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- Jun 18, 2014
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To the pre-meds of the SDN community,
As I reflect upon my past couple years on SDN being guided, enlightened, stressed, and wrecked by all sorts of emotions-especially throughout the 2018-2019 application cycle-I thought it was only fair for me to provide some insight and encouragement to the future physicians in the SDN community. I am by no means a great writer so please bear with me (or not) throughout this post. The post will be divided into three sections (undergrad, MCAT, admissions cycle) and will delineate my thoughts for each to best prepare you for an acceptance. I will only focus on things that seemed to be important to my journey so please feel free to ask me any specific questions. My gap year job is wrapping up, and I don’t have much to do until medical school starts so I will try my best to address them. Here goes my $0.02.
Undergrad
Congratulations! You finally graduated high school, and you’re now an independent human being. It might feel awesome to taste the sweetness of freedom and alcohol, but this is when responsibilities as a pre-med start to kick in. That being said, DO YOUR BEST TO MAINTAIN A HIGH GPA. This might sound like a generic and obvious thing to say, but this is one thing I wished someone had engraved in my head when I was a freshman. I got too caught up in the social scene, extra-curricular activities, and just f*cking around in general that my GPA ended up being around 3.5/6, which I think was one of the biggest downsides of my application. Establish good study habits, go to class (also helps you get good LoRs), and try to establish a study-support group around you so that you stay motivated and perform well in classes. One caveat is that this doesn't mean the pre-med life should take over your undergraduate experience. The four years (or more) in undergrad is probably one of the most critical periods in your personal development so you have to make time to build life-long friendships and mentors, pursuing activities that you're passionate about and also taking care of your mental/physical health. Speaking of extracurricular activities, please don't join clubs because you think it'll look good on your application. ADCOMS are smarter than you, and they are masters at smelling BS. Instead, choose a couple of clubs/groups that you have a genuine passion in and try to pursue them as longitudinal as possible throughout your undergrad career. These will not only make your application interesting, but also help you create a strong story and write essays with passion and ease. For example, don't just try to do non-clinical volunteering at a homeless clinic for the sake of checking off a box, but find a volunteering activity that you can relate to and that you look forward to doing every time. Another example is for research experiences: do extensive research on the labs that take undergrads, pick out a few that you have an interest in, take initiative and e-mail PI's, join a lab, stick with a lab only if you really enjoy the research (not because you think you can get a publication out of it), and the rest is history. Research has been becoming a soft-requirement for medical schools, and it's imperative that you find a lab that will help you pursue your interests and provide good mentorship. So try to find a lab as early as possible in undergrad and don't be afraid to switch around until you find the right lab for you.
MCAT
I took the MCAT the Fall of my senior year and scored a 523 (let the man live the last moments of his glory days because I know no one will give a **** during med school), and I know YOU CAN TOO. My study schedule was ~3 months with around 3-4 hours of studying each day six days a week (the one day off is mandatory). I think the best time to study is over the summer so that you can take it right around when the semester start and not have to worry about during your school year. The big picture study schedule is 2 months of content learning and 1 month of practice problems/exams along with content review. For content learning, I strictly used Kaplan and for practice, I used all of the AAMC materials (question banks, FLs, etc.) and NextStep FLs and ExamKrackers for content review. My main advice is to spend a good amount of time planning your study schedule. Figure out how much time you have per day, how much content you can study in that given amount of time, and meticulously design a 3 month study plan. Always add a couple weeks of buffer before your exam date in case things get pushed back a little bit. The most important part is to stick with your schedule no matter what. Your friend Joe wants to go watch a movie when you should be studying for the Krebs Cycle? Tell him not today, but on your off-day or the weekend after you finished your scheduled material. It sounds easy to stick with your plan, but it truly takes a lot of discipline and sacrifice-I can promise that it will all be worth it at the end. One practical advice is to try to review and test yourself on certain concepts on your down time. For example, instead of swiping on Tinder while you're sh*tting, try to recite the Krebs Cycle or other concepts that you had trouble memorizing. The MCAT does require rote memorization in certain areas so maximize your studying by using your down time. I always had a list of concepts that I had trouble memorizing and reviewed them every time I got on the subway to/from work. Repetition is key and it'll definitely help you for the MCAT. Again, please feel free to ask specifics about how I prepared for the MCAT by replying to this thread, as I cannot possible try to think of everything I did to write here.
Admissions Cycle
General consensus is to start your application as early as possible; however, only submit applications when you feel ready and are proud of your application. It's never too early to start brainstorming on PS topics and potential secondary topics so try to make your school list ASAP, figure out what the past year's secondary topics were and BRAINSTORM. Once you are a couple months out from when you want to submit your application, start drafting and have a couple trusted readers give you feedback. I'm not a huge fan of the whole "ask every person you know to read your essays" because then you start to lose your own voice and organizing revisions will be hectic. I recommend only asking a couple people that you know have great writing skills and insight on medical school to give you feedback. Regarding LoR's, there isn't much for me to say other than to give your writers enough time to write your letters and choose professors/PIs that you have a personal connection with. Also, there is an artistic component on how you organize and expound your work/activities section for AMCAS. Try to have a cohesive theme in this section and try to be concise. Don't bore the readers with minute details, but focus on how the activity is part of who you are and ties into your general theme of your application. This is when my advise from the "Undergrad" section comes into play. Don't feel the need to have 15 activities; curate this section so that it represents who you are and also why medicine is for you (not all activities have to pertain to medicine). Once you have submitted your application and secondaries, you might think that you're done with the hardest part...WRONG. The waiting game is a whole new monster when it comes to med school admissions. I was definitely one of those people who checked SDN every minute trying to see when people got interview invites, anxiously waiting for mine to come; in hindsight, this was a total waste of time and energy. Once you've submitted, take a deep breath, GET OFF SDN (unless you have specific questions) and enjoy life since you deserve it after months of studying for the MCAT and preparing your application. I know it's easier said than done, but PLEASE TAKE THE CHILL PILL and just focus on school/work/friends/your dog or whatever it is other than med school. Once you get your interview invites, read up on some amazing advice on SDN, as I honestly don't feel confident enough to provide meaningful advice on interviews. Last but not least, be grateful for every and any acceptance, feel blessed to be in a position to pursue medicine, and be proud of yourself.
Again, I apologize if you deem this post to be lackluster, but this is what I came up with while waiting on some experiments at work. There are plenty of amazing posts on SDN regarding the admissions cycle so please check all of them out as well (Goro's, Gonnif's, Homeskool's etc.). As a closing remark, I want to thank the SDN community for everything and allowing me to have one helluva journey. It's been such an honor to be part of such a supportive and helpful community, and I look forward to the future of SDN as I start medical school. I didn't want to end with generic words of encouragement but here it goes anyways: the journey to becoming a physician will be challenging but remember that there will be future patients waiting for you to change their lives. Deuces.
As I reflect upon my past couple years on SDN being guided, enlightened, stressed, and wrecked by all sorts of emotions-especially throughout the 2018-2019 application cycle-I thought it was only fair for me to provide some insight and encouragement to the future physicians in the SDN community. I am by no means a great writer so please bear with me (or not) throughout this post. The post will be divided into three sections (undergrad, MCAT, admissions cycle) and will delineate my thoughts for each to best prepare you for an acceptance. I will only focus on things that seemed to be important to my journey so please feel free to ask me any specific questions. My gap year job is wrapping up, and I don’t have much to do until medical school starts so I will try my best to address them. Here goes my $0.02.
Undergrad
Congratulations! You finally graduated high school, and you’re now an independent human being. It might feel awesome to taste the sweetness of freedom and alcohol, but this is when responsibilities as a pre-med start to kick in. That being said, DO YOUR BEST TO MAINTAIN A HIGH GPA. This might sound like a generic and obvious thing to say, but this is one thing I wished someone had engraved in my head when I was a freshman. I got too caught up in the social scene, extra-curricular activities, and just f*cking around in general that my GPA ended up being around 3.5/6, which I think was one of the biggest downsides of my application. Establish good study habits, go to class (also helps you get good LoRs), and try to establish a study-support group around you so that you stay motivated and perform well in classes. One caveat is that this doesn't mean the pre-med life should take over your undergraduate experience. The four years (or more) in undergrad is probably one of the most critical periods in your personal development so you have to make time to build life-long friendships and mentors, pursuing activities that you're passionate about and also taking care of your mental/physical health. Speaking of extracurricular activities, please don't join clubs because you think it'll look good on your application. ADCOMS are smarter than you, and they are masters at smelling BS. Instead, choose a couple of clubs/groups that you have a genuine passion in and try to pursue them as longitudinal as possible throughout your undergrad career. These will not only make your application interesting, but also help you create a strong story and write essays with passion and ease. For example, don't just try to do non-clinical volunteering at a homeless clinic for the sake of checking off a box, but find a volunteering activity that you can relate to and that you look forward to doing every time. Another example is for research experiences: do extensive research on the labs that take undergrads, pick out a few that you have an interest in, take initiative and e-mail PI's, join a lab, stick with a lab only if you really enjoy the research (not because you think you can get a publication out of it), and the rest is history. Research has been becoming a soft-requirement for medical schools, and it's imperative that you find a lab that will help you pursue your interests and provide good mentorship. So try to find a lab as early as possible in undergrad and don't be afraid to switch around until you find the right lab for you.
MCAT
I took the MCAT the Fall of my senior year and scored a 523 (let the man live the last moments of his glory days because I know no one will give a **** during med school), and I know YOU CAN TOO. My study schedule was ~3 months with around 3-4 hours of studying each day six days a week (the one day off is mandatory). I think the best time to study is over the summer so that you can take it right around when the semester start and not have to worry about during your school year. The big picture study schedule is 2 months of content learning and 1 month of practice problems/exams along with content review. For content learning, I strictly used Kaplan and for practice, I used all of the AAMC materials (question banks, FLs, etc.) and NextStep FLs and ExamKrackers for content review. My main advice is to spend a good amount of time planning your study schedule. Figure out how much time you have per day, how much content you can study in that given amount of time, and meticulously design a 3 month study plan. Always add a couple weeks of buffer before your exam date in case things get pushed back a little bit. The most important part is to stick with your schedule no matter what. Your friend Joe wants to go watch a movie when you should be studying for the Krebs Cycle? Tell him not today, but on your off-day or the weekend after you finished your scheduled material. It sounds easy to stick with your plan, but it truly takes a lot of discipline and sacrifice-I can promise that it will all be worth it at the end. One practical advice is to try to review and test yourself on certain concepts on your down time. For example, instead of swiping on Tinder while you're sh*tting, try to recite the Krebs Cycle or other concepts that you had trouble memorizing. The MCAT does require rote memorization in certain areas so maximize your studying by using your down time. I always had a list of concepts that I had trouble memorizing and reviewed them every time I got on the subway to/from work. Repetition is key and it'll definitely help you for the MCAT. Again, please feel free to ask specifics about how I prepared for the MCAT by replying to this thread, as I cannot possible try to think of everything I did to write here.
Admissions Cycle
General consensus is to start your application as early as possible; however, only submit applications when you feel ready and are proud of your application. It's never too early to start brainstorming on PS topics and potential secondary topics so try to make your school list ASAP, figure out what the past year's secondary topics were and BRAINSTORM. Once you are a couple months out from when you want to submit your application, start drafting and have a couple trusted readers give you feedback. I'm not a huge fan of the whole "ask every person you know to read your essays" because then you start to lose your own voice and organizing revisions will be hectic. I recommend only asking a couple people that you know have great writing skills and insight on medical school to give you feedback. Regarding LoR's, there isn't much for me to say other than to give your writers enough time to write your letters and choose professors/PIs that you have a personal connection with. Also, there is an artistic component on how you organize and expound your work/activities section for AMCAS. Try to have a cohesive theme in this section and try to be concise. Don't bore the readers with minute details, but focus on how the activity is part of who you are and ties into your general theme of your application. This is when my advise from the "Undergrad" section comes into play. Don't feel the need to have 15 activities; curate this section so that it represents who you are and also why medicine is for you (not all activities have to pertain to medicine). Once you have submitted your application and secondaries, you might think that you're done with the hardest part...WRONG. The waiting game is a whole new monster when it comes to med school admissions. I was definitely one of those people who checked SDN every minute trying to see when people got interview invites, anxiously waiting for mine to come; in hindsight, this was a total waste of time and energy. Once you've submitted, take a deep breath, GET OFF SDN (unless you have specific questions) and enjoy life since you deserve it after months of studying for the MCAT and preparing your application. I know it's easier said than done, but PLEASE TAKE THE CHILL PILL and just focus on school/work/friends/your dog or whatever it is other than med school. Once you get your interview invites, read up on some amazing advice on SDN, as I honestly don't feel confident enough to provide meaningful advice on interviews. Last but not least, be grateful for every and any acceptance, feel blessed to be in a position to pursue medicine, and be proud of yourself.
Again, I apologize if you deem this post to be lackluster, but this is what I came up with while waiting on some experiments at work. There are plenty of amazing posts on SDN regarding the admissions cycle so please check all of them out as well (Goro's, Gonnif's, Homeskool's etc.). As a closing remark, I want to thank the SDN community for everything and allowing me to have one helluva journey. It's been such an honor to be part of such a supportive and helpful community, and I look forward to the future of SDN as I start medical school. I didn't want to end with generic words of encouragement but here it goes anyways: the journey to becoming a physician will be challenging but remember that there will be future patients waiting for you to change their lives. Deuces.
