Blog Archives

Showcasing your Accomplishments without Creating a Resume in Prose

Recently, an applicant asked me how to write a personal statement that distinguished him without regurgitating his resume.

Although highlighting your achievements is critical to make you stand out as a distinctive applicant, you can avoid simply repeating your curriculum vitae by giving a sense of your motivation, dedication, and personality with your choice of words and details. You can also express yourself through the weight you place on your varied accomplishments.

Writing a persuasive – yet personal and nuanced – essay is not easy. It takes a lot of work and multiple drafts and edits. Contact me for expert help.

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Medical School Application Calendar

Don’t forget that May 1 is the first day AMCAS 2012 is available on the AAMC website and that June 1 is the earliest date for submission of the AMCAS.

Submitting a strong application early is important for your candidacy, particularly with rolling-admissions schools. Your personal statement should be closing in on its final form now. For those of you who don’t know where to start with your essay, consider my new Writer’s Block Package.

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Optimizing your Medical School Application: AMCAS

The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS®) is a centralized application processing program for medical school candidates. AMCAS’ application has multiple sections, including demographics, academic record, experience and personal statement. The experience, or activities, section is where applicants describe their accomplishments – research, clinical, volunteer, teaching, paid work. The AMCAS experience section allows the applicant to demonstrate his or her distinctiveness as a candidate. Read more ›

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Medical School Admissions

Medical school admissions are becoming increasingly competitive, in part, because of the failing U.S. economy. Bright applicants who used to target business school or law degrees are finding those fields unstable and are turning their interest toward medicine. Consequently, stronger candidates are now pursuing a medical career, making professional medical school admissions consulting increasingly important in optimizing medical school applications.

Medical school admissions consulting companies come in a variety of forms. Some are larger companies that focus on admissions to several types of graduate programs – not just medicine. Others are smaller companies that provide a medical focus, but have a pool of consultants of varying quality. Finally, elite companies offer both the medical focus and a highly experienced consultant who works one-on-one with clients. These professionals are ex-admissions officers from respected medical institutions. They have the inside knowledge of how medical admissions work, providing personalized guidance to optimize candidates’ written materials and interview skills. Read more ›

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Medical School Admissions: Apply Early

Because getting into medical school continues to get harder each year, the submission of a strong medical school application is critical. Following a timeline and getting your materials in early can assist you in improving your candidacy and thus, your chances of success.

Some medical schools use a rolling admissions process. These institutions will let applicants know about admissions decisions fairly soon after interviewing. Others – like Harvard Medical School – make final admissions decisions at the conclusion of interviews. Read more ›

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About Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Michelle Finkel

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

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Listen to Dr. Finkel’s interview on the White Coat Investor podcast:

Listen to Dr. Finkel’s interview on the FeminEm podcast: