Tips on getting into a top 10 med school.

[foshizzle]

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I am just starting my undergrad career and I want to get a critical analysis on what I need to accomplish so that I can get into a top 10 med school. I am a student at the university of arizona. Please be over critical and professional. It would also be helpful to include EC's, gpa, mcat scores, etc. (anything you find helpful)

 

[October88]

I am just starting my undergrad career and I want to get a critical analysis on what I need to accomplish so that I can get into a top 10 med school. I am a student at the university of arizona. Please be over critical and professional. It would also be helpful to include EC's, gpa, mcat scores, etc. (anything you find helpful)

You should use the profile search on MD apps to search for applicants who earned admission to the schools you are interested in.

 

[scruggs92]

I am just starting my undergrad career and I want to get a critical analysis on what I need to accomplish so that I can get into a top 10 med school. I am a student at the university of arizona. Please be over critical and professional. It would also be helpful to include EC's, gpa, mcat scores, etc. (anything you find helpful)

Start volunteering as soon as possible. Looking back, I wish I would have volunteered during the summers. I could not during the school year because I played college tennis my first 2 years. Keep your GPA as high as you can, and make sure you learn the material in your science classes so that you are prepared for the MCAT. Shadow doctors and do research if you can too.

You can google stuff like this or search it on the forums. Good luck.

 

[eleveneleven]

Get an excellent GPA. Do very well on the MCAT. Have outstanding, research experience for a sustained duration, ideally with multiple posters and publications. Take on a leadership role (perhaps even in the lab). Shadow some physicians, and do some clinical and non-clinical volunteering. Perhaps that's a bit of a cookie-cutter approach, but typically that seems to be enough. The research is nearly indispensable, though.

 

[darkjedi]

eat your wheaties

 

[red doctober]

Join a lab early. Don't stress too hard about publications, but they can help... a lot. Maybe after a year or so, ask your PI if you could present a poster at a conference. Be aware of certain national awards like the Goldwater.

 

[LizzyM]

Shoot for a gpa of not less than 3.8.

Find a service related activity you like and serve an average of 2 hours per week from now through junior year (it could be tutoring and mentoring poor kids, teaching adult literacy classes, serving in a soup kitchen or food pantry, Habitat for Humanity, etc etc the point is be consistent in being of service to the needy). Work up through the years until you are directing and leading other volunteers in the organization.

Do something fun unrelated to medicine every week; have one or two activities that you do consistently over many years. Draw a comic strip for the school paper, play a musical instrument with a group, participate in a sports team, train for endurance sports, engage in a DIY hobby, develop recipes using only the condiments bar in your dining hall.

Second year of college, start some hospital or outpatient clinic volunteering and/or shadowing (to see what the environment and the role of the physicain is like so you can cut bait early if medicine is not the right career for you).

Find a lab that will take you during the summer after 2nd year and stay with that lab through Junior year. If possible do a thesis as part of your degree.

Figure that you'll need to score in the top 5% of MCAT test takers and take the exam not later than May of Junior year and prepare accordingly.

 

[aspiring20]

Shoot for a gpa of not less than 3.8.

Find a service related activity you like and serve an average of 2 hours per week from now through junior year (it could be tutoring and mentoring poor kids, teaching adult literacy classes, serving in a soup kitchen or food pantry, Habitat for Humanity, etc etc the point is be consistent in being of service to the needy). Work up through the years until you are directing and leading other volunteers in the organization.

Do something fun unrelated to medicine every week; have one or two activities that you do consistently over many years. Draw a comic strip for the school paper, play a musical instrument with a group, participate in a sports team, train for endurance sports, engage in a DIY hobby, develop recipes using only the condiments bar in your dining hall.

Second year of college, start some hospital or outpatient clinic volunteering and/or shadowing (to see what the environment and the role of the physicain is like so you can cut bait early if medicine is not the right career for you).

Find a lab that will take you during the summer after 2nd year and stay with that lab through Junior year. If possible do a thesis as part of your degree.

Figure that you'll need to score in the top 5% of MCAT test takers and take the exam not later than May of Junior year and prepare accordingly.

great points

but OP, having a 3.8/36 with the above ECs will by no means guarantee acceptance to a top schools, or any med school, in fact.

in fact, what LizzyM had described seem more like a "general requirement" of getting into ANY MD schools these days...

 

[Almost7Famous]

thank you!

 

[LizzyM]

great points

but OP, having a 3.8/36 with the above ECs will by no means guarantee acceptance to a top schools, or any med school, in fact.

in fact, what LizzyM had described seem more like a "general requirement" of getting into ANY MD schools these days...

No one can ever offer a guarantee but 3.8/36 has an admission rate >85% at a school. Keep in mind that there are more than 1000 but less than 2000 seats available at the top 10 schools combined. You are competing, I'm guessing, with about 10,000 individuals who have also applied to one or more top 10 schools. It isn't easy but is you aim for the stars you might reach the moon.

 

[Cynicalbrit]

great points

but OP, having a 3.8/36 with the above ECs will by no means guarantee acceptance to a top schools, or any med school, in fact.

in fact, what LizzyM had described seem more like a "general requirement" of getting into ANY MD schools these days...

The average student matriculating at a US medical school has a GPA of around 3.6 and an MCAT of 32. An MCAT score of 36 puts you in the top 5% of test takers, and ~42% of all applicants end up matriculating. If you needed to score a 36 of higher, there would only be 3500 medical students in the US, and about 16,500 unfilled seats. The ECs she described are far better than what most premeds have, and while it is certainly possible to do more, even top schools accept students with ECs below what LizzyM described.

 

[Lollygag]

The average student matriculating at a US medical school has a GPA of around 3.6 and an MCAT of 32. An MCAT score of 36 puts you in the top 5% of test takers, and ~42% of all applicants end up matriculating. If you needed to score a 36 of higher, there would only be 3500 medical students in the US, and about 16,500 unfilled seats. The ECs she described are far better than what most premeds have, and while it is certainly possible to do more, even top schools accept students with ECs below what LizzyM described.

This is pure speculation as I've never served on the adcom of a top school.. but looking around MDapps I think you really need to have those things LizzyM described. Anything less than what she described would be very cookie cutter IMO but then again.. I don't know if it just seems cookie cutter because it's SDN and we tend to be more neurotic about these things.

And I don't know any cookie cutters that got into top schools. All of the top school applicants I have met were extraordinary in at least one aspect of their application. Like they didn't just do research, they had a thesis, poster presentations, a publication. They weren't just president of an organization, they were a founder. They didn't necessarily excel at EVERYTHING, but there was something in their application that they excelled at far more than the average person. Maybe for top 10-20 schools you may see some cookie cutters but top 1-10... You truly need something unique about you because those schools have their pick of the best students of the 40,000 applying.

 

[Cynicalbrit]

Well, there are approximately 1300 seats up for grabs at the top 10. With ~40,000 applicants, that means that about 1 in 30 will end up attending a top 10. I don't have access to the statistics necessary to see their yield, but if let's assume (liberally, I admit), that they each have a 50% yield. That would mean that 1 out of every 15 applicants is accepted to a top school. Or, to put it another way, 6.5% of acceptance letters are written by schools in the top 10. (Please correct me if you can find a real number for their yield).

Also, if there are 1300 seats at the top 10 and about 20,000 total M1 seats, that means that 1 out of every 15 medical students is at a top 10 school as we speak.


P.S. - I'm writing this fairly hastily, so feel free to correct me if my numbers or math is off.

 

[IncognitoGuy]

Check out the MDApps of Tots, wangers, KDizzle, NewYorker and some others. The aforementioned are off the top of my head who applied at the same time I did, but I'm certain there are others if you look.

Know that many top schools are looking to cultivate future 'leaders' in the profession, and simply wanting to "help others" is not going to cut it when they inspect you.

 

[LizzyM]

Well, there are approximately 1300 seats up for grabs at the top 10. With ~40,000 applicants, that means that about 1 in 30 will end up attending a top 10. I don't have access to the statistics necessary to see their yield, but if let's assume (liberally, I admit), that they each have a 50% yield. That would mean that 1 out of every 15 applicants is accepted to a top school. Or, to put it another way, 6.5% of acceptance letters are written by schools in the top 10. (Please correct me if you can find a real number for their yield).

Also, if there are 1300 seats at the top 10 and about 20,000 total M1 seats, that means that 1 out of every 15 medical students is at a top 10 school as we speak.


P.S. - I'm writing this fairly hastily, so feel free to correct me if my numbers or math is off.

The only error is that many top schools are chasing the same 1300 students. The yield may be 50% but only because students A and B each get a letter from schools Y and Z and A chooses Y and B chooses Z.

 

[Cynicalbrit]

The only error is that many top schools are chasing the same 1300 students. The yield may be 50% but only because students A and B each get a letter from schools Y and Z and A chooses Y and B chooses Z.

Very true. I guess the point I was trying to make isn't that getting into top ten schools is easy, just that great applicants shouldn't be discouraged from applying to the top schools simply because they haven't discovered 27 cures for cancer whilst juggling flaming chainsaws and rescuing small children from burning buildings by the time they apply.

 

[JGimpel]

Don't mess up at anything, ever. Stressing out about it every minute of every day will only serve to help with this.

 

[aspiring20]

The average student matriculating at a US medical school has a GPA of around 3.6 and an MCAT of 32. An MCAT score of 36 puts you in the top 5% of test takers, and ~42% of all applicants end up matriculating. If you needed to score a 36 of higher, there would only be 3500 medical students in the US, and about 16,500 unfilled seats. The ECs she described are far better than what most premeds have, and while it is certainly possible to do more, even top schools accept students with ECs below what LizzyM described.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope that that's the case.

 

[Cynicalbrit]

I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope that that's the case.

As do I. However, just to clarify, I meant what the average students who plans on applying to medical school has. I did not mean what most premeds who end up at top schools have, although I'm not really in a position to comment on the "normal" ECs for students at top 10s.

 

[aspiring20]

As do I. However, just to clarify, I meant what the average students who plans on applying to medical school has. I did not mean what most premeds who end up at top schools have, although I'm not really in a position to comment on the "normal" ECs for students at top 10s.

yup. that's how i interpreted...mostly

 

[Cynicalbrit]

yup. that's how i interpreted...mostly

Actually, I can bring some more numbers into this now that I can get to the MSAR again. The student LizzyM described has 3 years of non-clinical volunteering (with leadership), 2 years of clinical volunteering, over a year of research (potentially with a thesis), and interesting non-medical interests. Judging by the MSAR, at most schools about 70% of matriculants have non-clinical volunteering, 80-90% have clinical volunteering, and 75-98% have research. That means that about 1 in 3 successful applicants applied with 0 non-clinical volunteering, which is far less than the 3 years LizzyM described. At top schools, well over 90% have research experience. This makes it clear that research is pretty important, but keep in mind that all the 90+% tells you is that they did some research. Getting more than a year would probably put you at the average for top schools, especially with a thesis or a pub. Clinical volunteering is obviously very important, but I don't think having 2000 hours of volunteering at a local hospital is all that much better than having 200.

Anyway, just my $0.02

 

[Goro]

GPA >3.7
MCAT in mid 30s
Research experience
Stellar ECs, not just the usual medical tourism
Great LORs
Evidence of leadership and altrusim

Summary: evidence that you'll be a great doctor, not merely a great medical student. 4.0 automatons are a dime a dozen.

I am just starting my undergrad career and I want to get a critical analysis on what I need to accomplish so that I can get into a top 10 med school. I am a student at the university of arizona. Please be over critical and professional. It would also be helpful to include EC's, gpa, mcat scores, etc. (anything you find helpful)

 

[gmcguitar4]

get 30+ on MCAT get >3.7gpa. win lottery. donate 10 mill to the school you want. Guaranteed entrance.

 

[foshizzle]

I appreciate all of the feedback guys. This is very helpful.

 

[foshizzle]

does my research have to be medical related?

 

[LizzyM]

does my research have to be medical related?

It is best if it has some relevance to human biological systems or social science. If it is astronomy or asphalt engineering, not so much.

 

[eleveneleven]

It is best if it has some relevance to human biological systems or social science. If it is astronomy or asphalt engineering, not so much.

I have done extensive research in the geological sciences and will be applying to top schools. Could this actually negatively impact my application, given that admission committee's might look down upon me for not pursuing research in human biological sciences or social sciences? Or can I portray it such that they still could see the value in what I have accomplished? I chose this research, for instance, because it offered me a significant degree of autonomy in designing my project, and allowed me develop a scientific skill-set that I believe has made me better suited to do scientific research in any discipline.

 

[LizzyM]

I have done extensive research in the geological sciences and will be applying to top schools. Could this actually negatively impact my application, given that admission committee's might look down upon me for not pursuing research in human biological sciences or social sciences? Or can I portray it such that they still could see the value in what I have accomplished? I chose this research, for instance, because it offered me a significant degree of autonomy in designing my project, and allowed me develop a scientific skill-set that I believe has made me better suited to do scientific research in any discipline.

If your stats are what you say they are, it might not matter much at some schools. 😍 Be sure you can elaborate on the transferrable skills you learned in your research.

 

[Frazier]

eat your wheaties

lol

 

[SOMBound13]

I am just starting my undergrad career

It's too early to worry about this.

The concept of a "top 10 med school" is not like the concept of a top 10 undergrad. All US MD schools are excellent. Going to a top 10-20 med school isn't necessary unless you're interested in academic medicine.

 

[Narmerguy]

It's too early to worry about this.

The concept of a "top 10 med school" is not like the concept of a top 10 undergrad. All US MD schools are excellent. Going to a top 10-20 med school isn't necessary unless you're interested in academic medicine.

It's not necessary if you want to go into academic medicine either.