shadowing in to know what its like.

I say this to help her.

I knew a chinese girl - who became a close friend in college. She had a 3.9+ GPA, very smart and very driven by herself and her family to become a doctor.

In the end - she tried MCAT 3 times - and can never crack a 6 in VR. It is too difficult to "master" a new language when you are already in your late-teens.

 

[LizzyM]

Hello! Thanks for doing this.

I just had a quick question about clinical volunteering. I am fairly vested in non-clinical volunteering in performing a wide array of activities.

I have always resented clinical volunteering based on the experiences of my peers where all they do is sit around/stock shelves, etc. I have done clinical volunteering a long while back (high school) and have had a similar experience as well. I have felt that my time is better spent doing things that I personally have a direct impact in and that clinical volunteering does not provide that. Nevertheless, I will be doing some clinical volunteering this semester (about 50 hours and this would be the semester before I apply).

I have fairly extensive shadowing background (~150 hours in various specialties).
I also have done a fair amount of clinical (chart review) research in an a field that coincides with my basic science research as well (I have read that some include that as research and some in clinical volunteering, not sure which one).

Sorry for my rambling, but would this lack of clinical volunteering put me at a disadvantage? From my understanding, one of the purposes of clinical volunteering is to pretty much gain exposure to the 'work place'. I feel that shadowing as done a sufficient job at doing that.

Well, we'll see, won't we. It may be enough at some schools and others may fault you for a paucity of clinical experience. My adcom this year would find it acceptable.

And a question that I have seen you talk about in the past but what I am presenting is a somewhat a different circumstance.
Does a triple major have a significant impact on an application, given good gpa, mcat, and extracurriculars? (and to be more specific, a major in the sciences, a major in the social sciences, and a major in the humanities)

Thanks again in advance for your help!

No, your triple major willl not have a significant impact on your application.

 

[gettheleadout]

I say this to help her.

I knew a chinese girl - who became a close friend in college. She had a 3.9+ GPA, very smart and very driven by herself and her family to become a doctor.

In the end - she tried MCAT 3 times - and can never crack a 6 in VR. It is too difficult to "master" a new language when you are already in your late-teens.

Clearly she wasn't that driven or she might have developed the forethought not to take the MCAT once (much less thrice) without practice test averages high above 6...


Sent from my iPhone using SDN Mobile

 

[LizzyM]

The major reason why i decided to be medical scientist because i saw how medicine is limited based on how numerous doctors were trying to cure my son. All they did was to treat simptoms without even making a diagnosis.He had asthma, but he was too small to be diagnosed with this condition because there were no special tests for kids under 4 years old with asthma...so you just wait untill you kid will be hospitalized with asthma attack and hopefully he will survive if paramedics will bring him to hospital in time (because when airways are inflamated, kid can't breath)...after all, all asthma medicine doesn't cure anything, it is just to control symptoms which is doesn't make any sense for me to have a bag full of medicine including 2-3 different steroids just to treat symptoms from asthma in 3 yeasr old kid. At that time i was desperate mom looking for answers how to help my kid. In most cases physicians are helpless if there is no medicine or special test were developed in a lab. Therefore for me medicine and research are non-separable things. Again in order to talk about it in personal statement I need to talk about my son but it is not-allowed to talk about kids as i understand🙁 If you will read this story would you more concern about if I will be able to finish med school or you will understand that if I was able to finish BS in physics and accomplish 2 years of lab research I will be able to continue...

Not sure what your question is... My nephew was diagnosed and treated for asthma as a 2 year old and that was >20 years ago so your story confuses me a bit but I'm not an expert in pediatric asthma.

Have you had any experiences other than with your children? how do you picture yourself working 15 years from now? What would you be doing? Why does that appeal to you?

 

[HowDidIGetHere]

Thank you for doing this, this information is so helpful.

I left a PhD program in my first semester because I was unhappy with the field and my father's health required me to come home. My father is also the reason I wish to go into medicine, because he is a drug addict. Should I include this information in my personal statement (helps explain why I left grad school and is a subject I can talk passionately about in an interview) or would this be revealing too much about myself and my family?

 

[LizzyM]

If an applicant chooses to matriculate at School A by May 15th, and then following May 15th is contacted by School B where he was previously waitlisted and expresses (genuine) interest and is subsequently accepted to School B, is it frowned upon for the student to decide to matriculate at School A if the financial aid package at School B simply is not as competitive as that of School A?

In other words, the students tells School B he wants to attend so he is pulled off the waitlist after May 15th and then due to financial reasons decides not to attend School B. How do medical schools view this type of decision?

Thank you!

School B will give you some time (usually 2 weeks) to make a decision so that you can weigh the financial aid offers, etc before choosing between the 2 schools. Schools aren't thrilled by this turn of events but it is part of life.

 

[aspiring20]

I say this to help her.

I knew a chinese girl - who became a close friend in college. She had a 3.9+ GPA, very smart and very driven by herself and her family to become a doctor.

In the end - she tried MCAT 3 times - and can never crack a 6 in VR. It is too difficult to "master" a new language when you are already in your late-teens.

if she has such a stellar GPA and an otherwise great MCAT (in the sciences) along with good ECs, i really cant see a mere 6 in VR as a limiting factor.

 

[LizzyM]

She sounds very much like a chinese girl I tutored during college.

I would advise you to reconsider a career in medicine - just because you will have so much difficulty passing VR (especially the new MCAT that will heavily emphasize reading comprehension) - as well as your speaking skills during your interview will surely hinder you.

Why don't you start your own Ask MelissaThompson Anything ?

 

[La Presse]

Why don't you start your own Ask MelissaThompson Anything ?

Or perhaps make a dating subsection for her.

Dear LizzyM - how is retail employment and internships for global health or research viewed on a medical school application?

 

[Hook]

How old is too old? Do ADCOMs have any preconceptions about an applicant over 30? Over 40?

 

[Anathema]

I say this to help her.

I knew a chinese girl - who became a close friend in college. She had a 3.9+ GPA, very smart and very driven by herself and her family to become a doctor.

In the end - she tried MCAT 3 times - and can never crack a 6 in VR. It is too difficult to "master" a new language when you are already in your late-teens.

Contrary to popular belief, one chinese friend does not equate to the entire country of China. It is more difficult to learn a language in your late-teens, but mostly because you aren't able to immerse yourself in it (also the brain and blah blah blah). If she's living in America and can find a language instructor, she should have the skills tot hold an interview and her MCAT verbal success is up to her.

 

[gettheleadout]

if she has such a stellar GPA and an otherwise great MCAT (in the sciences) along with good ECs, i really cant see a mere 6 in VR as a limiting factor.

I disagree, a 6 in VR suggests a serious deficiency of reading comprehension.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN Mobile

 

[LizzyM]

Thank you for doing this, this information is so helpful.

I left a PhD program in my first semester because I was unhappy with the field and my father's health required me to come home. My father is also the reason I wish to go into medicine, because he is a drug addict. Should I include this information in my personal statement (helps explain why I left grad school and is a subject I can talk passionately about in an interview) or would this be revealing too much about myself and my family?

Sigh... the answer to this question is something I struggle with.... I feel that people with stigmitizing conditions including drug abuse are deserving of privacy. He's your father and if you choose to list his name on the application, there it is. Although the information in the application is confidential, in the unlikely event that someone who knows your father, or knows another of your family members will learn something that they might not have otherwise known. I had this happen to me when the grandchild of an acquaintance applied and wrote some rather surprising information about the reason her parents' marriage broke up.

If you can write with a euphemism, that your father has long suffered a chronic illness and he became severely ill and needed constant care... You can always talk about it in an interview but in writing it might be better to be more circumspect.

 

[LizzyM]

Or perhaps make a dating subsection for her.

Dear LizzyM - how is retail employment and internships for global health or research viewed on a medical school application?

retail employment is employment... if you spin in well, it can show your ability to work as a team member, diffuse difficult situations, work for long hours with the public, etc, etc.

Internships for global health can be eye-opening.

Research is very common among medical school matriculants. It is considered a demonstration of scientific curiosity; you should be able to describe the "whys" of the work you do in the lab and be able to discuss it as an expert and as you would with someone who knew nothing of science. (In other words, will you well communicating complicated ideas to patients?)

 

[dechristine]

I say this to help her.

I knew a chinese girl - who became a close friend in college. She had a 3.9+ GPA, very smart and very driven by herself and her family to become a doctor.

In the end - she tried MCAT 3 times - and can never crack a 6 in VR. It is too difficult to "master" a new language when you are already in your late-teens.

It's difficult, but definitely possible. My mom grew up in rural China and taught herself English by listening to the radio every night, but she ended up obtaining her PhD in the United States. I know that she's a different kind of doctor, but... 😉

 

[LizzyM]

How old is too old? Do ADCOMs have any preconceptions about an applicant over 30? Over 40?

My very favorite applicant of all time (who got into some amazing schools) was 33. I've heard some reservations expressed when applicants get to 38 or older although I seem to recall that we've matriculated students 10 years older than that on rare occasion (let's face it, those applicants are scarce).

 

[MelissaThompson]

It's difficult, but definitely possible. My mom grew up in rural China and taught herself English by listening to the radio every night, but she ended up obtaining her PhD in the United States. I know that she's a different kind of doctor, but... 😉

It is easy to gain admission to Ph.D in USA. Most students are actually international students in many large universities.

TOEFL & GRE is nothing compared to MCAT VR. My friend was able to score highly on GRE Logics (or whatchama call it) - but could never muster up a decent score on VR.

On top of that - she has a very thick accent and could not communicate rapidly, fluently, and effectively. Something that will surely weed her out during the interview process.

 

[noncon]

My very favorite applicant of all time (who got into some amazing schools) was 33. I've heard some reservations expressed when applicants get to 38 or older although I seem to recall that we've matriculated students 10 years older than that on rare occasion (let's face it, those applicants are scarce).

Maybe they should not mention their date of birth at all. Why in the world is AMCAS collecting information that can be used to discriminate against someone?

 

[LizzyM]

Maybe they should not mention their date of birth at all. Why in the world is AMCAS collecting information that can be used to discriminate against someone?

Graduate school asks for it, too. Year of college graduation, year of HS graduation are also on the application so even without date of birth, we can generally estimate an applicant's age rather easily.

The interview will give away some of the much older ones, too. And I think it is much worse for the young ones.