A Bit of Admissions Insight

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Had a meeting with a member of a medical school admissions committee member today, and got to ask (and hear) lots of questions. Take these with a grain of salt, because it is just one member's perspectives, but nonetheless, still some good insight. I know many of it's confirming common knowledge, but I think some of it is still interesting. Here's the key points I took away.</p>

<p>1) If you want to use AP credit, use it, but only if you plan to use it just to place out of the intro classes and take higher level courses. If you will do just as well in the higher level courses, then that looks better to take those. But don't use AP credit just to skip the pre-med reqs and hope that will get you into med school. You have to take the classes, whether it's higher level or not, you have to take them.</p>

<p>2) Don't try to be witty or overly theoretical in your essays. Be honest and down to earth, give real life experiences and not values and principles. They won't spend much time reading your essays, but if it's interesting and real, not I wanna save the world BS, they're that much more likely to read it and maybe look favorably upon you. NO MISTAKES either. And remember, there are only so many ways to say "I love science and people." Try not to be too cookie cutter. If they think it sounds like an essay they've already read, or if it doesn't sound like you wrote it, they'll toss it immediately.</p>

<p>3) What you do in high school CAN matter. They don't give a **** that you were the president of NHS, StuCo, and Mock Trial, but if you did something very meaningful and medical related, put it on there. If you spent 4 months shadowing a physician 10 hours per week and got something really good out of it, put it on your application. They like to see long time dedication to entering medicine. Someone who has shown since high school they enjoy medicine is a much better prospect than someone who decided in the past year that they want to be a doctor. However, don't think that excuses you from continuing to prove your commitment to medicine in college, because it won't help you one bit if the shadowing you did in high school was the only healthcare exposure you had.</p>

<p>4) Where you go to school CAN matter. If you're going to make a 2.8 at MIT, or a 3.8 at a mediocre institution, you're much more likel to get in with that 3.8. Go where you will thrive. However, once you get past that initial MCAT/GPA screen, you very well may get a few bonus points for going to a top school. Not a make it or break it thing, but there's nothing in the med school app that is. It's a culmination of things, and that's just one part. </p>

<p>5) If you go to the interview, try not to be too tense. They invited you for an interview because they like you. This doesn't mean be super casual and nonchalant, but don't tense up. Not being able to converse with people you just me doesn't make you look like a good prospective doctor. </p>

<p>6) A year off is a good thing. Having to work hard for your paycheck and living in the real world means you'll be able to relate to patients better. It can also show that you really want to be in medicine, because even after leaving school, you're still willing to go back for more and enjoy it.</p>

<p>Like I said, these are all just from one person on an AdCom, so take it with a grain of salt. And nothing should be seen as a guarantee, you need a bunch of things to make you a desirable candidate.</p>

<p>If I remember anything else, I'll post it. If you have any questions, I might be able to get them answered as well.</p>

<p>I'm curious to see what Princess'Dad says about these.</p>

2

<p>^ Affirm.</p>

3

<p>Very good advice indeed.</p>

4

<p>this should be stickied…</p>

5

<p>I would personally say that AP should not be taken, except for maybe calc. There are still a few universities who REQUIRE it with no substitution allowed. Your adcom is clearly not from one of these schools (they are a minority that still have this policy). It is just too good a GPA booster and way to ease your way into college to pass up, in my opinion, even if there were no schools that did that.</p>

6

<p>I was under the impression that for most people, those intro classes were GPA killers, since the crazy Pre-Med’s smash the curve. Maybe I’m misunderstanding you.</p>

7

<p>Really? I guess I never thought of that, my university doesn’t curve so I have no experience with the effect of crazy pre-meds.</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>Haha. I wish… My permanent legacy on CC.</p>

<p>Doubt it will though.</p>

9

<p>Yeah that’s kinda what I’ve heard. No matter how good you are at the class, unless you beat the curve, you’re not gonna get a good grade.</p>

<p>And since the smaller, higher level classes aren’t curved or “weeder” classes, if you’re good at the subject it should be less of a game to get a good grade.</p>

<p>But I haven’t started yet, just seems to be what I’ve read.</p>

10

<p>Regarding whether or not to take AP classes, don’t shoot yourself in the foot for undergraduate admissions just so that you don’t have to take more advanced courses for your medical school pre-reqs. If you go to a high school where you can take other APs in place of any that would count for a medical school pre-req, that’s one thing, but a lot of people go to schools where they can’t avoid AP English, Calculus, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics without it looking like they were slacking in high school (for instance, at my school if I’d saved all of the above classes plus statistics for college rather than taking them AP, I would’ve eliminated six of my eight AP classes with nothing else to take their place).</p>

<p>My advice would be to take the AP classes in high school while realizing that you’ll either have to elect not to take the credit or take a higher-level course in college.</p>

11

<p>Zf, it seems counter-intuitive that an intro class would be harder to get an A in than a upper level one. I think, even if curving does not occur in a given college’s upper division class, the material and requirements of the course more than compensate in terms of difficulty. Weeder classes are meant to cull those who don’t have what it takes, or don’t have the work ethic, not to be so hard as to make everything that comes afterwards. The people that are left are the better students. They are still going to be the better students in the next class up, except instead of being the 150 best students in a 300 person class, it is now 150 of the best students in a class of 150. They are going to be expected to be of a higher caliber, and graded as such regardless of curves. I know that my physical chem class was WAY harder than my “weeder” chem classes.</p>

12

<p>mmmcdowe: Were you a chemistry major or a biochemistry major? I think only students in these two majors would be required to take physical chemistry. A UPen student who used to post messages here said that the chemistry department at his school produces very few premeds, but produces many students who go into a graduate school. Is it the case at your alma mater also?</p>

<p>I am curious about the percentages of premed students from these two majors at the time when they are graduated. My wild guess: Biochemistry: 40%. Chemistry: 10%. The percentage is lower likely due to its difficulty. I am full aware that I could be very wrong in my estimation here. (And for Biology: maybe 70%?)</p>

<p>I am also not familiar with how double-major or minor works. Minors or double-majors seem to be much more common at some competitive schools (e.g., Rice and some honor progrmams from some state schools. All UT Plan II program students seem to be double-majors.)</p>

13

<p>Ginnyvere, definitely you should take the AP classes in high school, it just may or may not benefit you to take the credit. I took 10 AP classes in high school, but didn’t really try hard at all on the AP tests because I wasn’t planning on using the credit for college. </p>

<p>My point above was referring to whether or not you should use the credit or not.</p>

14

<p>And mmmcdowe, you very well may be right. I’m just going off of what I’ve heard. For me, since I have 4 bio credits, I’m going to take intro bio and lab first semester, and if I feel there’s a reason for me to skip the second semester, I will, but if I’m making an A in it, then I’m gonna stay in it. </p>

<p>But I could be very wrong about beating the curve in intro classes vs. good grades in higher level courses, so who knows.</p>

15

<p>Sounds good Z ;)</p>

<p>mcat2- I was a biochem major. I agree that chem majors are very rarely pre-med at my university. I would guess that maybe 1/2 of biochem majors at my university are pre-med (we have a medicinal biochem sub-major which is primarily pre-med, pharm, and dent so that pushes the numbers up). I would argue though that biochem and ever chem are pretty good pre-med majors. They allow you to have a major that incorporates all of the pre-reqs, as well as biochem, genetics, and physical chem (good gen chem review), in the chase of biochem.</p>

16

<p>bump!! this is pretty good</p>

17

<p>How’s pre-med at Cornell so far? </p>

<p>(I recently got accepted via likely letter and am strongly considering going there)</p>

18

<p>It’s challenging as you may expect, but certainly not that bad. I’m working hard and learning lots. </p>

<p>If you’ve any other questions feel free to shoot them my way :D</p>