How to get into medical school -- Advice from a peer

I signed up to be a mentor to premed students at my school. As I was talking to my mentee today, I've realized I could give all of those information to anyone who is interested in becoming a doctor. There is no magic bullet to get into medical school. But you need to do fulfill a few requirements. I listed general steps to get into med schools.

1. Bachelor Degree
There are some medical schools that have combined B.S./M.D. programs. However, for the majority of medical schools in U.S., a bachelor's degree is required. There is no rule about which major is the best.

2. Prerequisite classes
Medical schools require you to have completed the following prerequisite classes in general. It could slightly vary among schools, but here is a general list.
a. 1 year of General Chemistry
b. 1 year of Organic Chemistry
c. 1 year of Biology
d. 1 year of Physics
e. 1 year of English
f. 1 Biochem class
g. 1 year of Math (Calculus or other advanced Math)
h. Social Science classes
 
3. MCAT
You need to have taken MCAT in order for schools to consider you.

4. Primary Application
Once you have all of those above, you can fill out a primary application at AAMC.
You need to write a personal statement, list all the college classes you've taken, list your extracurricular activities, and add the schools you'd like to apply to. Also make sure you have a credit card at the time; it gets more expensive as you get to secondary applications. AAMC has fee assistance program for those from low-income family: an extremely money-saving option.
Please see the bottom of this post on when you should send your primary application.

4.a. Selecting schools
I strongly recommend taking a look at Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR™) book published by AAMC every year. It has all medical schools in U.S., Canada, and Caribbean, along with statistics of their last entering class. You could look at GPA, MCAT score of entering class, and decide your chance of getting accepted into the school. Most colleges have a copy of this book, at least an older version, at their premed office or career center, if you want to save money. Another good way of using the book is to see whether a specific school sends out a secondary application to all applicants, and whether out-of-state applicants are accepted.



Even though you think you are the smartest person in the world, I would recommend you apply to some backup schools. The number of schools you should apply depend on your statistics (MCAT, GPA, activities) and your personality (how much of a safety net you want). Also based on the number of medical schools in your state and competitiveness of those schools, you might wanna consider applying to out of state schools.


5. Secondary Application
After you have submitted your primary application, med schools you've applied to will supposedly take a look at your application and decide if they want to know more about you. So they send you a secondary application, mostly through email. Depending on the school, they ask you to write more essays or none. But all schools ask you to send letters of recommendation and to give them secondary application fees. Be aware some schools give out secondaries to all applicants.

5.b. Letters of Recommendation
I dread about asking for a letter of rec. Just think that there is no other way to go about it.

A general rule for the number of recommendation letters you need is 3 plus or minus 1. You'd need at least 2 letters from Science professors, with whom you took classes, and 1 non-science professor. Your research professor or mentor is good but can't substitute the Science letters. Some schools specifically ask that one letter must be from Biology, Chemistry, Math, or Physics professors (the core classes).

A proper way to ask is to prepare the required documents and make the writing process as painless for them as possible. Your resume, personal statement, a stamped envelope for returning the letter, and a waiver-from-reading form are absolutely necessary in my opinion. I also provide a cover letter with bullet points about myself, to make the writing easier; professors love it.

Regarding whether it's good to get letters from a professor with whom you got an A, vs. a B, think from professor's perspective. They aren't doing this just for you, but for hundreds of other students. Why should they write you as the best student in class when you got a B, whereas they could write another student who got an A+ as one that puts more effort!

A good website to store letters of recommendation is your Premed office at college, Career Center, or Interfolio. Some med schools ask you to waive your rights to read the letter.

6. Interview invite
Med schools review your primary, secondary application, and letters of rec, and decide if they shall invite you for an interview. Most interviews I've received come from email or status-update websites from schools. So it's good news if you've got that email. Check your schedule, contact the admissions office, and confirm the interview. Then, it's time to go SHOPPING (this reminds me of White Chicks movie). Buy a nice suit (See the interview attire section on bottom). Buy flight tickets or arrange transportation. Contact the school whether they have student host. Staying with student hosts is the cheapest way. Book a hotel or rent a car if needed.

7. Interview Attire
There is no set rule on interview attire. General rule is you wanna look professional. So no white socks or tennis shoes for gentlemen. For ladies, skirts or pants are fine, but make sure you don't show too much of your top or bottom. Carrying a purse or folder or binder is absolutely fine.
The color of your suit should not be too bright that interviewers could go blind. So stick with neutral colors: black, brown, beige, etc.

8. Practice for interview
(Please also view my earlier blog post on how to practice for interview.)


Mock interviews are the best way to go, in my opinion. I recommend rehearsing in front of a mirror. Make a list of possible questions they could ask. Review your primary and secondary applications and try to put yourself in interviewer's shoes: "What do they want to know more about me?" Come up with questions and answers; you yourself could be the most critical interviewer. There are websites listing how to prepare for interview, so I won't write extensively.  The medical school interview: secrets and a system for success is a good book that explains what interviewers are for and what they want to know, if you are completely lost. I found that useful. Check out Student Doctor Network (SDN) forums on the common questions asked at the Specific School you'd be interviewing. Check out the website of the school you'd be interviewing, and get information about history, curriculum, student groups, programs, etc. If you are still in college, find out if your Premed office or Carrier Center offers mock interview; it's such a good option.

Some questions I've been asked at almost all medical schools:
Tell me about yourself.
Why medicine?
Why do you want to come to our school?
Tell me your strengths and weaknesses.

Those 4 questions are harder than any other question to me. Make sure you tell not too much or too little, when answering those questions, and be true to yourself. When asked 'tell me about yourself', some people answer chronologically, or some go from what they are doing currently and go back in time. Think of yourself as a salesman trying to pitch yourself for a spot at their medical school, so when answering why they should accept you, answer with confidence, and a strong pitch.

I don't think it's a good idea to write out every single word you'd say. If you then memorize that script, you could sound like reading out a script. Write general script and rehearse.

9. Interview Day
Now you've prepared your best, you should relax this day. Your interview could be in the morning or afternoon. You may have one-to-one interview with a faculty member (usually a MD or a PhD), or two interviews, or a group interview, depending on the school. The interview day usually involves a tour of the school, financial aid information session, lunch, and a welcome speech from Admissions dean. Be professional throughout your interview day.

10. Acceptance/ Waitlist/ Rejection
Good news if you get accepted right after interview. If you get wait-listed, it's a good idea to send a letter of intent.

10. a. Letters of intent
Some premed students fuss about the difference between a letter of intent versus a letter of interest. I don't know the difference and I don't think it matters. Whatever you call it, an important thing is that you should write a letter telling the school that you are very very interested in coming to school, tell your reasons again, and update the school with your recent grade or accomplishments.

11. When should you apply? When should you do each step?

MCAT: It is offered several times a year, so decide when you want to take it. However, keep in mind that you apply one year in advance. Say if you want to start medical school in Fall of 2011, you should apply before the fall of 2010, preferably starting summer of 2010. Take MCAT prior to that. To get MCAT test results, it takes 4 weeks. So I would suggest, if you are aiming everything perfectly, you take MCAT by April.


Personal statement: You should make the statement as polished as possible. Ask your family/peers to review it, and give it several edits. Please try to have your finished statement by June, if you want to submit your primary app ASAP. (See below)


Primary application: You can start submitting your primary application in the first week of June until December. It's STRONGLY recommended you apply early. Most medical schools have rolling admissions, meaning they would take students based on whose-ever file arrives at their desk first. So your chance of getting accepted is stronger if you submit it early. Plus, AAMC has to verify your application, making sure that you enter all your grades correctly. That takes time, so if you apply late, AAMC has thousands of applications to go through grade-checking process before they do yours. Think about the time spent in waiting for verification of your primary. I would say submit in JUNE or as early as possible.

Letters of recommendation:

You should give letter writers 4-8 weeks to write your letter. Ask your letters around April-May. Tell them you need it by June.
 
Secondary application: These applications have deadline, most due within 3-4 weeks from the day you receive them, depending on schools. Following the logic of competitiveness of schools and rolling admissions, finish this as soon as possible. Also, keep in mind that some schools' deadline mean you need to have ALL of your letters of recommendation, application fee, and the secondary essays completed and sitting on the admin office by THEN.

So congratulations if you are accepted. 

12. What if I did not get into medical school?
If not, you could still try again next year. Think of post-bac programs, if your GPA was weak and want to improve your GPA. However, if you are comfortable, you can apply to an osteopathic school or an out-of-country school. Osteopathic schools are getting harder to get into, than it used to be. Please see my past blog on the philosophy of osteopathic medicine. You apply to residency programs in the U.S. after finishing those schools.

P.S. I've been writing this blog for the past 2 months. I'm finally finishing it during Christmas break. I hope it's useful. SDN forums is a good website to get help from peers. I wrote a blog post earlier about things to watch out for when reading SDN.

Disclaimer: This advice is exclusively written by me and entirely based on my past experience of applying, so this is in no way guarantee of you getting accepted. Please use it at your own risk. I am not responsible for any consequence associated with this blog.

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