The medical school cycle is revving up, and it’s (past) time to get started on your application. Here’s an article I wrote for Student Doctor Network called “Ten Ways to Improve your Medical School Application.” The piece includes statistical truths, strategies for optimizing your approach, and philosophical guidance.
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Med Schools Have No Patience for No Patients
For those undergraduates who are starting to think about their medical school applications, I will tell you a secret: One of the biggest weaknesses I advise candidates on is their lack of clinical experience. I’ve seen students with outstanding MCAT scores who did not get into medical school on their first try. They had little or no patient experience.
So, ensure your application has robust clinical activities. Some suggestions:
Scribe
Clinical Care Extender
EMT
Low Income Clinic Volunteer
Hospice Volunteer
Veterinarian’s Assistant (a great way to get hands-on procedural experience)
Phlebotomist
If you are not excited about getting clinical experience, it is time to question your interest in a career in medicine… which is exactly what admissions committees will do if they don’t see that experience :).
Take a look below at my Guru on the Go© Video about this topic.
The AMCAS Most Meaningful Paragraphs: Three Mistakes to Avoid
In 2012, seemingly out of blue, a significant, new addition appeared on the AMCAS. Applicants were being asked to identify their most significant extracurricular experiences (up to three) and support their choices with more writing:
This is your opportunity to summarize why you have selected this experience as one of your most meaningful. In your remarks, you might consider the transformative nature of the experience, the impact you made while engaging in the experience and the personal growth you experienced as a result of your participation. 1325 max characters.
Now the “Most Meaningful” paragraphs are par for the course, but applicants routinely make a few avoidable errors in crafting them:
1) Don’t merge the descriptors with the Most Meaningful paragraphs because they are separate sections: You can complete descriptors for up to 15 activities with up to 700 characters each, plus up to three most meaningful paragraphs of up to 1325 characters each. The fact that these are two different tasks might seem obvious, but every year, I get AMCAS drafts to edit that include this error.
2) Do not use patient anecdotes in your Most Meaningful paragraphs: Most medical school applicants have patient vignettes to share, which means that a patient story does not distinguish an applicant from the masses of other candidates. Also, these patient stories can sound trite or even condescending.
3) Don’t repeat what you have written in your descriptor. The Most Meaningful is an opportunity to delve deeper into your achievement. Let’s say you are showcasing your experience as a biochemistry teaching assistant. In the Most Meaningful paragraph, give concrete examples of what you taught, to whom, how often, using what techniques. If you were promoted to head TA or asked to come back the next semester, showcase teaching achievements that propelled you to get the position. Did you get excellent teaching reviews from students? Did you offer an unconventional way of learning the difficult material? If so, what was it? By delving deeper, you can truly demonstrate the “transformative nature of the experience, the impact you made while engaging in the experience and the personal growth you experienced as a result of your participation.”
The Most Meaningful paragraphs are an opportunity for you to demonstrate your distinctiveness and worthiness for medical school. Don’t waste this chance to further your candidacy.
Your Residency or Medical School Application: Be the Squeaky Wheel
Several years ago I helped a strong applicant who had been rejected by a top medical school. He thought he was a very good fit for this particular institution, so he called the school to make his case. Surprisingly, after the applicant’s phone call, the school granted him an interview, reversing their original rejection.
It was at this time that I met the applicant; we conducted a mock interview so he would be well-prepared.
Ultimately, after being initially rejected, this applicant was admitted to that top school.
Of course, this is an exceedingly rare occurrence. But to me, the moral of this story is that it is worth being assertive (not aggressive!) in the residency or medical school application processes: Send an update letter, call institutions (politely) to inquire about your status (if they do not expressly prohibit phone calls), and be proactive during your interviews. If you haven’t received an interview invitation, now is the time to make a phone call.
You need to advocate for yourself in order to be noticed.
New AMCAS Certification
I received an email recently from an applicant who was interested in hiring me and wanted to know my thoughts on AMCAS’ new certification requirement. The phrasing is as follows:
“I certify that all written passages, such as the personal
statement, essays required from M.D./Ph.D. applicants, and
descriptions of work/activities, are my own and have not been written,
in part or in whole, by a third party. Quotations are permitted if the
source is cited.”
I want to remind applicants that I provide only editorial services; I do not generate content. This has been my policy since starting Insider, so the new certification is not a problem for me, my business or my clients.
Let me give you an example: In aggressively editing a personal statement, I will help with syntax, organization, etc., but I will not write any section for the applicant. I might make an explicit suggestion like “Another example of clinical work here that emphasizes your ability to communicate clearly will make this paragraph more robust. Can you think of something to add?” But I will not write a section for the applicant.
Throughout my website – home page, medical school applicant page, terms and conditions – I explicitly state that I do not generate content. I have turned down clients who have asked me to do so well before AMCAS required the new certification.
Dr. Finkel is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. On completing her residency at Harvard, she was asked to
stay on as faculty at Harvard Medical School and spent five years teaching at the world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital.
She was appointed to the Assistant Residency Director position for the Harvard Affiliated
Emergency Medicine Residency where she reviewed countless applications, personal statements and resumes. Read more
