Medical Standing Out As An Applicant

[Question]

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I'm trying to figure out as an applicant to medical school, how to stand out against other applicants because med school is becoming so competitive. What can I do that will make me stand out as an applicant compared to everyone else?

— Experts please respond to this post —

 

[Med Ed]

If there were some straightforward way to stand out (in a positive light) then everyone would do it.

Being competitive is hard but it's not complicated: high GPA, solid MCAT, clinical exposure, and service. The rest is gravy.

P.S. Don't fall into the trap of doing everything right except the service component. I've seen that mistake a lot lately.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Stats.

Everyone is going to have similar ECs. Not everyone has good stats. Focus on academics first.

 

[Goro]

Engage in service to others less fortunate than yourself, to the tune of > 300 hrs.

On the clinical exposure side, not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.

Some types of volunteer activities are more appealing than others. Volunteering in a nice suburban hospital is all very well and good and all but doesn't show that you're willing to dig in and get your hands dirty in the same way that working with the developmentally disabled (or homeless, the dying, or Alzheimer’s or mentally ill or elderly or ESL or domestic, rural impoverished) does. The uncomfortable situations are the ones that really demonstrate your altruism and get you 'brownie points'. Plus, they frankly teach you more -- they develop your compassion and humanity in ways comfortable situations can't.

 

[Dral]

There are levels of standing out. Some take more skill/work than others (or are VERY difficult to obtain). I don't interview for med school, but I interview for residency and fellowship candidates. I'd say generally I put stand outs into a few categories. The highest are ones who really do something extraordinary like olympian or inventor. A little lower than that are military, people who started a business, successful artist. A level down from that are the people who have outstanding hobbies or research (won a baking competition for an original recipe, published first author in nature).

Standing out is also subjective. If I love to cook, someone who also likes to cook will likely stand out to me more than someone else.

I think a stand out can help someone get interviews. There is bias, but someone who is an olympian but an absolute conceited jerk isn't going to get the time of day from me (post interview) and will be ranked lower than a run of the mill person who checked all the boxes but who I can tell is a good person and hard worker.

Overall, just make sure your boxes are checked and then on top of that funnel your energy into what you are passionate about. We can mostly tell when people check boxes vs do something that really gets their motor running.

Also, don't let non-academic endeavors affect your objective stats of course.

Edit: To add a bit more, back in my day, medical missions and abroad things made people stand out. Then these because a dime a dozen (and some - me included - actually have a somewhat negative view of them).

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I have many thoughts on this, but I'll just start with these:

Handle hard better.


Then learn how to compete (intrinsically).

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Good grades and scores. Also, make sure to get enough nonclinical volunteering helping the unfortunate.