2013-2014 Applicants and their parents.....

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
181

<p>Theoretically, one would not normally have both MCAT and GPA higher in a standard college compared to a high profile college. The trade off commonly is that MCAT scores are higher for students of a high profile college while GPAs tend to be lower. Caltech students struggle with their GPAs to be higher than 3.3 but many of the med school applicants supposedly score 38 or above. </p>

<p>It is very hard to get into med school if both GPA and MCAT scores are low, no matter where one went to school but that low is definitely not 34/3.7 but more like 31/3.1.</p>

182

<p>^Well the highly ranked UGs simply do not accept HS kids below certain stats, many valedictorians got rejected. Not sure if the diff. reflects the school or the caliber of kids that get attended there. Consider that there is correlation noted between ACT and MCAT score, which is some kind of proof, maybe not very accurate, since it depends if the top caliber HS kid is still up to working very hard at college, Some are not performing as well in college, the ones who have been closely controlled by parents while in HS.</p>

183

<p>As far as entering activities into AMCAS goes, is it better to write what you’ve learned from an experience in addition to a description? Is it generally advised to just list what you did and leave the significance of such activities for PS and secondaries?</p>

184

<p>Your application is a story that guides the reader through your life and shows them why they should pick you as a future doctor. Do not skip any chance to show off you. 100% should be writing as much as you can about what you learned from each activity after you’ve said what it is/what you did.</p>

185

<p>D2 is trying to decide if she should list one of summer jobs on AMCAS (she’s running out of spots). It was a public contact service job, but she dealt with tons of individuals who spoke limited, or, in some cases, no English. (Including one gentleman who spoke almost no English and who had so over inflated the tires on his rental car that they had to call in the bomb squad to deal with the situation. True story.)</p>

186

<p>I agree 100% with IWBB. You need to make it as easy as possible for the readers to learn as much as possible about you. </p>

<p>One of the ways I accomplished this was to give my activities very descriptive titles that included something about my responsibilities for each activity/position. So, instead of making the title “Dr So and So, shadowing” and then entering hours somewhere else (I think there’s a box for hours/wk somewhere?) I titled it “Shadowed this subspecialty at this academic center weekly for 2yrs (200h).” I also started a student group (that’s still going 4yrs later!), and instead of “ACME organization, President” I titled it “Founder and president of nonprofit organization working to blankity blank blank.” I did research too–which I described as “Performed all electron microscopy for this lab for this many semesters (600h).” My goal was for them to learn as much as possible in as few words as possible.</p>

<p>I would write as much as possible about the meaningful aspects of each of your activities/positions/whatever. After all, your opportunities to impress them are somewhat limited, and you might as well take every chance you can.</p>

187

<p>Bumping this up to check in.</p>

<p>My personal statement is coming along nicely. I actually look forward to sitting down every few days to add more to it and edit what I have so far. It’s a good feeling!</p>

<p>I’ve signed up for fall classes, as well. Since I’ve completed the bulk of my major and minor requirements, I can keep it a little light. I think that cushion would be nice if I have to miss a significant amount of time due to interviews.</p>

188

<p>Well…</p>

<p>D2 and I had a very long discussion today, about all sort of semi-uncomfortable topics associated with applying to medical school, including:</p>

<p>how to pay for med school (in terms of, Ok, mom, how much can I count on you to chip in?)</p>

<p>what’s a reasonable amount of debt to incur for a person interested in primary care (with an ensuing discussion of interest rates, capitalization of interest and IBR during residency)</p>

<p>and the biggie–</p>

<p>what’s my Plan B in case I don’t get accepted this year or next year</p>

189

<p>So what numbers did you come up with terms of how much debt is ok for primary care?</p>

<p>I don’t believe she will need a plan B.</p>

190

<p>I almost hope she does need a Plan B. Medicine is brutally tough way to make a living. Her sister has the mental toughness to play in the boy’s club–she always has—and will make either great EM doc or a great surgeon, but this one… this one has a kind and gentle spirit and a tender heart. </p>

<p>I’d almost rather she do a grad program in BME and go on to develop new neural imaging technology or help develop cool new assistive technology (like implantable light sensitive optical computer chips which allow the blind to see or prosthetic limbs that respond to one’s own nerve impulses just like flesh limbs do)</p>

<p>As for debt for a PCP–as little as possible.</p>

191

<p>Hey guys–long time no posting! anyways, had a quick question. I’ve taken quite a few honors course (like half of my 90 or so credits), and many of them give a grade followed by an H on my transcript and academic record (e.g. AH or A+H). When you are submitting grades on AMCAS, are you allowed to put the H there since they say “copy your grade exactly as it appears on your transcript”? Or would you just classify it as an honors class from the drop down menu?</p>

<p>I could probably ask my career center, but just want to keep this thread alive and get more posts (so I can PM people eventually :wink: )</p>

192

<p>I don’t believe the grade would be accepted as A-H, probably just state that it is Biology Honors & A would be my guess. But you will need to see what the computer will accept</p>

193

<p>I was browsing the AMCAS website earlier today looking at the application guide when I happened to see some of the fees listed. AMCAS charges an initial fee of $160 for the application (including one school) and $35 for each additional school. Running some numbers on my current list of 20 schools, that is $825 alone before fees that go along with supplements. </p>

<p>Remainder of spring stipend, meet the medical school admissions process! </p>

<p>I’ve heard this process was expensive, but the reality is starting to sink in with the pocket book about to get significantly lighter over the summer and fall.</p>

194

<p>I think many people said that between applications, secondaries and interview travel they spent +/- $5,000</p>

195

<p>^^That amount sounds close to what D1 spent on her app cycle. And it’s what I suggested to D2 she have set aside for her app cycle.</p>

196

<p>And then there’s us. lol</p>

197

<p>And there was my daughter that went to 13 interviews…I have never added up the amount because I might cry.</p>

198

<p>Well, it depends, you would not spend any close to $5K if you apply to 7 school within driving distance of 5.5 hrs. That is what my D. had done.</p>

199

<p>Depending on your income you can qualify for a fee waiver from AMCAS. It is a pain and you need to start weeks, well really months ahead, of the application cycle sending in the paperwork to AMCAS. It only gives a limited amount of fee waivers per cycle, I remember son got maybe six?</p>

<p>Some of the supplemental fees were waived again due to income but not many. Son saved his work study income, scholarship money and summer incomes to pay for the interview/application process.</p>

<p>The things he did to save on expenses were: 1) bought his interview suit on clearance at Belks for under $30, nice wool blend “travel” suit (doesn’t show wrinkles from sitting in a car/plane/train for extended periods, breathes and stretches with movement (picking up luggage, walking distances) 2) had 2 shirts with matching ties/socks and 1 pair of dress shoes bought at Ross Dress for Less 3) stayed with alum from his undergrad for every interview- he contacted them from his alumni network (they have a website to connect), they picked him up from the airport or told him how to take the subway/shuttle, gave him a candid tour and provided him with a place to sleep…really helped since they had the same undergrad experience and could relate how their med experience was in comparison and lastly, the most cost saving was 5) allowing himself to be bumped by the airline in exchange for travel vouchers. His first flight he did this and he did it two more ensuing times from travel vouchers into more travel vouchers. So his initial flight investment/purchase was maybe $150 and he turned into 8 more flights. </p>

<p>He did however combine some interviews and travel plans. So he flew out from RDU on Thursday for Ann Arbor, interviewed at Michigan Friday morning, flew out from there Saturday to Boston for his Harvard interview Monday morning and flew home Monday night (late) back into RDU. And this was on a travel voucher, he managed to earn a voucher twice on that trip from being bumped from Friday afternoon travel to Saturday morning and again Monday afternoon to late Monday night. Upon arrival at the airport and at the gate he told them if the flight was full he would accept a bump in exchange for another voucher. Worked when he needed it to!!</p>

<p>He combined his NYC interviews by just calling the schools after his invites and lining up the interviews for the same set of days, one after another. He was actually in his Cornell interview when his in-state called him to offer him a slot with a scholarship! Kinda crazy!</p>

<p>He borrowed my car to drive to our local schools so the cost there was gas. And several schools did reimburse him for his travel. He told them he paid with vouchers and they did not care, still paid the value of the ticket. One being a $405 voucher. He used that to pay for more supplementals.</p>

<p>He knew it could be expensive and would require some planning on his part so he did take a glide year. Sort of, he obtained two more undergrad degrees during his glide year but since he was at our local 4 year without his sport he had alot more free time than he did during his previous senior year (different undergrad) with his D1 sport, senior thesis, executive officer club role and research. </p>

<p>So it can be done like Miami has stated for less $$$, but it takes planning. And planning can take time. Son didn’t want to restrict his geographic locations so his costs needed to be saved elsewhere from restricting to just driving distances.</p>

<p>Kat</p>

200

<p>^Yes, palnning was the key in my D. decision. She really liked the spreadsheet that I have created for her when she has applied to UGs. She gave me her criteria and asked me to create the same for Med. Schools. That was so much easier, took no time (UG research took about 2 years). Frankly, she even dismissed the advise of her pre-med advisor if it did not meet her personal criteria…and the #1 was LOCATION. Not because of the cost of applying at all as she ended up choosing to attend the most expansive Medical school on her list.</p>