Preparing for Medical School

Preparing for medical school is not done last minute and before you submit your medical school application there are some basics which medical school admissions officers will be looking for.

Obviously, there is no set profile on who gets into medical school, but there are guidelines that you need to understand.

Numbers

Medicine and science deals with numbers and if something is repeated often enough then it must be important. Often you will come to know the mantra of, “the numbers don’t lie.”

While preparing for medical school you need to show the medical school admissions committee that you can handle a large volume of information and the best way this is assessed is through your academic performance.

Admission to medical school boils down to your GPA and MCAT score. If you don’t have the ideal numbers your odds of getting into medical school decrease dramatically. There is a golden set of numbers to strive for while preparing for medical school.

Medical school applicants who have MCAT score of 30 or above and a GPA of 3.5 or better are almost guaranteed admission to at least one medical school. This thought is echoed by many in the medical school community.

Get Help Early & Often

If you want to become a doctor you must realize when things are beyond your ability or knowledge. Do not be ashamed or embarrassed to seek out help.

Here’s some advice I learned from the outgoing pre-med society president (she graduated from University of Michigan Medical School and is completing residency training at Duke University) during my freshman year at Northwestern University…

“I’d rather look stupid asking a question in class, rather then finding out on test day.”

If you get the message you understand that no one is going to remember your feelings about asking a question all they will have is your transcript so do what you can now to get the best grades possible.

If you have a question your classmates will most likely have the same question too, but they’re just too shy to ask.

Smart Premeds Use Available Resources

In preparing for medical school the students who ace their exams use all available resources to get the numbers required for medical school admission.

You can spot these students immediately because they:

• spend a lot of time in office hours
• use tutoring services
• ask lots of questions in class

Understand to be successful you cannot be too embarrassed to seek help or get your questions answered.

First Things First

In preparing for medical school there is a hierarchy of how and where you should devote your time and efforts.

It all begins with your GPA and MCAT score so put the most energy into mastering these fundamentals for getting into medical school. Once these are satisfied you can begin to concentrate on other aspects of your medical school application.

Extracurricular Activities

You will want to participate in extracurricular activities and have plenty of volunteering by the time you are ready to submit your application to medical schools.

Don’t take your activities lightly either.

Medical schools have requirements in three categories:

• Research
• Community Involvement
• Medically-Relevant Work

So be sure you are the most well-rounded medical school applicant possible!

Admissions committees place a value on your overall package and I do not want to lessen the impact of having extracurricular activities, but the numbers should always come first if you have to make a choice.

Why…

So medical schools use a compute to automatically screen medical school applicants so if you aren’t up to par then the rest of your application will never been seem no matter what types of after school activities you have listed.

In the end place a premium on:

• GPA & MCAT
• Extracurricular & Volunteering Activities
• Personal Statement & Application
• Secondary Applications

If you follow the above listing of how to prioritize you will be well positioned in preparing for medical school admission success.