How to improve your weak areas: GPA, MCAT, ECs, Essays, LORs, and Interviewing skills

1. Highlight your strengths and uncover hidden strengths (teaching, awards, library volunteer +200hrs)
2. Strong teaching background is very positive for med school
3. Use SDN to preview PS & essays
4. Seek pre-med office counseling
5. Show them that you are successful and the potential to continue being successful
6. Post-Barticulate count as BCPM (not MBA)
7. Reach out to NOVA DO admissions, keep them informed about academic progress
8. Stress high MCAT scores prove capable and ready to handle medical school coursework. (a balanced score is 34R (11PS, 11VR, 12BS)
9. Personal Statement should answer why you want to go to med school, and what experiences you've had to back this assertion up.
10. LORs: carefully chose whom you are going to ask for letters. Most schools require three LORs but will permit you to submit up to six. Use www.interfolio.com. This makes both your life and the life of your recommenders MUCH easier. Also, when you ask people to write your letters, impress upon them that these letters must be strong, and they must attest to your abilities to succeed in medical school. The best LORs cite specific examples of things you have done to show that you possess characteristics like responsibility, a good work ethic, honesty, etc. Give the person a copy of your transcript and your CV to use in crafting the letter. Make sure that they will write great / exceptional LOR
11. Send genuine handwritten thank you notes to everyone who writes you a LOR (including secretaries). No one gets into med school solely on their own volition; it's your duty to acknowledge those who've sacrificed their time and energy to help you get ahead.
12. ECs: many medical schools like to see RECENT CLINICAL volunteering (hospital surgery waiting room
13. Interviews: It is essential that you practice expressing the points you made in your PS in a clear, concise, and engaging way. It is also essential that you can articulate why you want to attend each school where you interview. Study extensively for every interview. Read the school's entire website and making notes of interesting features or questions I had about the school. Go through the interview feedback from that school on SDN. Re-read app. Engage in mock interviews. Don't just talk about what great things you've done, but tie it into their specific programs/strengths. Like Q said, "study" the school!
14. Get help with essays and interviewing skills from the english/humanities dept.
15. Use tons of official practice tests on the AAMC site and take under timed settings. Make sure you're scoring higher than where you want to be
16. Demonstrate professionalism, interact with patients, and take leadership roles.
17. Get a health professions committee letter and a clinical letter
18. Shadow DO & secure LOR
19. Know your answers to some standard type questions you are likely to get.
20. Use professional service to write essay?
21. I wore a skirt suit and the most "sensible" looking heels I could find (Get those FOOT PETALS from NORDSTROM and put them in your shoes they will SAVE the DAY.
22. Start writing your personal statement in January and have 5 different people read it.
23. Apply early. You are allowed to start filling out the AAMCAS and AACOMAS in May. Have your transcripts mailed at this time or just before. Confirm with EACH school that you attended that the transcripts were mailed out. After one week, confirm with each application sevice that they were received. Get your LORs into your pre-med office or interfolio ASAP. Once the application season starts in early June, Submit.
24. Keep a file of each school. As soon as you receive the secondary, start working on it. Again, have 5 people look over your essays and then send it in. Give yourself a 1-2 week turnaround per application. Remember, the earlier you apply the better your chances. Mark down the dates on your file of when you received the secondary and when it was sent. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE THAT THE SCHOOL RECEIVED EVERYTHING. Have your LORs sent as soon as you get the secondary. One week after sending in the secondary call the school to confirm that your file is complete.
25. Prepare everything you can about current health care trends.
26. Get some one to interview you and video tape it. Then watch the video tape and note your responses, your body language, and your demeanor.
27. If you are applying DO, KNOW ABOUT OSTEOPATHY. Go to the AOA website and find out everything you can about OMM/OMT and not just that it was developed by AT Still.
28. Give the interviewer a firm handshake, show confidence. When answering a question, look EVERYONE in the eye. Move back a forth between interviewers because you are not just talking to one person. Show them that you belong in that school. Remember, YOU ARE ON THE ENTIRE DAY. You are being evaluated from the time you arrive until you leave. NEVER TALK ABOUT ANOTHER SCHOOL at the interview. Even when you are talking to the students. Send a thank you card and know that you did your best.
29. Show maturity.
30. Make frequent, polite and friendly inquiries into your application and its status at the schools you are really interested in. You can even ask the admissions office staff how frequently they feel is appropriate for you to call. Always say thank you.
31. Show what you will add to a medical school class.
32. Have a doctor review PS
33. Research your LOR professor. Know what they wrote- books/articles and speak to them about it. How many LOR he has written for pre-meds? Have lab instructor write LOR
34. Can you write your own LOR and have them sign it?
35. Show leadership- medical schools want future leaders in the profession. We are responsible for working with/directing a team of nurses, techs, residents, students etc. You need to show you will be a good leader and a good team player at the same time.
36. If a club does not exist at your school start it. This is the quickest way to get leadership points. I started an international medical relief team at my post-bac program, which raised medical supplies and donations for hospitals in the third world.
37. Clinical research is generally easier and quicker to get involved in than basic science or lab research. Contact the research directors of the various hospital departments and you will be amazed at the number of projects that are ongoing. Make sure you know what the rules are in advance of committing to a project
38. Get extra LOR since a few will not deliver on time
39. Show variety in EC’s: shadowing, research, clinical, leadership, teaching
40. Volunteer Teaching will alleviate fear in public speaking and present ideas in a clear and concise manner.
41. Get to know some nurse managers @ hosp and work as a nurse's aide on a high acuity inpatient unit.
42. Discuss Hobbies on PS to demonstrate a well-rounded individual.
43. LORs: So I ended up with letters from three PIs, a hospital volunteer supervisor, a nurse manager, and a science professor. While getting a committee letter was time-consuming (a full day of interviews and I had to write about 10 essays), it gave me the opportunity to send 6 letters to schools regardless of their letter requirements.
44. PS details the complexities of patient-caregiver interactions and wasn't a standard "I want to heal people" essay. She also appreciated that I addressed the importance of caregivers when science reaches it's limits.
45. APPLY EARLY: There's a lot of debate about whether being complete in September/October vs. July/August really hurts your chances that much. But here's the best reason for applying early: the chance at an early acceptance in October. Also try to send in your primaries on day one. AMCAS verification times seemed to increase a ton for those who submitted a week or two later vs. those who submitted on day one. The sooner you're verified, the sooner you can concentrate on secondary essays, and the sooner your app will be complete.
46. Apply broadly: I took my pre-med advisors advice and divided the schools I applied to into three categories: Longshot, Hopeful, Competitive (there's no such thing as a safety). I applied to 3 longshots, 5 hopefuls, 7 competitives. I probably should have bought the MSAR, but instead used US N&WR. One thing I should have paid more attention to rather than just avg GPA/MCAT when I chose my schools was total # of applicants. While your scores might be competitive at a school it does matter if you're competing with 4k applicants or 10k applicants. This frequently becomes a problem with private schools with no instate preference. Also make sure you know what percentage each school reserves for IS (instate) applicants. Don't immediately discount a school because it's a public school. Some schools accept almost no OOS, but many do accept significant #'s OOS. OH can't be beat for the carpetbagger. 6 public medical schools (2 are ranked) and lax residency rules.
47. Look into free secondaries
48. Take classes tht would help in the MCAT - Biochem, Genetics, Anatomy & Physiology 2, Cell
49. Practice multiple presentations will help at interviews
50. Spend time thinking about my own pitfalls and how I might change them and make them better. Having the maturity to talk about those things was very helpful.
51. Have pre-health committee at my school that wrote me a committee letter.
52. If you have a professor that you like try taking multiple courses with that professor. That way, he can write about your academic performance over a longer period of time.
53. ER tech in a Level I Trauma Center.
54. Spend a few weeks volunteering in SA hospital
55. Tie job experience into medical aspect
56. Scheduling: I scheduled mine for the September after I completed my prereqs (June), giving me ample time to study while the material is somewhat fresh in my head. I thought this worked well for me. If I missed my target score, I had the remainder of the year to study for a January sitting, and I'd get my score back in plenty of time to make decisions about where to apply based on it.
57. Don't reveal faults or weakness @ interviews, don't make any criticisms of anything. Be positive, outgoing, and eager.
58. PS - WHY MEDICINE?