How to become a better applicant.

[wingy]

I was just wondering, for the people who got into medical school, what did you do to better your chances of getting in? What are some advices or tips one can give to better an application besides getting a good GPA and high MCAT score?

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[jcw1]

My best advice is to apply to a wide variety of schools. I was lucky enough to get into one of my top choices, but I was sure to apply to all types of ranges of schools. We all know that the medical school admissions game is 60% hard work and 40% crap shoot (or something like that). Your major objective is jsut to get in, then worry about where later!!! Good luck

 

[Dr.No]

In addition to applying to less competitive schools (at least 15) it would be helpful to be involved in volunteer or actual work in a health care setting ( hospital, clinic)for at least a year. Look, the main point is that your doing something besides playing video games, the more activities your involved in whether they are health related or not will help your application, such as teaching. The committe on admission justs wants to see what you have been doing besides sitting on your ass studying during your undergruduate career. You should pad your application with activites you have done throughout your undergraduate years no matter how trivial you think they are. I actually put on my application my talents in music such as playing piano for 7 years and a couple of questions on my interview were asked about it.

[This message has been edited by Dr.No (edited April 28, 2001).]

 

[allodoc]

When I asked one of my interviewers what he thought was an ideal applicant,he told me that there was no such thing as an "ideal" applicant. He said all he looked for in a student was dedication, honesty and a real desire to become a medical doctor. These qualities should be in your speech, manner, and the way you represent yourself, so that it is not neccessary to pretend to love doing all those extracurricular activities, or pretend to be a person you are not. They always see right through that.

 

[Dr.No]

As long as your honest, you can put anything you want on your application that you think gives a indication of who you are.

 

[Dr.No]

I firmly believe that most premed students have the dedication and desire to be doctors or else why go through all the difficult premed classes and application process in addtion to cutting your free time to go out and party. You have to put something in your application or personal statement that is unique to you in addition to your health related experiences.

 

[SocialistMD]

Here is a hint: Be yourself.
If it is in you to research, volunteer, start charities, work in third world countries, etc..., do it. If you are doing it for the sake of making yourself look better, do not.
Case in point, I have been accepted to medical school. I volunteered at a children's hospital and worked in a hospital. I did so because I enjoy doing it. I just moved to Houston to do research over the summer. I also have put in an application at several of the hospitals at the Texas Medical Center to volunteer. My sister and I are going to start a charity to benefit children with autism in our home town. Why? I have already been accepted and no longer need to prove myself to anyone. I am doing it because I want to.
Sometimes I am saddened by the fact that people do things for reasons other than their own happiness. They say "the ends justify the means." If your end goal is medicine but you do not enjoy the steps along the way and only do them because it makes you look better then "the ends" should not be the ends for you.
I am not implying that anyone on this post, particularly wingy, who started this thread, is doing this for the wrong reason. I am merely trying to stress the fact that you should not do anything out of character to gain an upper hand in the admissions process. It is you who will be the physician and it is you, based on the true merits of yourself, who should appear on the application.

 

[praying4MD]

YEAH!! Great to have SocialistMD back! Excellent point, as usual. Be yourself and do things You enjoy, not just to fill another line on the application. You will excel at things you personally have an interest in and this should shine through on your application as well. It wouldn't be fair to yourself to do things that don't represent you. In addition, if you have an interest in the activity, you are more likely to stay with it and truly make a difference. Good luck!

 

[Dr.No]

wingy just asked for ways to improve his chances of acceptance into medical school. Now its nice that the rest of you are adding your own views but he asked for advice not a lecture. Wingy will find out and decide on his own whether what he wants to write truly represents him or whether he wants to put it there to make himself look better.

[This message has been edited by Dr.No (edited April 28, 2001).]

 

[SocialistMD]

And I gave one: wingy, be yourself. The "lecture" was free of charge, offered in an attempt to keep wingy from venturing off the path towards medicine by doing things out of wingy's own realm.

By the way, does this sound like any less of a lecture?
Originally posted by Dr. No:
I firmly believe that most premed students have the dedication and desire to be doctors or else why go through all the difficult premed classes and application process in addtion to cutting your free time to go out and party. You have to put something in your application or personal statement that is unique to you in addition to your health related experiences.

[This message has been edited by SocialistMD (edited April 28, 2001).]

 

[deleted4401]

Getting back to the question...

Being yourself is key: the things I did that set me apart were not very 'medical' oriented. I taught underprivileged students for a summer, I served in a soup kitchen for a long time, I studied abroad for a year, and I majored in economics.

Do what you love, but have sincere, compassionate reasons to go into medicine (e.g. the prestige, the money, the glamour, the chance to wear scrubs to work).

Good luck,
Simul