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As you can imagine, the goal of getting into medical school took up a lot of my time a couple of years ago. Here are some tid bits I picked up along the way.
1. GPA
Grade Point Average is important. Medical schools want to know that you can succeed in the course work. However, it isn't as important as one might think. If an applicant has a high MCAT, he/she may be able to get in with a lower GPA. If his/her MCAT is just okay, then you generally need around a 3.5 or higher. Many medical schools will rank a applicant with lower scores higher than another applicant with a higher GPA & MCAT based on the applicant's life experiences and his/her interview. There are many internet and print sources updated annually that will tell you the average GPA and MCAT of individual school's entering classes. The U.S. News site is a good place to start.
2. MCAT
In General
The Medical College Admissions Test is hard. It is a day long exam that covers several subjects. Study for this exam! It is more important than you think. Make the investment in the Princeton Review's Flowers and Silver MCAT book. My pre-med advisor recommended this book, and it's the best one I've come across. I purchased several other prep books, but they were a waste of money. I couldn't afford to take a prep class, so I made the $85 investment in the Princeton Review's Flowers and Silver MCAT review book and the Flowers and Silver Annotated practice MCAT's book. I recommend both. It was just what I needed. I went through that (very large) book cover to cover! The mini-lessons helped me remember my freshman classes, but also helped me decide what to re-learn from what seemed an unsurmountable amount of material. The sample problems and the worked out answers prevented me from becoming too discouraged. I could see where I made my mistakes, correct them, and move on. I scored a respectable 29 on the April 97 MCAT. The review book is large, but if you can get through it you'll be prepared. The MCAT requires you to know all the basic principles from your freshman classes and apply them to higher level problem solving. You won't have to remember all the bones or organ systems, but I would look at things like the theoriesbehind the pH of blood.
The Test
The first section is verbal reasoning. You can't study for this section, but you can practice. Doing repeated timed verbal reasoning tests will greatly improve your score. You can get practice exams from the MCAT people or at book stores. Next is the physical sciences section. This covers inorganic chemistry and physics. Brush up on all the lessons from your freshman classes. It helps to work out problems. The Princeton Review's book helped me sift through what to re-learn and what to forget about. The problems in the Princeton Review book are in MCAT style of presentation. It is a good idea review the lessons and then work out the problems. The next section you can sleep through. It is the writing sample section. Nobody looks at this score. Spend your time studying on one of the other sections. The last section is the biological sciences section. It includes organic chemistry and biology. For this section, you should also look over your freshman topics. Don't memorize a bunch of factoids. Instead, familiarize yourself with processes. Definitely work out MCAT practice problems because the question format is nothing like the exams that you are accustomed to!
3. Major
At most schools, pre-med is not a major. You have to choose an undergraduate major. Besides, even if there is a pre-med major what will you do with it if you don't get into medical school? Choose a major in something you like. It also helps if you are good at it because you want to have a decent GPA! You will have to complete a set of required courses for medical school. Most schools require:
2 semesters of inorganic chemistry with labs
2 semesters of organic chemistry with labs
2 semesters of biology with labs
2 semesters of physics with labs
2 semesters of english
1 semester of calculus (only some schools)
So you can see that a major in chemistry or biology would lend itself to more overlap and less classes required in the end. However, schools are looking for diversity. Anything you can do to make your application stick out is good. A major in psychology, anthropology, history, or even music can get you a second look from the admission's committee. I met an applicant at one of my interviews who had a degree in Music. Stay clear of nursing or medical technology because they have the lowest acceptance rates. I suppose that medical schools want you to be a clean slate so they can mold you. Receiving a degree in a health related field seems to turn them off. "How to get into Medical School" type books will usually give you the current statistics on which majors are being accepted the most.
4. Exposure to the medical field
This is very important. The committee will want to see that you have followed up on your desire to work in the medical field. I worked as a receptionist for a pediatrician. You can work or volunteer in many other settings too like a hospital, a nursing home, or a clinic. Research experience can substitute for this is you plan on being in medical research or if you are interested in teaching.
5. Letter of Recommendation
Most schools prefer that you have your professors turn in recommendation letters to your school's pre-med committee. The pre-med committee will compile them into just one letter. Only ask professors that know you fairly well to write you a letter. A mediocre letter is worse than a bad letter. They prefer academic letters over letters from doctors. Don't get a letter from a politician.
6. The Application and Essay
Follow the directions carefully. Don't be cheesy in your essay.
Most schools use a common application through the AMCAS. For the schools in Texas, there are separate applications for Baylor and the University of North Texas. Just recently, Texas A&M and Texas Tech joined the four UT (Southwestern, Houston, Galveston, and San Antonio make up the UT system ) schools in a match program. You will need fill out one main application for all 6 of these schools. You may also be asked to fill out smaller supplemental applications for the individual schools. As you interview at the schools in the match program, you rank them. You can only rank the schools that you have interviewed at. Each time you interview at a new school you have the opportunity to re-rank the schools. Later, the schools rank the students. Then a computer matches you up with the highest school on your list that you were accepted to. In this manner, the match system has cut down on the same people getting accepted at more than one school. For example, I was accepted to San Antonio, my second choice school. Therefore, I was automatically dropped from my third and fourth choice schools even if they accepted me, but I remained on the alternate list at my first choice school. As you can see, this prevents people from hogging 4 positions when they only need one! Be careful which schools that you apply to because many only or mostly accept state residents! There are many internet and print resources that will give you the break down on the admission policies of different schools.
7. The Interview
If you get an interview, hurray! You have made the biggest leap! All the interviews that I went on were one on one. phew! For the most part, they asked easy questions like "why do you want to be a doctor?" When you arrive, there is usually a reception and orientation. Here you receive an itinerary for the day that has scheduled two interviews, speeches, tours, and lunch. The interviews are usually in the professor's or doctor's office. You are given the times and building/room numbers of the interviewers and you are expected to find them and arrive in a timely manner. The interview days were a lot less structured than I thought they would be. For the most part, interviewing is fun. You get to travel, meet new people, and see what might be your future school. Everyone treats you like you are already a medical student. If you make it to the interview stage, you are practically home free! Click HERE to check out links to the school that I applied to and read about my specific interview experiences.
Pre-med? Check out this website: www.medstudents.net
