Good books on Medical School Admissions

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ronnicus

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So I'm in my sophomore year and ive been looking for some book that might give me some insight on the admissions process and some recommendations on extracurricular activities etc. I saw the one by SDN in the amazon store for $0.99 which seems like a good deal-any feedback on this one? There's another one by "Mike Frazier" called "10 Steps to Accepted- Insider's guide to medical school". This one is pricier $15 and I don't know if it's a scam or not- has anyone bought this one?

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Getting Into Medical School: a Guide for the Perplexed by Kenneth Iserson. I don't know if there's an updated version, mine is ~11 years old. Some info is outdated, but advice wise it's solid - better than Kaplan or Barron's. Med School Confidential is also very good.
 
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I loved Med school Confidential.
It is how I found SDN 🙂
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EDIT: shiz, @WillburCobb beat me to it!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Med-School-Rx...QVY_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398820322&sr=1-1

Shill alert: Dr Hartwig is a pal of mine.


So I'm in my sophomore year and ive been looking for some book that might give me some insight on the admissions process and some recommendations on extracurricular activities etc. I saw the one by SDN in the amazon store for $0.99 which seems like a good deal-any feedback on this one? There's another one by "Mike Frazier" called "10 Steps to Accepted- Insider's guide to medical school". This one is pricier $15 and I don't know if it's a scam or not- has anyone bought this one?
 
Truthfully, the only resource you need to buy is the MSAR provided by the AAMC. You can also buy a US News sub for medical schools, but I didn't think that information was entirely important.

1) The AAMC website has a lot of good, free information that most people don't really review
2) SDN gets a bad rap, but it's seriously improved and its no longer "OMG GPA is below 3.7? You're screwed". People are willing to help with any question and you have tons of people from people applying with you, accepted students, med students, residents, attendings and a few people even on the admissions committee of medical schools! Seriously can't get more up-to-the-date info than here.
3) Once again, get the MSAR dude. It gives you no-nonsense info on average accepted stats, ranges, school missions, number interviewed, number acceptances, etc.
 
Truthfully, the only resource you need to buy is the MSAR provided by the AAMC. You can also buy a US News sub for medical schools, but I didn't think that information was entirely important.

1) The AAMC website has a lot of good, free information that most people don't really review
2) SDN gets a bad rap, but it's seriously improved and its no longer "OMG GPA is below 3.7? You're screwed". People are willing to help with any question and you have tons of people from people applying with you, accepted students, med students, residents, attendings and a few people even on the admissions committee of medical schools! Seriously can't get more up-to-the-date info than here.
3) Once again, get the MSAR dude. It gives you no-nonsense info on average accepted stats, ranges, school missions, number interviewed, number acceptances, etc.

How do you recommend using the MSAR? I got it as part of FAP but it just looks like a bunch of numbers to me.
 
Depends on what you're looking for. Do you want info about required vs recommended courses? It's there. Information about applicant selection? There. If you want info about the med schools's mission, or curriculum, or demographics, or class size, it's there. BUT if you want to find compatible schools like you might have found on college sites, you won't find it. That's because all med schools essentially teach the same thing. I think the variability is mostly public vs private, regional preferences, and whether it's research-oriented.
 
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