<p>Ugh, cc on the phone is so messed up.</p>
<p>The reason I say the above is because it’s much easier to add ECs than to pull up a GPA.</p>
<p>iwbb, A CCer who went to Emory (as a college) several years ago posted that the dean of BCM told premeds the same thing you just posted, when he visited Emory and gave a talk. But I think he said the students should get their academics in order in the first couple of semesters.</p>
<p>“to add ECs than to pull up a GPA”
-Greatly depends on your location and willingness to be flexible. In fact, summer opportunities in our hometown are almost non-existing, there are waiting lines for volunteering. So, D. was forced to do ALL EC’s during school year at her college. So, many would have a full control over their GPA, but not so much over ability to get ECs.<br>
I agree with the fact that GPA is much more important than ECs, but ECs should not be neglected and do not count on summers to do them. Sometime it is not possible at all. On a flip side, if you are very busy during school year, then you will have very relaxing and free summers and it is great to have them while you could. No such thing at Med. School.
In regard to academics, no matter what you do, no matter how busy you are, your goal is to have an A in every single class, including that Paper Making class that you might have decided to take for R&R and to fullfill your “artsy” type of requirements, but later discover that in fact it turned out to be one of the most time consuming classes and you are stuck in there and still got to pull that A. Another advice to consider - do not neglect your sleeping requirements, it will not work if you do. You are a human being and treating your body like crap will backfire at the end.
TIME MANAGEMENT is the best skill for the UG and more so for the Med. student. </p>
<p>lol , apparently they’re changing up the MCAT starting with 2015 so great… </p>
<p>Its now 6 hours and 15 minutes long… wow… </p>
<p>And that’s still shorter than any of the USMEs.</p>
<p>Lol alright, and just wondering, my cousin is in med school (or i think hes done), and hes applying to Harvard for clerkship. Is that hard to get into, considering its Harvard? How does it work? </p>
<p>do you mean for residency? doing an away rotation (rotations are often called clerkship) is not competitive at all. Residency at harvard is but for many specialties it’s not the best one anyway.</p>
<p>Hmm alright, yea apparently my cousin got into the HMS Exchange Clerkship Program this year for May and June or something like that. AND he’s from India haha. </p>
<p>International student who went to med school in India I mean ^ </p>
<p>So im guessing its pretty easy to get in , even for Harvard’s Clerkship Program ? </p>
<p>Correct, away rotations are not competitive at all. In fact I’m pretty sure they’re just first come first serve. At least I’ve literally never heard of anyone being denied an away rotation anywhere.</p>
<p>Oh wow, They’re just first come first serve? Doesn’t it have a lot of weight though if you say you did a clerkship at Harvard or something when you later become a doctor? </p>
<p>Except for your home program director and maybe a few residency directors at programs you apply to, no will ever know or care where you do an away clerkship. </p>
<p>The point of an away rotation is to build a relationship/establish interest in programs that aren’t your current school. In certain fields, you basically have to do one at any top choice. In other fields, you only need to do it if you are trying to do a serious relocation (e.g. you go to school on the east coast and want to match on the west coast). People also use them as excuses to live somewhere for a few weeks (e.g. my friend in california did aways in boston to be with her boyfriend, several friends have done international aways post match day to get their housing paid for during their vacations)</p>
<p>As WOWmom said, no one cares about them once you start your residency.</p>
<p>"Correct, away rotations are not competitive at all. In fact I’m pretty sure they’re just first come first serve. At least I’ve literally never heard of anyone being denied an away rotation anywhere. "
-This is interesting to read. D. had trouble scheduling non-away rotations (her local rotations). She got the last spot at one. And she was scheduling way way ahead. I believe she has scheduled all thru the falll. Well, good luck applying to these as an away rotation. I cannot see that they will take “away” students before they take their own.
D. was debating about “away” rotation, but at the end she simply did not have any time left in her schedule.<br>
One advantage is that many offer “courtesy” interview. But there is no general advice. D. is very interested in staying where she is now. Many others want to be somewhere else. It make sense to have “away” rotation at the place of your interest.</p>
<p>In terms of taking your own vs aways, at many schools the away students are sort of a separate group in the sense that there is no competition for away students vs. home students for spots. At my school for example we will never interact directly (ie be assigned to the same resident or attending) as an away student.</p>
<p>I forgot about courtesy interview. Good point.</p>
<p>Phone only letting me do one edit.</p>
<p>In terms of never being denied, I should have been more clear. I meant no one has been told “we looked at your application and decided not to offer you an away” not “we are already full, sorry”</p>
<p>“At my school for example we will never interact directly (ie be assigned to the same resident or attending) as an away student.”
-Not true at D’s school. More so. once she had an “away” pharmacy student on her team. She talked to him because he happened to be from our home town pharmacy school. </p>
<p>Btw, are there pages on CC about admission results/stats of people who applied and got into medical schools? </p>