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It’s no secret that the medical school application process is a long and difficult road. Applying to medical school can take from nine months, up to a year! So when should you begin? How does the process work?
To start off SDN’s Admissions Prep week, here’s an outline of the 3 main phases of the medical school application process.
Primaries
If you are currently applying to medical school, then you should be starting to pull together the necessary materials right now. For most medical schools, you will use the AMCAS to start the application process. Through the AMCAS, you can apply to most of your medical schools. Think of it as an equivalent to the Common Application for college. So let’s break it down a bit further.
Scores and Grades
You will be required to fill out your entire college academic record. As I’m sure you’re aware, your GPA is a huge factor that plays into your admissions. But what you lack in your GPA, can be made up with your MCAT score. Receiving a high MCAT score is crucial for your medical school success; however, be aware that every MCAT score that you take will be reported so don’t overdo it.
Activities and Experiences
This section will take up the majority of your primaries. For each experience you list, you also write a mini essay description. In these descriptions, it’s important to show your tangible achievements and sustained involvement. Within this section, you also get to choose the three most meaningful activities and expand on their description. Be strategic with which experiences you choose to make sure it aligns with the rest of your application.
Personal Statement
This is probably the most important part of your entire application. In just 1.5 pages, you need to show why you’re passionate about medicine, why you love helping people, and why you are a unique candidate. The best way to attack this is to try to pinpoint the exact moment you decided that you wanted to become a doctor. Also, check out our previous forum posts: Questions to Ask Yourself Before Writing your Personal Statement, and Common Mistakes on the Personal Statement for more some more personal statement tips.
Letters of Recommendation
Your letters of recommendation are the only time that an objective third party weighs in on your academic and personal achievements (except for the interview process of course). If your school offers committee letters, then you need to get one. Make sure you ask your professors, supervisors, employers, counselors, mentors, etc. with enough time to spare before the deadline.
Medical school applications are rolling, so when the application opens on June 1st, apply right away to make your chances of acceptance higher!
Secondaries
Almost every single school will automatically send you a secondary application. The only exception is if your grades or MCAT score don’t pass their internal threshold. But only a few schools have score cutoffs. Each school has their own secondary questions that change annually, but here’s a couple of classic secondary questions to expect:
Secondaries will start to trickle in during the summer and you will likely become overwhelmed with the amount of writing needed. The sooner you return your secondaries, the more interested you look to the school. Be strategic in which schools you choose to work on first. We tell our students to begin working on safety schools as well as their top schools’ secondaries first.
Interviews
The last phase of the medical school admissions process is the interview. Receiving an invite for an interview is considered a huge accomplishment! However, you are not guaranteed a spot quite yet. Admissions officers usually cut about 50% of the students after the interview. In order to be successful, you should do numerous mock interviews beforehand.
Some schools conduct traditional interviews, while others prefer multiple mini interviews (for more info on the difference between these two click here). Schools also sometimes like to ask ethical dilemma questions as well as questions about current events. Make sure to read up on the latest medical trends and news. Research the school to see which type of interview they lean towards and be prepared.
You don’t need to go through this long admissions process alone! To learn more about the medical school application process, or receive some concrete, detailed feedback on your medical school candidacy, sign up for a free consultation!
To start off SDN’s Admissions Prep week, here’s an outline of the 3 main phases of the medical school application process.
Primaries
If you are currently applying to medical school, then you should be starting to pull together the necessary materials right now. For most medical schools, you will use the AMCAS to start the application process. Through the AMCAS, you can apply to most of your medical schools. Think of it as an equivalent to the Common Application for college. So let’s break it down a bit further.
Scores and Grades
You will be required to fill out your entire college academic record. As I’m sure you’re aware, your GPA is a huge factor that plays into your admissions. But what you lack in your GPA, can be made up with your MCAT score. Receiving a high MCAT score is crucial for your medical school success; however, be aware that every MCAT score that you take will be reported so don’t overdo it.
Activities and Experiences
This section will take up the majority of your primaries. For each experience you list, you also write a mini essay description. In these descriptions, it’s important to show your tangible achievements and sustained involvement. Within this section, you also get to choose the three most meaningful activities and expand on their description. Be strategic with which experiences you choose to make sure it aligns with the rest of your application.
Personal Statement
This is probably the most important part of your entire application. In just 1.5 pages, you need to show why you’re passionate about medicine, why you love helping people, and why you are a unique candidate. The best way to attack this is to try to pinpoint the exact moment you decided that you wanted to become a doctor. Also, check out our previous forum posts: Questions to Ask Yourself Before Writing your Personal Statement, and Common Mistakes on the Personal Statement for more some more personal statement tips.
Letters of Recommendation
Your letters of recommendation are the only time that an objective third party weighs in on your academic and personal achievements (except for the interview process of course). If your school offers committee letters, then you need to get one. Make sure you ask your professors, supervisors, employers, counselors, mentors, etc. with enough time to spare before the deadline.
Medical school applications are rolling, so when the application opens on June 1st, apply right away to make your chances of acceptance higher!
Secondaries
Almost every single school will automatically send you a secondary application. The only exception is if your grades or MCAT score don’t pass their internal threshold. But only a few schools have score cutoffs. Each school has their own secondary questions that change annually, but here’s a couple of classic secondary questions to expect:
- What makes your diverse?
- Please expand on one most meaningful activity
- What did you do in your gap year?
- Why this medical school?
- What is your most important relationship?
- What are your long term goals?
- Explain your research in more details.
- Personal qualities and characteristic questions
Secondaries will start to trickle in during the summer and you will likely become overwhelmed with the amount of writing needed. The sooner you return your secondaries, the more interested you look to the school. Be strategic in which schools you choose to work on first. We tell our students to begin working on safety schools as well as their top schools’ secondaries first.
Interviews
The last phase of the medical school admissions process is the interview. Receiving an invite for an interview is considered a huge accomplishment! However, you are not guaranteed a spot quite yet. Admissions officers usually cut about 50% of the students after the interview. In order to be successful, you should do numerous mock interviews beforehand.
Some schools conduct traditional interviews, while others prefer multiple mini interviews (for more info on the difference between these two click here). Schools also sometimes like to ask ethical dilemma questions as well as questions about current events. Make sure to read up on the latest medical trends and news. Research the school to see which type of interview they lean towards and be prepared.
You don’t need to go through this long admissions process alone! To learn more about the medical school application process, or receive some concrete, detailed feedback on your medical school candidacy, sign up for a free consultation!
