February 15, 2011
Timely Advice To Get You to Medical School
Premed Grand Rounds
Table of Contents
In this issue...1.) Admission Concerns -- It's February and have you heard back from your medical schools yet...
2.) Take a Test Without Studying -- Why every premed must take the MCAT without preparing or studying in-advance...
3.) Programs to Get Into Medical School -- If you need some improvements before medical school have you considered...
4.) How Are You Spending Your Time -- Do you know what type of extracurricular activities medical schools want and how many...
5.) Free Advising from DoctorPremed -- See how you can get any of your specific premed questions answered...
Medical School Admission Concerns
If you have applied to medical school this application cycle and have not heard back from any schools, you must seriously begin to assess your chances of admission. Most medical schools will provide final notifications to applicants on whether they have been admitted in March/April, therefore if you have not been on an interview yet, the odds of this happening in the next few weeks is very slim.Now is the time for you to become proactive and take control of the application process. I would encourage you to contact the medical schools that you have not heard from and find out the status of your application. The admissions office will be able to give you an insight on where your application stands or at least provide a general statement such as, "we have filled all of our remaining interview slots at this time, therefore if you have not received an invitation from us, it is very likely you will not receive one." This is not the news you want to hear but it will help you plan your next steps.
You should begin to take a critical look at your application and find out if there are any weaknesses in your application which can be fixed to make a successful reapplication to medical school. One easy fix is simply applying early, if you applied in September/October that is problematic. Also, you may need to retake the MCAT and score higher to be a more competitive applicant. If you applied with a questionable GPA, then you need to take additional courses to improve your numbers.
If you are intent on being a physician and do not care if you practice allopathic (M.D. degree granting) or osteopathic (D.O.) medicine I would encourage you to consider applying to the D.O. medical schools at this time because their application cycle for most of the schools is still open.
Taking a Test Without Studying
This is the only time where I will tell you to take the MCAT without studying, but there is a method to my madness. You want to take a practice MCAT to find out your baseline level of knowledge and then as you study you will know which areas deserve most of your attention and which areas will be more of a review.Your MCAT preparation must be very strategic, so there is no point spending time studying material which you already know and then avoiding the tough material because there is an equal chance the items you were avoiding will be on your MCAT.
In general, you will want to give yourself about 3 months of preparation for the MCAT. Remember, this is the test which I refer to as the "great equalizer" whether you've gone to an Ivy League or a State College, the MCAT allows for a direction comparison of applicants based on your scores.
So before you begin studying sign up to take a free MCAT practice test.
Programs Helping You Get Into Medical School
Do you want to become a doctor, but are not sure about your chances of getting into medical school? Well, have you considered a post-bac program to improve your academic credentials, determine if medicine is your passion, or simply to take the required premed courses.Now is the time to begin researching and applying to post-bac programs. Remember, all of the students who do not get into medical school will begin applying and you need to beat them to the punch (hey it's competitive), so applying early is absolutely necessary.
If you're an underrepresented minority who has applied to medical school and are concerned about getting admitted you only have from February 15th to March 15th to apply to Georgetown's GEMS program.
Also, I've been working very hard myself and when you purchase the Post-Bac Guidebook for Getting Into Medical School, you'll notice it has just been updated to include even more of the top post bac programs!
How Are You Spending Your Time?
Medical schools want students who are more than just grades and numbers, they want well-rounded applicants who are going to contribute to the medical field which is in part determined by your extracurricular activities.If you didn't know, when you apply to medical school your AMCAS application has 15 spots for you to write about your extracurricular activities and the students who get into medical school use all 15 spots on their application.
Now is the time for you to think about how you have been spending your time and if you've been slacking, start getting involved in extracurricular activities.
Free Personalized Advising from DoctorPremed
I believe in proper planning and averting problems before they begin and hopefully you think the same. Waiting until May or June is simply too late to get your application together or your questions answered, so I am going to do something which I have never done before.For the first 10 individuals to contact me I am going to provide you with one-on-one advising specific to your situation.
All you have to do is get in touch with me: provide your phone number, a brief background, and I will set up a time to call you and answer any of your questions!
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Premed Grand Rounds
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Study wisely and see you next month!
~Jason
www.DoctorPremed.com
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