1. If you have one or two "C" grades it does not really matter as long as you have nothing lower and make more A's than B's. (Exception may be top programs: WashU, Hopkins...)
2. An upward trend is good for your GPA (if you messed up your freshman/sophomore year)
3. Better to take your premed prerequisites at a 4-year university than at a community college; however, if you cannot, just make sure you take a few higher level science courses at your university afterwords and do well on the MCAT
4. Club membership=crummy EC
5. Apply EARLY, as in the first day it opens. Yep, the very first day
6. If you go to an accredited four year college/university, its not going to be deterimental to your application if it doesn't have an ivy league name.
7. When it comes to your personal statement, revise revise revise revise revise and revise some more.
8. Take the MCAT only when you know you will have enough time to study and when you know you will comfortably achieve your target grade.
9. Keep in contact with other pre-meds, your advisors, career centers, etc. (not just SDN...), it will pay itself back to help others.
10. Start your clinical volunteering and shadowing early to show dedication and interest, not a few weeks prior to submitting application.
11. Get a strong letter of recommendation from science profs and MDs.
12. A double major will not give you any significant advantage.
13. Letters of recommendation should come from people who know you well, rather than people who seem "impressive" in some way.
14. Repeat number 5.
15. If you have a low GPA, YES you can still get into medical school; HOWEVER, you must have something else in your application (work experience, MCAT score, ECs) that shows your dedication to hard work and medicine.
16. Don't underestimate the importance of a good personal statement!!! Make the reader remember you (or at least glance at your application twice)
17. If you think you have even the slightest chance, try for the Fee Assistance Program (it can save you thousands!).
18. Don't get discouraged by long secondaries. You'll finish them... eventually...
19. Unless financially crippled, go to ALL interviews until an acceptance is achieved. It would be foolish to throw away good odds "just because."
20. Did I mention apply early?
21. Note that 5, 14 and 20 apply doubly to secondaries.
22. Everyone knows someone with a 40/4.0 who didn't get in anywhere and someone with a 3.0/30 who got into his top choice. It doesn't mean anything. Just do your best.
23. Spam filters are your worst enemies.
24. Re: #22, that being said, apply broadly and reasonably. It's ok to have a couple dream schools, but don't make your entire list top-heavy.
25. If you have any worries about your competitiveness or intend to apply to a broad range of schools (and you should), in addition to 11 you should also get a letter from a humanities professor.
26. Take everything you read on this website with a grain of salt, though it can be useful.
27. Numbers are the most important part of your application.
28. They want real-people doctors, not just the best resume in their stack. And hey, guess what! You're a real person! Show your humanity, your genuine interest, WHY you're passionate about medicine, and show them that, given the chance, you'll do wonderful and impressive things. You'll be fine. Really.
29. Seriously. You'll be fine. Calm the eff down.
30. Be patient. There are 1,000,000 (estimation) applicants just like you waiting for their secondary/interview invite/decision letter too.
31. You're not "too good" for any school. You're not "entitled" to a top-10. Get over yourself. Any acceptance is a blessing, and more than 60% of applicants can hope for.
32. Rankings are basically useless unless you're going into academia (and even then, they're arguable). USNews = the devil.
33. You do not want California residency.
34. Grades and MCAT scores no longer matter once you're at school- everyone starts off the same.
35. "First choices" are a tricky thing. Stay open-minded. You might be surprised at which schools fit.
36. Your case is NOT unique.
37. People on SDN do NOT represent the "normal" application pool
38. If you have a 32/3.7+ and someone says you are not very competitive at mid-tier schools then you are likely on SDN.
39. Don't let the numbers of the applicants on this site make you feel inadequate. These people are in a high percentile, and are not an accurate representation the total applicant pool.
40. Learn from the experience of those who have already gone through the cycle, not those who are currently in the cycle.
41. Clinical volunteerism/work is almost like an unwritten prereq. Make sure to get adequate clinical exposure. But outside of that, do the things you love and let that shine through. You might have done something that someone did before, but it may still set you apart in that not everyone's done it and in that its a part of you and important to you.
42.Remember that one component alone in your app., whether it is MCAT, GPA, lack of a given type of EC, etc. will not make your application, but being bad in any one area will destroy your application. So keep it strong and show improvement in those areas that can be improved upon.
43. If your school has a committee letter (package) get it! It will save you time, money and some places consider it a red flag if you dont have one (if your school offers it).
44. Do not do Early Decision unless you are absolutely 100% certain that you have a shoe in, or unless the Dean of admissions owes your family some money.For the most part, its not worth the risk, even if its your state school...
45. If you have a 35+, 3.7+ and good EC's...dont bother applying to more than one or two safety schools (with average MCAT scores lower than 31) as long as you apply to an otherwise broad range of schools, because it will just be a waste of money.
46. No one cares how diffcult your major or your classes were when considering your GPA.
47. In general, med schools care about these seven things, in roughly this order: MCAT/GPA, clinical experience, research/volunteerism/leadership, PS/LORs. Having a weakness in your app in one of the "higher" importance things is not a death sentence, but you have to be REALLY strong in other areas to make up for them, especially weaknesses in the top three.
48.
Don't commit crimes
49. Take interviews seriously because they're the part of the process where you directly sell yourself.
50. Remember the majority of this list is being constructed by
premeds
50b. Also remember that lots of the
premeds have received multiple acceptances using these rules of thumb (most rules are general knowledge)
51.Keep up to date about current issues, especially those pertaining to medicine; however, "I don't know" (phrased less bluntly, of course) is a better answer in an interview than some BS that will just make you look like an idiot.
52. Join clubs/extra-curriculars that interest
you, not just to have a nice resume for med school. Part of college is having fun and discovering new things about yourself, not JUST getting into medical school.
53. If you're reading this, you've spent way too much time on SDN and not enough time studying for the MCAT!
54. Your interviewer might be able to see every flaw in your application, but he can't see why kids like cinnamon toast crunch.
56. Don't cheat so you can get an "A+" instead of an "A". The profitabilty of cheating diminishes as "actual grade" increases.
57. Ignore any thread on SDN that has, "Affirmative Action" or "URM" in the title. They all end up the same: closed!
