How to get into medical school

[Jalby]

So I'm a long time watcher, long time poster here on SDN. There is one thing that pisses me off more than anything else, and that is watching pre-meds give other pre-meds bad advice. Pre-meds are 100% confident and 50% accurate.

I tell people there are two things you have to do to get into medical school. Actually, I don't tell anybody, because I'm an attending and I no longer talk to people trying to get into medical school. But anyways, there are two things you have to do to be considered for admission. The bare minimum.

1. You have to prove that you have the personality to be a doctor. That means shadowing a doctor and seeing that you like being in an office. I know someone who had great grades and great research in a lab, but never set foot in a hospital. he got rejected from a lot of schools that I thought he would get into. So at least shadow a doctor for 4-5 days and write like it was a ton more. Also, don't be creepy on your interview.

2. Prove that you can pass you boards. No school will admit you if they think that you cannot pass you boards. And this is what pisses me off more than anything else on SDN. People will post "What are my chances" and have a GPA of 2.7. Everybody will tell them that they can get into medical school and do great. No, they will not even get an interview. Honestly, you should not even be posting a WAMC thread until you have worked hard enough to get a couple of semesters of good grades that show you can handle the coursework. If you can't do that, you can't get in.

End of rant. Carry on.

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[LoveBeingHuman:)]

Agreed.

Can I ask you for some advice? How would you suggest getting some meaningful clinical/shadowing opportunities? I'm sick of hospital volunteer programs advertising how great their programs are but the only thing you do is file paperwork and clean stuff. And the ones that do offer you more than that do very very basic things like discharges and getting patients pitchers of water.

 

[Jalby]

What I did was take an EMT Class at King Medical Center in Los Angeles. Part of what we did was do a shift in the ER. I asked the ER doc there if I can come back and shadow him. I shadowed him for a total of 12 hours. I wrote it up like a life changing experience. Needless to say, King Medical center is in a disadvantaged area. I really had to do no real work the entire time. I just had to act interested.

 

[750335]

I get your post, even I joke about it myself, but what is the alternative really? There are tons of med students, attendings, residents etc on this site who literally never come to preallo for whatever reason. Some because they are so far removed from the process, others because preallo is "toxic". Either way, same result. Coupled with premed advisors who are more clueless than we are to boot. Then sometimes you post in allo, you get moved or reminded that you are premed like you didn't know that before you posted and just the wanted feedback of people more experienced. So that leaves us basically navigating these waters ourselves.

 

[Lucca]

I'm not sure anyone tells anybody with a 2.7 they can get into medical school right away. They can get into medical school....with a great postbacc GPA or SMP and a strong mcat score and all other boxes checked.....Maybe it's because I don't frequent the WAMC forums, but I think the SDN hiveminds advice is generally very sound. Sure, now and then advice that makes 0 sense pops up but that's to be expected on a public forum and people usually challenge those posts for explanations.

Also if premeds could post in Allo the world would end. There would be nothing but Premed threads there and be treated like an "Ask Medical Students anything" board. Whatever it is Allo students want out of Allo, would just be gone or buried. We have a small number of pretty dedicated adcoms, attendings, residents, and med students who frequent PreAllo. They are not ever present but are also really helpful if you PM them and contribute solidly to PA.

 

[WhittyPsyche]

What I did was take an EMT Class at King Medical Center in Los Angeles. Part of what we did was do a shift in the ER. I asked the ER doc there if I can come back and shadow him. I shadowed him for a total of 12 hours. I wrote it up like a life changing experience. Needless to say, King Medical center is in a disadvantaged area. I really had to do no real work the entire time. I just had to act interested.

Great advice


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Geo16]

So I'm a long time watcher, long time poster here on SDN. There is one thing that pisses me off more than anything else, and that is watching pre-meds give other pre-meds bad advice. Pre-meds are 100% confident and 50% accurate.

I tell people there are two things you have to do to get into medical school. Actually, I don't tell anybody, because I'm an attending and I no longer talk to people trying to get into medical school. But anyways, there are two things you have to do to be considered for admission. The bare minimum.

1. You have to prove that you have the personality to be a doctor. That means shadowing a doctor and seeing that you like being in an office. I know someone who had great grades and great research in a lab, but never set foot in a hospital. he got rejected from a lot of schools that I thought he would get into. So at least shadow a doctor for 4-5 days and write like it was a ton more. Also, don't be creepy on your interview.

2. Prove that you can pass you boards. No school will admit you if they think that you cannot pass you boards. And this is what pisses me off more than anything else on SDN. People will post "What are my chances" and have a GPA of 2.7. Everybody will tell them that they can get into medical school and do great. No, they will not even get an interview. Honestly, you should not even be posting a WAMC thread until you have worked hard enough to get a couple of semesters of good grades that show you can handle the coursework. If you can't do that, you can't get in.

End of rant. Carry on.

Ouch, describes what I've done for the 1st 2 month in SDN. This isn't College Confidential (LOL).

 

[redferrari]

For real. I help applicants with their apps, and this girl with a 3.1 asked me what her MD chances are and launched into a tirade against me when I said minimal.

 

[Geo16]

For real. I help applicants with their apps, and this girl with a 3.1 asked me what her MD chances are and launched into a tirade against me when I said minimal.

Did you follow up with what you recommend her to do? Like, did you recommend Post-Bacc or doing more solid on her future coursework?
If it's just straight up saying her chances are minimal, then yeah, it sounds like you are trying to bash her (haha).

 

[redferrari]

Did you follow up with what you recommend her to do? Like, did you recommend Post-Bacc or doing more solid on her future coursework?
If it's just straight up saying her chances are minimal, then yeah, it sounds like you are trying to bash her (haha).

She was a rising senior wanting to apply that year with an MCAT in the average range (of test-takers). I should have provided more context, but I still hope you can appreciate that I was giving her sound advice.

I told her that she could consider a post-bacc, but that it would require a reinvention of her habits to succeed.

 

[Geo16]

She was a rising senior wanting to apply that year with an MCAT in the average range (of test-takers). I should have provided more context, but I still hope you can appreciate that I was giving her sound advice.

I told her that she could consider a post-bacc, but that it would require a reinvention of her habits to succeed.

Then you did your best, it's her fault for launching a tirade.

 

[caffeinemia]

@Jalby has some choice words about GW application process too...or was it Georgetown? Can't remember :0)

 

[freak7]

For real. I help applicants with their apps, and this girl with a 3.1 asked me what her MD chances are and launched into a tirade against me when I said minimal.

Did you ask about her background and/or reasons for the GPA? Had she taken the MCAT? Which schools were being considered?

I got into multiple schools with a GPA below that; there are definitely mitigating factors.

 

[Lost in Translation]

Agreed.

Can I ask you for some advice? How would you suggest getting some meaningful clinical/shadowing opportunities? I'm sick of hospital volunteer programs advertising how great their programs are but the only thing you do is file paperwork and clean stuff. And the ones that do offer you more than that do very very basic things like discharges and getting patients pitchers of water.

Find volunteer opportunities in public hospitals. They can't afford to pay enough staff to do the smaller patient-care things like moving patients from their inpatient room to imaging or helping patients get out of their bed to go to the bathroom (you're not going into the bathroom with them, just making sure they don't fall on their way over).

 

[Geo16]

Find volunteer opportunities in public hospitals. They can't afford to pay enough staff to do the smaller patient-care things like moving patients from their inpatient room to imaging or helping patients get out of their bed to go to the bathroom (you're not going into the bathroom with them, just making sure they don't fall on their way over).

Dang, I wish I thought of that. Why wasn't I smart enough..