Mental Health Alliance

Archive for the ‘Medical School’ Category

Getting into medical school is becoming increasingly competitive, in part, because of the declining economy. Strong candidates who used to target law degrees or business school are turning their interest toward medicine, a less volatile field. Consequently, more competitive candidates are now pursuing a medical career, making the submission of an excellent medical school personal statement even more important.

The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS®) is a centralized application processing service for medical school applicants. AMCAS® includes ample space for a candidate’s personal essay. The AMCAS® medical school personal statement (and institutions’ follow up secondary essays) allow the applicant to demonstrate his or her distinctiveness as a candidate.

Some of the most useful AMCAS® advice I can offer includes ensuring that your personal statement is at its best: The essay is one of the most crucial aspects of applying to medical school.

Some of my tips for an excellent medical school personal statement include the following:

1. Do not use exaggerate the language used. Pretend that you are being charged for each word you write. How can you keep the imaginary cost down?

2. Do not use quotations, clichés or questions.

3. Avoid medical terminology unless absolutely necessary to convey a point. A layperson should be able to easily understand your essay.

4. Don’t forget to spell and grammar checks. (You might be surprised how many applicants do not do this.)

5. Highlight your accomplishments but do not sound arrogant. Even one bad sentence can bomb your essay and leave the committee worried about who you are.

6. Avoid wordiness. This is the most common mistake I see people usually make. Keep your personal statement to less than one standard, single-spaced page.

7. Make an outline. This really does make a large difference in the quality of the final essay.

8. Leave yourself enough time to write your statement. A good medical school application essay may take weeks or even months to write.

9. Most importantly, ensure that your essay demonstrates that you are a distinctive candidate. If any sentence in your essay could have been written by someone else the phrase should be omitted.

Finally, consider working with a skilled professional. Because applicants can unknowingly undermine their chances of success with poorly compiled application materials and underdeveloped medical school admission essays, a qualified, personalized medical school admissions consultant provides a great advantage.

Medical school consulting companies come in a variety of forms. Some are bigger businesses that focus on admissions to several types of graduate programs – not just medicine. Others are smaller and provide a medical focus, but have a pool of consultants of varying quality. Finally, best of the companies offer good medical focus and a highly knowledgeable medical consultant who works one-on-one with clients. These professionals are ex-admissions officers from highly respected medical institutions. They have the inside knowledge of how medical school admissions work, providing individualized guidance to optimize applicants’ personal essays, AMCAS® and interview skills.

When choosing a medical school admissions consulting company, a candidate should verify the company’s references and research its consultants. Elite companies that offer both the medical focus and a highly experienced consultant who works one-on-one with clients offer a large advantage for pre-medical applicants, especially during these competitive times.

Students who are planning to apply for admission in a medical school in the near future will always be looking to filter out their list of schools to apply for. The application and admission process can be tedious and time-consuming at best, so having a list of the best medical schools important. Targeting only those schools will save you precious time and effort that can be spent elsewhere. Here’s a look at some important factors in choosing the best medical school.

 

The institution that a student chooses makes a lot of difference in the future, particularly in terms of career networking. Technically speaking, the more prestigious and credible your medical school is, the better your chances at employment once you become a licensed doctor.

 

There are several factors in choosing the medical school that is right for you, but the biggest and deal-breaking factor is the curriculum. Interviewing other students and visiting the school itself can ascertain a school’s style and curriculum. Students usually have a choice between traditional approach, which relies heavily on lectures and is composed of a number of distinct courses in different disciplines, or, the newer, non-traditional techniques being employed by a number of schools, such as the PBL or problem-based learning, which decreases the amount of lecture time and focuses more on group exercises and case studies. In choosing based on curriculum, a student needs to rely on preference and subjective opinion, since there is no clear-cut advantage between the different styles of teaching.

 

The next factor that a student should consider in choosing medical schools is the finances. It is common knowledge that the top medical schools can be expensive, and the quality of education is correlated with the amount of fees a student needs to shoulder. However, schools have their own financial aid packages. Institutions have their own financial aid procedures and it becomes a choice of which ones a student can handle.

 

The next factor in choosing the right school for you is their location. The farther a school is, the more expensive and tedious the application and interview can be. However, this factor is only temporary because if a student is willing to bear with these things and manages to get accepted, he can choose to stay in a dormitory or a nearby apartment.

 

As far as personal factors go, it involves introspective choices such as whether the school is in close proximity with family members, which allows regular visits, or whether the climate in the area is a bit harsh for the student’s health, and may even include factors such as the school’s societal functions and if the student likes it. This part is largely dependent on the student himself.

 

Last, but certainly not the least in factors to be considered is the school’s reputation. A school’s name matters a lot especially in the future as a medical school graduate starts to look for career opportunities. The name of the school on your diploma will also greatly help during the residency match process. In fact, some Duke students recall receiving interview offers literally within minutes of submitting their applications electronically. This is confirmed by many residency program directors.

 

Ultimately, the choice still rests on student preference, and while not relying on the above can land you in some of the best medical schools that are not in the top list of institutions, whether or not you will succeed still relies on your skill and determination.

Doing well on your medical school interviews depends on your preparation and performance. You wouldn’t take your MCAT without spending countless number of hours studying and practicing questions, right? Likewise, it’s important to spend time preparing for your interview.

The best way to prepare for medical school interviews is to practice with someone and do mock interviews. Get a list of typical interview questions and have your friend ask questions. First, start off easy to get you used to being interviewed. At the same time, have the interviewer observe your gestures and body language. For example, do you slouch? Do you sit up straight? Do you lick your lips after you finish your sentences? Do you say “like” and “umm” when you speak? These are all things you want to work on before you enter the interview room. Interviewers will scrutinize you and you want to do your best to sound as professional as you can.

Once you feel comfortable answering questions, have your friend ask difficult questions and to put pressure on you as you speak. During certain medical school interviews, interviewers will intentionally ask questions that will make you feel uncomfortable. The point is to see how well you do under stress. When you’re a doctor, there will be patients who are rude and obnoxious, but you always have to keep your cool and be professional. Get used to being grilled. Fortunately, not every interviewer will grill you. On the other hand, you don’t know at which interview you will be grilled so it’s better to over prepare.

Finally, I would suggest to doing the following if you have time. Record yourself and study yourself. Try to see if there is anything else you can work out. Do you smile when you talk? Is there energy and sincerity when you speak? If you don’t want to record yourself, then go into your bathroom and talk to yourself in the mirror. Get comfortable looking at yourself as you speak because you want to be as confident as you can when you interview. It was really awkward at first when I looked into the mirror, but the more I did it, the more comfortable and confident I felt when I answered questions about why I wanted to be a doctor.

Once you’re done with your preparation, you have to perform well on the day of the interview. As you’ve probably heard, practice makes perfect. Well, this translates into medical school interviews as well. The more you practice, the better you’ll perform on the day of the interview. Now, things are never predictable. Maybe you’ll get a question you didn’t prepare for. It’s okay, when that happens, keep your cool and don’t panic. Take your time to speak and don’t babble. That’s the worst thing to do and if you really don’t know the answer, admit it. It’s better to admit you don’t know something rather than making answers up.

Also, on the day of the interview, it’s important that you show your energy and enthusiasm. You can talk very well without stuttering and whatnot, but if you have to have heart behind your answers. You have to sound like you really want it. Interviewers will be looking out for this. They don’t want to accept you if you don’t sound like you want be a doctor. Why should they? There are so many applicants out there who would make great doctors. So you have to stand out. You need to look your interviewers in the eye and mean every word you say. You have to convince your interviewers not with just your words, but with your sincerity and passion.

Good luck on your medical school interviews!