Resources that are extremely useful:
http://www.studentdoctor.net/
Links to almost everything you could ever need. Interview feedback, MCAT prep, Links to excellent sites, news updates for the process, and much, much, much, much more.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/
Discussion Forums to ask and receive answers to every facet of the medical school process (ask any question and receive a ton of information).
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/med/medindex_brief.php
Medicine Rankings, Tools, and Articles including admissions statistics for in state and out of state, and much more (useful for choosing your schools, and preparing for interviews).
http://www.princetonreview.com/medical/research/advsearch/match.asp
More information regarding school description and focuses.
http://www.aamc.org/
Association of American Medical Colleges: AMCAS (American Medical College Application Service), MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) and other Medical School Resources. Surveys, Data on National applicant profiles (GPA, MCAT, gender, state, ethnicity, etc.), relevant articles, and pretty much everything official on the application process as a whole.
http://www.lewisassoc.com/links.htm
Useful Links to all sorts of timelines, applicant data, how-to FAQ, and much, much more.
http://eduserv.hscer.washington.edu/bioethics/topics/index.html
Concise information on how to handle bioethical situations (useful for interview questions).
-Autonomy
-Do no harm
-Do good
-Equal justice and opportunity
Letter Services (The importance of this cannot be underestimated!):
http://www.lewisassoc.com/
Dr. Lewis and Associates (Highly reputable, and responsive to your needs; also provides advising). Call for pricing; it will actually end up cheaper than doing it by yourself. Trying to take care of this process yourself can be much bigger than you anticipate.
http://www.interfolio.com/ (Another Highly reputable Letter Service)
Also, there are other services available on the internet that offer competitive pricing with similar services; use Google to search them out.
Read/Watch the news for updates regarding current issues in Health-Care (i.e.
http://news.google.com/news/en/us/health.html and
http://news.google.com/). Also check SDN for posts on these topics. This information is useful for the Writing Section portion of the MCAT, and is helpful for fielding interview questions that pertain to contemporary Health-Care issues.
Books:
AAMC: Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR)
The Princeton Review: Complete Book of Medical Schools
Kaplan Newsweek: Medical School Admissions Advisor
Barron??s: Essays That Will Get You into Medical School
Some companies that publish books for MCAT prep, and also offer courses for review:
Princeton Review
http://www.princetonreview.com/medical/testprep/
Kaplan
http://www.kaplan.com/ ?? Click on the link that says MCAT
Exam Krackers
http://examkrackers.com/
Berkeley Review
http://www.berkeley-review.com/
AAMC
http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/start.htm
Things to always be considering:
?h Informing potential Letter writers of your intention to use them as a recommender (do not spring this time consuming task on your Letter writers at the last minute; at best they will be ambivalent about writing your letter).
?h Involving yourself in some extracurricular activities (outlined above).
?h Working on your journal, and writing/proofing rough drafts of your personal statement.
?h Getting good Grades!
?h Do not rush this process or it will back fire; have patience; this is a game that requires waiting, which is punctuated by moments of craziness.
?h By the Spring 2 years prior to matriculation you should have completed: Animal Biology, Cellular Biology, Intro to Genetics, General Chemistry, O-Chem (the harder of the two series) + lab, Physics series, Math through Calc 1(no calculator allowed on MCAT!), English series, History series, and Critical Thinking course. These courses will provide you with the basic skill set to tackle the MCAT successfully.
?h Some classes that are Highly recommended by Medical Schools, but are not necessary for the MCAT are: Physical Chemistry (Survey Course okay), Physiology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry (Survey Course okay), Quantitative Analysis in Chemistry, Calculus 2 or higher, Statistics, Computer Science Basics, Wide breadth of Humanities courses (>30 semester units), and Behavioral Sciences (Psychology/Sociology). Consider doing this after you have completed the course work outlined for the MCAT.
?h Now you may be wondering how you??re supposed to tackle all of this in a four-year curriculum? The answer is that it really isn??t all that feasible unless you cut out sleep. So you may want to consider taking five or more years to prepare for medical school. The main idea is to make sure your application is as strong as possible before you apply. If it isn??t, you may find yourself reapplying, and explaining why you think you weren??t ready the previous time. Apply when you??re ready but not earlier. Plan, Plan, Plan! And don??t concern yourself about what the medical schools think of a 5 or 6-year plan. The average applicant age goes up each year. And every application cycle, the percentage of applicants that are post-baccalaureate, Masters level, PhD level, or have some other specialty/professional training is increasing.