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Pre-Med? Avoid a Big Mistake

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Several years ago I was hired by a re-applicant who wanted to better understand why she did not get into medical school the prior year. She had a 3.9 GPA and a 40 on her MCAT (100% percentile). Yet, she had been rejected from all medical schools.

I looked through her materials and discovered the problem. The applicant had no clinical work at all. She had never been in the room with a patient. Many of you know that I like the saying, “No one wants to hire a chef who hasn’t been in the kitchen.” She had fallen prey to that adage.

We talked, and I advised her regarding options she had for obtaining clinical experience. Fast forward a year: The client completed a robust clinical activity and was readily accepted to medical school (and felt more confident about her career choice).

If you are a pre-med, note that robust clinical experience is critical. Working as an EMT, in a good clinical care extender program, formally as a scribe (where you can also make some money), in a hospice setting, or in a low-income clinic are just some ideas for obtaining excellent clinical exposure. (Although you might think free clinics would be thrilled to have a pre-med volunteer, many understandably require one-year commitments.) 

Shadowing is a mixed bag: Medical schools don’t know whether you’re second-assisting in the operating room or just standing in a corner being ignored. If you choose to shadow, make sure that – in your written materials – you highlight any substantive clinical skills gained. Other popular options for clinical experience include international work (although the activity is usually short-lived, which makes it less robust) and working as a volunteer in a hospital (although it might be more clerical than clinical, depending on the position; thus, the benefit of clinical care extender programs. Do your research before accepting a volunteer hospital job). I’ve also had advisees who became certified, practicing phlebotomists and others who worked in veterinarians’ offices to obtain procedural skills.

More important than getting into medical school (gasp), getting robust clinical experience will help you ensure you’ve made the right career choice. Simultaneously, you’ll demonstrate to admissions officers that you can handle the heat.

See the short video below on the importance of clinical experience:

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How to Use the MSAR to Your Advantage

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The Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) is an online database that allows users to search, sort, and compare information about U.S. and Canadian medical schools. The 2021 MSAR is out, and if you are applying to medical school, I’d recommend purchasing it ($28 for one year and $36 for two) because it provides so much information about schools and their admissions statistics. The MSAR allows you to sort and compare schools by median MCAT scores, AMCAS GPAs, and other criteria.

You should use the MSAR to help determine which schools are in your range and which are “reach” schools. While it’s fine to have a lot of reach schools  (if you can afford it), it’s critical to ensure you are applying wisely to schools that match your numbers; in other words, do not apply to reach schools at the expense of those in your range. The advantage of the MSAR is that you can make evidence-based decisions. I’ve found some applicants have eye-opening experiences when they thoroughly review schools’ statistics and either realize that their numbers are low and that they should apply accordingly or, happily, that they have numbers that match with top schools. Either way, reviewing the data is critical to good decision making.

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Talented Pre-Meds: Leverage your Money

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Recently I’ve heard from a few fortunate Insider medical school applicant clients who were not only accepted to several medical schools, but also were offered scholarship money to attend. They’ve asked me this: Is there a way to leverage the money I’ve been granted at one medical school to get funding at another?

Well, it’s worth a try.

As long as you’re diplomatic, contacting other medical schools, advising them of your scholarship, and requesting a match might help, although I’d suggest having low expectations. Still, if done politely, it cannot hurt.

In a different vein, a sometimes-successful technique I’ve encountered is to use the scholarship award as a means of obtaining an interview or trying to get off the wait list at another school. Send a note to your wait listed schools to let them know of your promised funds. After all, if you’re competitive enough to earn a scholarship at one place, you should be competitive enough to be accepted at another.

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After Your Residency or Medical School Interview: Is there Value in a Second Look?

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After interviews – if permitted by the institution – there are several ways you can communicate with a medical school or residency. My favorites are brief thank you notes and well-written letters of interest.

But what about the “second look?” I’ve had many mentees ask me if re-visiting a school or training program after the interview day is valuable. Unfortunately, there may not be a definitive answer to this question because how a second look is perceived varies by institution.

The cons of the second look are cost and time. And perhaps even worse, there is the risk that you are imposing on the school or program. You don’t want your request for a second look to work against your candidacy. On the other hand, the pros of a second look are a demonstration of interest and enthusiasm that many schools and programs are seeking.

If you are a pre-med and are wait listed at a medical school, I would generally recommend a second look if you can swing it. After all, you have every right to visit the institution you may be attending. If you go for a second look in this scenario, make sure to do a formal visit: Let the admissions office or Dean’s office know you would like to spend the day and ask if you might have an opportunity to meet with students and even an admissions officer to support your candidacy.

If you are a residency applicant, it’s hard to say if a second look will help or not. A residency director friend of mine says that a visit from someone who travels from far away might improve a candidate’s standing by a few slots on the rank list at her program. That sounds like a tepid endorsement at best… If you are considering a second-visit, make sure to speak to the program coordinator. S/he might advise you against it or, on the contrary, let you know it’s appreciated by the residency director.

As we all know, the residency and medical school interview scene is already stressful and expensive, so unless you are a wait listed pre-med – with all other things being equal – I generally would not push yourself hard to do that second look.

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Pre-Med? Avoid a Big Mistake

Posted on by by

Several years ago I was hired by a re-applicant who wanted to better understand why she did not get into medical school the prior year. She had a 3.9 GPA and a 40 on her MCAT (100% percentile). Yet, she had been rejected from all medical schools.

I looked through her materials and discovered the problem. The applicant had no clinical work at all. She had never been in the room with a patient. Many of you know that I like the saying, “No one wants to hire a chef who hasn’t been in the kitchen.” She had fallen prey to exactly that adage.

We talked, and I advised her regarding options she had for obtaining clinical experience. Fast forward a year: The client completed a robust clinical activity and was readily accepted to medical school (and felt more confident about her career choice).

If you are a pre-med, note that robust clinical experience is critical. Working as an EMT, in a good clinical care extender program, formally as a scribe (where you can also make some money), or in a low-income clinic are just some ideas for obtaining excellent clinical exposure. (Although you might think free clinics would be thrilled to have a pre-med volunteer, many understandably require one-year commitments.) Shadowing is a mixed bag: Medical schools don’t know whether you’re second-assisting in the operating room or just standing in a corner being ignored. If you choose to shadow, make sure you highlight any true clinical experiences and skills gained in your written materials. Other popular options for clinical experience include international work (although the activity is usually short-lived, which makes it less robust) and working as a volunteer in a hospital (although it might be more clerical than clinical, depending on the position. Do your research before accepting a “clinical” job). I’ve also had advisees who became certified, practicing phlebotomists and others who worked in veterinarians’ offices to obtain procedural skills.

More important than getting into medical school (gasp), getting robust clinical experience will help you ensure you’ve made the right career choice. Simultaneously, you’ll demonstrate to admissions officers that you can handle the heat.

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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: