Application Tips

Welcome to the world of med school applications! Just like the MCAT, med school applications are a PROCESS. The AAMC application opens June 1st and if you are not trying to take a gap year you should start working on your application junior year spring semester. Find out if your school has a pre-health office because you may have to start a file and interview with them before you send out applications. Additionally, they can be a good resource and can help organize/send out your application. Below are some tips that we think are crucial for applications:

Get your application in early! Schools usually read the applications as they come in so you want to make sure yours is at the top of the pile. Once you submit your primary application (hopefully June 1st) you will start receiving secondary applications (I'm telling you it’s a PROCESS). Keep in mind that the sooner you turn in primaries the sooner you will get secondaries and the sooner your application will be complete.

Start your application early so you can have as many people read your application as possible, other people may see qualities in yourself that you did not write about. You can find the primary essay questions online in the AAMC website. Start drafting early! Additionally, have an updated CV ready because then all you have to do is copy and paste your activities into the application. This will save you so much time and will also allow you to proof-read multiple times. Also your professors are busy and would love to have time to write you a letter of recommendation without feeling rushed.

Nothing is worse than sending an application with errors- this will make it seem like you were rushed and not interested. Read your application out loud to catch errors. You will often find this helps catch errors that you don’t want to send your application with! 

Check to see if you qualify for Fee Assistance Program (FAP), this will help you save money on applications if you qualify. Applications for FAP open in February and you must sign up BEFORE you sign up for the MCAT.

Best of luck to all those applying, hope these quick tips are helpful! Check out the Q/A below for more info.

Application Q/A

What is the best way to answer questions of “why this medical school?”? 

⁃ Look at the school’s website and see what makes their curriculum, research, or environment unique. For instance you can name a couple of professors whose research really interests you and aligns well with your career goals. Additionally, you can mention how the patient population is one you feel would benefit your training. Be creative and specific using examples relevant to the institution to which you are applying to!

Is there a big difference to applying in the beginning or end of the cycle?

⁃ It does help to get your application out sooner since most schools function at a first come first serve manner. However, if you are ready and want to apply this current cycle do not let applying later hold you back. Marisol decided to take a gap year so she can apply early. It’s unclear how much that helped her chances of getting in. But if you’re a good applicant you’ll be competitive whether you apply early or late. We think it makes you look more organized and serious about the program if you apply earlier.

Do you need to take the GRE for the MD/PhD program?

⁃ No just the MCAT. Some grad schools can require a GRE subject test but that is very rare for MD/PhD.

Do I need to fill out all the 15 extracurricular activities in the AMCAS application?

⁃ If you do not have fifteen activities that you can talk about, that’s fine. However, you should reflect hard and do your best to fill that out completely. If you cannot think of fifteen activities you should make sure you showcase what you did thoroughly so that even if you did less, you are able to show that you devoted a lot of time to that activity and were passionate about it. It is a common misconception to think that you can only include activities that you did more than once or for several hours. That is not true! Feel free to include some of the ones that were day events or even something not academic. Marisol mentioned she was the tennis intramural champion. Just showcase that you are well rounded!

Quick tip!- When you start undergrad, I highly recommend you start keeping some form of documentation of all the activities you are doing- maybe in the form of a CV or resume. This will help you keep track of all the extracurriculars you have completed and help you figure out where the gaps are in your application early on!

How much patient experience is recommended prior to applying? Shadowing, paid, volunteering?

⁃ That’s a really rough question to answer since everyone’s clinical experience will vary so much. Two students can shadow the same amount of time; one will learn nothing and the other might learn how to do a physical exam. I think the most important component is that you are able to talk about your experience, what you learned or didn’t, and how that experience helped you figure out why you want to do medicine. For medical school you should have generally 50+ hours in more than one clinical environment. For example Marisol was a CNA, shadowed a cardiologist, worked in the kitchen of the hospital, did medical mission trips and did a medical summer program (SMDEP at Columbia University). Lindsey and Juliana shadowed multiple physicians in different specialties during their summers! But generally when applying to specifically MD/PhD programs basic science research is weighed more heavily than clinical experience. It is highly recommended that you have at least two years of basic science research before applying to MD/PhD programs. This is not the case if you are applying just to medical school. We have several classmates in the medical school that never stepped foot in a lab!