2009-2010 Med school applicants

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>It is nigh. Texas schools open the app season in less than 3 weeks, everybody else follows in a month. D spent Easter getting her "list" done (if not "final"), double-checked her course requirements, got her LOR requirements investigated, printed out last year's secondaries and brainstormed some responses, up-dated her CV, started categorizing her college life in AMCAS and TMDSAS form, and slightly more than bubbled her PS (the roughest of outlines). We have bluedevilmike's timeline and some incredibly detailed info from mdapps and studentdoctor (shemarty is a hoss!). There are roadmaps out there. </p>

<p>She has about a month off between finals and her summer fellowship. It will be an exciting time her- to say the least. Her goal is "first batch" (wants to be complete when the first batch goes to the schools) but we'll see if that happens.</p>

<p>D's list is very interesting to me (she has her own way of doing things) but some thought went into it. It starts with all of our Texas schools as a given as she understands the value of in-state at many med schools but especially ours. Having the great fortune of being from Texas, her national list is mostly comprised of schools where , based on MCAT scores alone , she'd be a little "light". The common thread is a significant bias in favor of research, and/or a Research Distinction/Research Track/5-year/MS option/built-in research year. At other schools she will do a research year either internally or externally, probably between M-2 and M-3. She has a few schools where she will be applying both MD and MD/PhD and most of them take part in a particular NIH program with Oxford and Cambridge (she'll be simultaneously applying to that program , also). </p>

<p>Her app process will be a test of two almost eternal questions here on CC:</p>

<p>Does top med school admissions require a tip-top UG? (Did she screw up not taking the prestigious UG admissions over the full-ride to a top 50 LAC?)
Can you overcome a MCAT a couple of points below the average matriculated student? (The relative importance of MCAT scores.)</p>

<p>Of course, we'll never know what really happened in admission's meetings because of all the other factors involved, but ....it'll still be interesting.</p>

<p>I thought it might be nice to have a thread for this year's applicants and parents of applicants to commiserate abut the process, hopefully clear of (at least some of) the other "noise" on the forum. ;) </p>

<p>Good luck to all.</p>

2

<p>My son is a couple years away from this, Curmudgeon, but I’m nevertheless going to follow this thread closely. No one in our family has ever gone to medical school so we feel completely ignorant of the application process.</p>

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<p>I believe “completely ignorant” is a fair assessment of my understanding also. This is a convoluted mess of a process but maybe the smoke will start clearing if we all fan together. ;)</p>

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<p>S is also several years from applying but we are trying to figure out how it all works so we won’t be blindsided when the time comes. </p>

<p>What MCAT prep, if any, did your D take and was she happy with it?</p>

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<p>Curmugeon, D is also a couple of years away. Texas will be her home state by then, and we were surprised that there were some extra required courses. I am glad this was discovered sooner rather than later. The extra year of bio including the semester of biochem, does it have to be completed before application, or by time of matriculation? The other thing I was curious about is the seperate Texas application. Do you know why they choose not to use AMCAS? </p>

<p>Thanks for starting this, maybe I’l have half a clue in two years. :(</p>

6

<p>

Not enough and no. D wanted to take the MCAT after soph year and did. She had taken all the basic pre-req’s, had the current year Kaplan material available to her, had some other prep materials, took several retired tests, but never took a course. Not her best choice IMO. She still scored well (too high to retake by everyone’s estimation) but a bit more work may have paid dividends. </p>

<p>

I don’t believe many Texas schools require biochem, but I believe San Antonio does. I think it would be best to have the courses taken prior to the app but I’m sure some get away with a schedule that shows they will have it completed.

It’s Texas. ;)</p>

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<p>Not sure how it works in Texas with the TMDSAS schools, but generally it must be taken by matriculation, not necessarily the time of application. </p>

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<p>lol seriously - lucky TX residents :slight_smile: Not to mention that TX has arguably the best legal conditions for medical practice in the nation (tort laws, etc.)</p>

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<p>Don’t want to get off-topic but wonder what your sense is of NOT doing much lab research and intead focusing more on public health and health economics issues? My son wants to become a physician but is more interested in the policy end of health care than in lab research. He’s starting to feel nervous about spending his summers volunteering at free clinics and our state health department instead of working in a lab.</p>

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<p>Nothing wrong with it - some med schools are very research oriented and research is basically required to get in, but most med schools are not like this.</p>

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<p>UT Southwestern “strongly reccommends” at least one semester of biochem. I generally take that phrase to mean required if you want to stand a chance!</p>

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<p>DD is also getting ready. She is a senior now, graduating this spring with a bio degree and did not decide to probably apply until spring Junior year and it was really senior anatomy class that cemented it in her mind. Something about holding a brain in her hands made her sure she really did want to attend med school.</p>

<p>As a science major DD had the pre-recs, so no problem there with a late decision.</p>

<p>DD is also aiming for first batch.
The list is roughly coming together, we don’t have TX state schools as an in state option but will still apply there OOS- DD asked the same question, why a separate app, and my answer was the same ;)</p>

<p>Letters have been submitted to the schools letter service since the fall by some profs, others DD has been tracking down this term, trying to have 6 letters available. Work on these early. DD has one guy, a dept dean who OFFERED a strong letter before she asked, but has still not done it and she has been talking to him since sophomore year and he offered the letter last fall. GRRrrrrrrr, you need to ask for more letters than you need.</p>

<p>My DD is also opposite of curm’s DD, she has done no research to date, though she is looking for opportunities this summer or next fall so she can check it out- not to impress adcoms as it will be too late for that, but to experience it.</p>

<p>DD will be looking more to non-research institutes, primary care type schools, and whilst she did not raise goats, she grew up in tiny towns (less than 2500) and on a dirt road so will be checking out the rural options. DD’s only big city living experience is Berkeley and she is not impressed ;)</p>

<p>DD will also be testing some CCs big questions- is it better to attend a big well known school and have a lower GPA or a small LAC with a potentially higher GPA. DD’s GPA will be about 3.6, curm’s DD is probably 3.95. Both girls were HS accomplished athletes, top ranked, 4.0 students who had great college options.</p>

<p>At Berkeley DD’s GPA has been dragged down to the 3.5 area (never lower than that) by A-/B+ grades esp in huge science lectures.</p>

<p>I think what would have been an amazing EC for a HS applicant to undergrad becomes merely the expectation in med school apps. We shall see if international sports experience helps her catch the eye of the committee and if her great letters and great interviews (she has been told she interviews well) will overcome average numbers.</p>

<p>DD has an LD Dx and got extra time on timed tests in HS, not in university and not on the MCAT and that is the biggest reason for the slightly lower GPA, just not able to finish all exams. And her MCAT is above average for test takers but sadly average for applicants, so DD will be a very average applicant from a big well-known school</p>

<p>Mudgette will be an above average applicant from a less well-known school, but then she is also reach to programmes that are both a higher reach, yet for which she can show a great fit. It will be interesting to see if that fit overcomes what will be an "average’ MCAT for Mudgette at those highly selective schools. Fingers crossed for both girls</p>

<p>Ya’ll pull up a seat and maybe more applicants will join in so you can see the process unfold- can we put this on the Bravo network and get paid for the MedSchool App reality show??</p>

12

<p>Feedback about the Kaplan MCAT course would be helpful. My daughter is fulfilling the undergraduate requirements slowly and will delay applying to med school for a year. She is currently a junior.</p>

13

<p>As y’all can tell, somemom and I talk back-channel a lot. :wink: Glad to see ya, somemom. There has to be some students and some other 'rents of students applying this cycle. Maybe they will join in, too.</p>

14

<p>Curm, is it typical for med school applicants to take the MCAT only once? Is it one of those things that you’re better off taking it immediately after certain classes or the work involved in re-learning material just overwhelming? Just wondering if the potential payoff for a retake would be worth it for Mudgette.</p>

15

<p>This is going to sound like a stupid question but–are med school applicants expected to visit the schools to which they will apply beforehand? Is there even a mechanism for this? Colleges all have tour guides etc but med schools?</p>

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<p>CD, once is the best choice. Re-take stats aren’t great. Above a certain level they look down-right suicidal. Stories abound of schools averaging MCAT takes and bluedevilmike even speaks of an un-official posture of at least one adcom of looking at only the lowest.</p>

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<p>CD, I don’t think the level of science knowledge tested is very high. </p>

<p>joesboy, it doesn’t seem that visits are the norm at most schools. Some of these schools are like Fort Knox. You can’t get past security without being vetted. My D has seen exactly 3 from the inside, and one of those was in high school.</p>

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<p>I suspect she’ll have a Texas acceptance in her hip pocket in mid-November; after that, she can aim for the stars</p>

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<p>More philosophic question: How do you folks feel about your kids pursuing medicine? We are a little nervous given all the complaining we hear from physicians about their diminishing job satisfaction. Also, it’s such a long and arduous road. I know the cliche is that parents typically pressure their kid to be a doctor, but we keep pressuring ours to look at other directions. He keeps coming back to wanting medicine so we are gradually taking him seriously. We are having a little trouble being onboard this endeavour. The whole political/economic scene also worries us. Who knows what the profession will look like in 15 years? Of course, that’s true for all professions.</p>

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<p>Best of luck to your daughter and definitely keep us up to date. :)</p>