I heard this analogy from a friend, and so I thought I would share it with you. It really illustrates simply how admissions committees view med school applications. There are 1000+ questions on here to this subject, so maybe it will help answer a few! Here is goes.
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Imagine your application is a pizza. The best possible application would be a complete supreme pizza, and the worst a cheese pizza. An application pizza has 5 pieces: MCAT, GPA, Application Materials, Clinical Experience / research, and the Interview. In order for an admissions committee to accept you, all five pieces are needed!
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Piece 1, the MCAT: Pretty straightforward. If the average MCAT at your school is a 30, and you score a 28, you probably have delivered a cheese piece. If its a 30, it is probably a pepperoni piece. A 34 is a delicious meat lovers, and a 38 is the best tasting supreme ever! (please note that if the average MCAT is a 37 at the school of your choice, then a 37 MCAT is only a pepperoni!)
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Piece 2, GPA: Again, straightforward in simple cases. If the average GPA is a 3.7, and you have a 3.6, then you have a cheese piece. A 4.0 from a small college is probably a meat lovers, and a 3.95 from Yale is like the delicious supreme! Now non traditional and other applicants that decided at the end of the college career to go into medicine often times do not have sufficient grades or pre reqs to even be considered, and so there isnt even a piece here! This means you dont have a complete pizza necessary for admission! You must get a piece here. Post bacc, graduate school, or completing your pre reqs will give you the piece you need. However, if you have previous bad grades, you will never be able to get a supreme. You can, however, at least make a piece and maybe throw on some pepperoni If you are just completing pre reqs and otherwise have great grades, then you can still make that supreme piece!
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Piece 3, Application materials: I am not an expert on this, many other SDNers can comment more here on what makes a supreme vs meat lovers vs pepperoni vs cheese vs imcomplete. What I can add is that all applications (including secondaries) must be well written, proofread, and explain or demonstrate WHY you want to be a physician and that you understand what that means. The closer you get to convincing them through the application of this, the more toppings are added.
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Piece 4, Clinical experience and Research: Every school has different expectations here. However, no school will frown on thousands of hours of each! The supreme would be a person that has worked in the hospital for 3 years full time and has 3 publications. The cheese would vary from school to school, but would probably be something like working in a lab for a short while and shadowing a doctor for a few days.
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Piece 5, the interview: It may be the most important piece. At this point you get the idea of the analogy, so read a few interview threads and see what constitutes a supreme versus a cheese! I will add that what you are trying to accomplish here is to demonstrate that you ARE a physician, and that you know how to communicate these ideas effectively. It is the process of getting to know you personally and I would add that admissions office calls, LOIs, and updates all fall in this category
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So what kind of pizza do you have? If any pieces are missing, you have no shot of getting in. If you know that you can only deliver a cheese or pepperoni piece on one slice, pour the toppings on another slice as much as you can. The application materials and experience / research are 90% effort, so if you want to be a physician go top those out! Remember, the admissions committee will only eat the best pizzas. If you have one or two cheese pieces, make sure the others are supreme. Of course at some schools, every piece has to be supreme! Good luck and comments / edits are welcomed appreciated. Good luck through this crazy process!
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Hope this helps someone and isnt just worthless babble .
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Imagine your application is a pizza. The best possible application would be a complete supreme pizza, and the worst a cheese pizza. An application pizza has 5 pieces: MCAT, GPA, Application Materials, Clinical Experience / research, and the Interview. In order for an admissions committee to accept you, all five pieces are needed!
*
Piece 1, the MCAT: Pretty straightforward. If the average MCAT at your school is a 30, and you score a 28, you probably have delivered a cheese piece. If its a 30, it is probably a pepperoni piece. A 34 is a delicious meat lovers, and a 38 is the best tasting supreme ever! (please note that if the average MCAT is a 37 at the school of your choice, then a 37 MCAT is only a pepperoni!)
*
Piece 2, GPA: Again, straightforward in simple cases. If the average GPA is a 3.7, and you have a 3.6, then you have a cheese piece. A 4.0 from a small college is probably a meat lovers, and a 3.95 from Yale is like the delicious supreme! Now non traditional and other applicants that decided at the end of the college career to go into medicine often times do not have sufficient grades or pre reqs to even be considered, and so there isnt even a piece here! This means you dont have a complete pizza necessary for admission! You must get a piece here. Post bacc, graduate school, or completing your pre reqs will give you the piece you need. However, if you have previous bad grades, you will never be able to get a supreme. You can, however, at least make a piece and maybe throw on some pepperoni If you are just completing pre reqs and otherwise have great grades, then you can still make that supreme piece!
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Piece 3, Application materials: I am not an expert on this, many other SDNers can comment more here on what makes a supreme vs meat lovers vs pepperoni vs cheese vs imcomplete. What I can add is that all applications (including secondaries) must be well written, proofread, and explain or demonstrate WHY you want to be a physician and that you understand what that means. The closer you get to convincing them through the application of this, the more toppings are added.
*
Piece 4, Clinical experience and Research: Every school has different expectations here. However, no school will frown on thousands of hours of each! The supreme would be a person that has worked in the hospital for 3 years full time and has 3 publications. The cheese would vary from school to school, but would probably be something like working in a lab for a short while and shadowing a doctor for a few days.
*
Piece 5, the interview: It may be the most important piece. At this point you get the idea of the analogy, so read a few interview threads and see what constitutes a supreme versus a cheese! I will add that what you are trying to accomplish here is to demonstrate that you ARE a physician, and that you know how to communicate these ideas effectively. It is the process of getting to know you personally and I would add that admissions office calls, LOIs, and updates all fall in this category
*
So what kind of pizza do you have? If any pieces are missing, you have no shot of getting in. If you know that you can only deliver a cheese or pepperoni piece on one slice, pour the toppings on another slice as much as you can. The application materials and experience / research are 90% effort, so if you want to be a physician go top those out! Remember, the admissions committee will only eat the best pizzas. If you have one or two cheese pieces, make sure the others are supreme. Of course at some schools, every piece has to be supreme! Good luck and comments / edits are welcomed appreciated. Good luck through this crazy process!
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Hope this helps someone and isnt just worthless babble .
