<p>What are some tips you think are beneficial to 2014 applicants? Anything is appreciated.
Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Bump bump bump!</p>
<p>Apply early to as many joint programs you could see yourself going to. Now calculate the true cost of each UG and Medical school by using the school aid calculator. Remember some programs give really good merit not just financial aid.</p>
<p>Apply early and make that chart on the wall of application progress once you have sent in your apps. Go to your library and Read A is for Admission ASAP since these programs are as difficult as ivies and it explains how admission offices really work.</p>
<p>Still visit colleges on weekends since they frequently log visitors. If you find an admission officer try to interview with them to gain experience and even try to vist the the PHD who runs the joint program .</p>
<p>Learn about some specialty of medicine that is under served and become an expert on it to show your goal is to serve people not seek financial reward. Have an English teacher or major in your neighborhood read over your essays and try to write essays that grab the admission officer by the lapels. Good luck.</p>
<p>Make sure that you are NOT pretending to be somebody else. Be true, stay yourself. The interview is NOT testing your academic background or a knowledge base. These are part of your application package, the numbers are all there. They are looking for people who fit into their programs. And it is not always your academical stats or knowing few facts here and there.</p>
<p>I think the core of the interview process is to see whether or not you would be a right fit and whether or not you are a nice person. All schools are looking to accept nice doctors who will be compassionate for their patients. </p>
<p>So during your interview, NEVER talk down about anyone. NEVER say anything negative. Even if it seems harmless, just don’t mention anything negative. If you didn’t do well in a class, don’t say the teacher sucked. Just say, something along the lines of it was a challenging course for everyone and it took people time to adjust to the different style of teaching, but that you improved and became a more resilient student.</p>
<p>So yeah, always be positive!</p>
<p>Remember to smile during the interview. Just like in grade school, they want people who work and play well with others.</p>
<p>Any advice in regards to what to look up about the school or the interviewer?</p>
<p>Bumping as interview season is beginning.</p>
<p>I still like my D’s ideas of learning an underserved specialty of medicine. She chose pediatric neurology and developmental peds neurology. She could talk even an hour without notes about autism. It is her true calling since making communication boards for them as a Girl Scout.</p>
<p>It made her come across as serious, focused and mature beyond her then age of 17 years old. Likely some med students knew less about the subject than she did. During college summers she was trained as a behavioral analyst and worked daily with autistic kids.</p>
<p>This laser focus approach is better than the “I just want to help people” response that causes med school admission people at the combined interview to roll their eyes. I also guarantee it will make you stick out from the crowd.</p>
<p>Honestly, the high schoolers who talk so much about one area of medicine irritate me when they come to visit. I feel as though you’re limiting yourself by saying you’re only interested in one thing, and the fact is that most of these kids will change their minds within a few years. Some may not, but if you’re not in love with this one area, don’t pretend that you are.</p>
<p>You are ABSOLUTELY correct…it is just about impossible for a 17/18 year old to have a sufficient quality of understanding of the sciences, pathology, and medicine…not mentioning anatomy, physiology, microbiology, and pharmacology, to have a legitimate appreciation of any particular “area of specialty”. It is analagous to a 8 year old describing the intricacies of multiple orgasm!</p>
<p>You have to remember there are 100 applicants or more fighting for every three slots minimum of most joint programs ( and the odds at Brown for combined are less than Harvard Bio or chem when you take out the legacies and sports applicants).</p>
<p>Most of them are Val’s and Sals and would qualify for at least the lower four ivies. You don’t have to talk about the biological processes that cause the disease or syndrome. You can talk about how a particular group and in my daughter’s case autistic children are greatly under served.</p>
<p>You can express how a particular type of medicine does not have the resources dedicated to it. This is the case in peds sub specialties. Most people know you do not really start focusing on your specialty until the first two years of med school.</p>
<p>My wife is a speech therapist for profoundly autism children for 35 years and has taken my daughter to work regularly since she was a Girl Scout at 12. My daughter made communication charts and books for years before communication boards became affordable and before the iPad. As a high school student my daughter earned 10 bio undergrad credits at Cornell University earning a 4.2 GPA and being number one in two of her three classes. She also took AP Bio and college level anatomy and physiology so she understood enough for a 17 to talk intelligently for the rudimentary med school interview. She only applied to two combined programs and received one interview which she chose over a Cornell neuroscience spot.</p>
<p>She has seen first hand the progress these kids can make if they are given intensive therapy at early age. Anyone can see her passion for these kids.</p>
<p>There is much merit in your discussion…obviously, your daughter’s experience is substantial and of considerable quality. It is a consideration, though, to factor in the disposition/mind set, of the interviewer…likely a physician who has already spent 10 to 20 years deep in the education cycle and, likely to have seen it all and know with considerable certainty how early factors rarely mature into execution. Yes, there are a few 4 year old future pilots that become pilots AND at least ONE 17 year old pediatric neurosurgeon wanna-be that becomes a ped-neuro. Best of luck…sounds like a firm foundation for much success!</p>
<p>Thank you for your very kind words. She is now 20 and after her first year of college my wife had her trained as a behavioral analyst for autistic children. At that point she had 60 credits with her AP’s which the minimum needed for that position in the state, and she has worked summers and days off there since.</p>
<p>She is allowed to do a thesis in her senior year since she has those AP credits. These programs are very small and represent a fraction of the people attending medical school. Most of the students I have met in her year and upperclassmen were extremely mature and focused like lasers. They were in the program based on their performance, poise and interview skills not because of legacy or sports prowess. Many knew at very young age ( in elementary school) that they wanted to become doctors.</p>