Ideal Accepted Med Student at Top Tier Schools

[dcreynol]

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I realize that there is no written-in-stone blueprint on how to get into a top tier school. However, I think that it would be most helpful if those that were accepted at quite a few schools could state how they did it(Besides GPA and MCAT). Possibly what were the top 5-10 extracurricular/research/intangibles that you believe got you the acceptances?
Thanks in advance....

 

[Catalyst]

Ahh, it's amazing how people always try to create a magical formula that guarantees success in this process...

There are a couple of threads already that deal with this topic, just do a search and you'll find them. I vaguely remember some thread by Incendiary where there was a laundry list of things that would supposedly make someone a very competitive candidate at top schools. As with everything on SDN though, you ought to take it with a grain of salt.

Sachin

 

[JlazyMD]

dcreynol,

I hope your not one of those guys that tries to tailor their whole life so it looks good on the AMCAS application. People like that are just... boring.

My advice: do what you love, what you are passionate about. You only live once, and if you spend all doing stuff you don't like just to get into your top tier school, you know, what's the point?

 

[klinzou]

What if he loves to tailor his life to look good for the adcoms and amcas????

😉

 

[Catalyst]

I'd have to agree with JlazyMD. I could be wrong, but from my experience the people who generally got into the top schools (harvard, columbia, duke, penn) were the ones who did reasonably well in school and pursued a unique interest of theirs to a high level, which then made them especially interesting to adcoms. They generally had everything the typical applicant had (clinical experience, volunteer work, etc.) plus something different that they could call their own. So gain experience with medicine (if it's really something you want to pursue), do well in school, and find something that piques your interest (not something that necessarily sounds good to friends or a pre-med advisor).

Hope this helps somewhat,

Sachin

 

[JlazyMD]

Originally posted by klinzou
What if he loves to tailor his life to look good for the adcoms and amcas????

😉

I would suggest a psychologist, immediately.

 

[Sonya]

get a 3.9+ gpa...

That's easiest way, but it's not the only one.

Sonya

 

[Rapid Decomposition]

Originally posted by Sonya
get a 3.9+ gpa...

That's easiest way, but it's not the only one.

Sonya

Hardly enough, unfortunately. For the top schools there really is no formula. These schools have the pick of all the best students, who are all more than qualified to go to a top 10 school, so the schools try to create the most diverse and interesting class possible. You're more likely to be accepted if you have some sort of unique talent, circumstance, or something that you can bring to enhance the class's diversity, but every school wants something different, and looks for or emphasizes certain traits. You can never *expect* to be admitted to a top 10 school.

 

[nimbus001]

I agree completely with Rapid Decomposition...hehehehe....😀

 

[VienneseWaltz]

Yep, nimbus and Rapid know what they're talking about. 😉 At Hopkins, for example, the next entering class has a magician, a cop, comedians, musicians, etc.--in fact, I would guess that every member does something cool that is in no way related to medicine. Also, I met as many humanities-major students as science students. Excellent GPA and MCATs certainly help, but if there is one "key" characteristic, it is having a life outside of being pre-med.

 

[snoopdizzle]

1. Very high GPA and MCAT
2. Know thyself
3. Live passionately

I think they can really tell numbers 2 and 3. Get involved in stuff that you like to do even if it is goofy or "unimportant."

 

[suncouch]

Anyone know if the magician going to John Hopkins is from Atlanta? I met a guy in a restuarant a few months ago who was a magician going to medical school. I think he said John Hopkins. How interesting 🙂

 

[indiamacbean]

I built a wooden sea kayak and studied in Tibet on top of the usual stuff. seemed to work for me.

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Class of 2007

 

[thewebthsp]

JohnS Hopkins, man!!

🙂

 

[Retro]

My PI who was a member of the Hopkins admission committee in the past told me that a few years back, Hopkins took in all the uncommon but interesting people they could find, and then realized that many of them could not handle the competitiveness of med school and many were failing. So the adcom had to readjust their policy to take in uncommon and interesting people who also have a good academic background (unfortunately, many of them were out-competed away by Harvard and UC Med schools). I have a hard-time seeing uncommon but interesting people will make good physicians, aside from the fact that they have good social skills and will entertain their patients with interesting stories. The whole top-ten admission thing is unpredicatable at best. I got into a top-15 school and all my classmates seemed boring and normal. So I say, forget about top-10 schools; instead, focus on a top 30 or so schools, which are more tractable in their admission policies.

 

[realfriend]

Originally posted by JlazyMD
I would suggest a psychologist, immediately.

NO. I would suggest a psychiatrist, immediately.

 

[indiamacbean]

While I agree with what Retro is saying that uncommon people being accepted simply for the fact that they are uncommon doesn't bode well for their likely success in medical school, I do think that it is important to stand out from the pack. Top ten schools are flooded with 3.8+,35+ applicants with solid research/clinical experience. You need a hook of some sort to interest the adcom and make them believe that you will bring something special to their school on top of stellar academics. I think that the best way to do this is to trully be interested and committed to a couple of endeavours. This could be research or clinical but I think that a couple of days a week or a couple of summers isn't going to do this. What really stood out in my mind was that during my interviews, most often my interviewers wanted to talk about the more unique activities and experiences in my file. I met a girl who taught her interviewer to Hula dance at Yale. It's these sorts of opportunities which are solid gold and really allow you to connect with your interviewer. The problem here of course is if you aren't really interested in anything besides your PS2 and GPA. I think that adcoms can smell apathy and padding an application a mile away.