Seeing the opening of the 2022-23 School-specific threads and burying of the 2021-22 threads this morning felt like finishing a good series on Netflix. Made me realize how much I've learned about the premed process in the past year and I wanted to share some of that knowledge with applicants who are gearing up for the next cycle.
Without SDN, I wouldn't be in the position I am today.
- Stop making everything about "why medicine"
Adcoms understand this already. It gets repetitive and you need to show you have other interests. Specifically, when it comes to hobbies, I always saw people trying to connect their hobbies to why they want to pursue medicine and it's unnecessary.
- Make sure your Zoom NAME and PROFILE PICTURE are set before interviews
Can recall at least one person who had a different name listed and was called out on it. If you take a photo for secondaries, use that as your profile picture so whenever your camera is off, your beautiful face is still engrained in their heads.
- Try to visit the school BEFORE your interview -- !!!advice from an adcom at T10 school!!!
Gives you a solid connection with your interviewers and shows you're genuinely interested in attending the school. My interviewers made it known that they were impressed with this and even mentioned it in a response to my "thank you email" afterward. However, this is not feasible for everyone which is why it's not necessary. But this would make you stand out from the other applicants. Imagine you're from sunny SoCal and are interviewing at Rochester. How will they be convinced you'll give up that location for their brutal winters? If you visited the campus before your interview, that would show you're truly dedicated to the school and attending there. Also, it helps because interviews are virtual and you could allocate money for it.
- Try to start your gap year job early enough so you can list it on your Primary
All the advice I saw online said to just list it on your secondaries but I disagree. You should list it on both if you can start early enough. As someone who didn't have the maximum # of activities listed in my primary, this was beneficial to fill another slot.
- STOP writing with exaggerated imagery in PS, primary, secondaries
Stop writing essays to stand out. Write them with the intent to show the impact the activity had on you and how you grew from it. The imagery I see in some essays is just cringey.
- Know the big 3 cold: Tell me about yourself, Why medicine, and Why our school?
At least one of these questions was asked at every single interview. These are the only questions I believe you should have rehearsed and know cold.
- If you get multiple acceptances, focus on the objective factors more than the subjective ones.
Focus on tuition, COL, curriculum, location, dedicated board time, number of home residency programs, remediation policy, etc. Subjective measures like match lists and vibe of interview day are not helpful and you won't be able to fall back on them whenever you're struggling in school.
If there's one part of the med school process you shouldn't pinch pennies on, it's the number of schools you apply to. I always see people recommend that they should've applied to a more targeted list. However, this is AFTER they are finished with the cycle. If I would've cut my list in half and applied to more "targeted" schools, I would've missed out on 3 interviews because I wouldn't have applied there in the first place.
- For interviews, be someone who they would want to grab a drink with after work
Interview = you're good enough for an acceptance. No need to be so formal and keep reinforcing why you're pursuing medicine. Show them you're a normal human who they could see as a colleague. This won't guarantee an acceptance but it shows them you will fit in.
- Try to find some connection amongst your activities to create a theme
This is hard to do once you're gearing up to apply but if you're earlier on in the process, this is huge. Someone who is an EMT, volunteers in the ER dept., and shadows an EM doc will have a nice narrative to write throughout their essays compared to someone who cannot connect the dots amongst their activities. Or someone who does research on Alzheimer's and volunteers at a hospice or nursing home will be able to show their dedication and mission to pursue (geriatric) medicine better than someone who is all over the place. However, having a wide breadth of activities can be beneficial as well. Can write about how diverse of a population you've been exposed to and why you want to pursue something like FM/IM by having worked with a variety of populations.
Edit: if you disagree with any of the above points, feel free to add your opinion to help give another perspective!
