<p>This is what I tell Duke students. You may have to format it for your needs -i.e. a lot of it is Duke specific. Note especially the changing time for the MCATs.</p>
<hr>
<p>Outlining the premedical process (and yes, I'm actually writing this now, not copying it from someplace):</p>
<p>Early freshman year: go to the Career Center and attempt in any way possible to sign up for their Prehealth e-mail list. This used to be covered by _______, but she has since retired. She did not like me very much, but I suppose that's not relevant to you. The Career Center is about ten feet left of the front of the Chapel; you should be able to find it with a little bit of difficulty.</p>
<p>November-January freshman year: Sign up for HPIC. This will put you in the hospital for three hours a week second semester and is basically mandatory for all premeds. The application process is done through the Career Center and this is essentially the reason you need to sign up for the Prehealth e-mail list. I worked in the 5100 unit (Pediatrics) and liked it a lot.</p>
<p>January freshman year: Start looking for a summer RESEARCH or HOSPITAL job (preferably reseach). I know it sounds early, but it's not; the Career Center has several tools for this purpose which I have since forgotten about and have probably changed anyway. This is important, as many jobs will ask you for your prior similar experiences, and you'll be at a disadvantage if you don't have any. Getting your foot in the door is the main difficulty.</p>
<p>March/April freshman year: This is when you start signing up for courses. While exploring majors and filling in Curriculum 2000 requirements, it is most important that you be pursuing the science requirements for medical school. Do not, by the way, under any circumstances, take Biology 26 [Diversity] unless you are a second semester senior and a Biology major. Biology 25 [Intro], 118 [Genetics], 119 [Developmental], and 151 [Physiology] as well as any course that has "anatomy" in the title are all very useful courses to take along the premedical track; I would recommend at least 118 and 151. 25 will be required if you don't have AP credit and I would recommend taking it regardless. If you take organic as a freshman, I would recommend continuing with biochemistry as a sophomore, but that is controversial advice and you will be regarded by many students as insane. It is also not advice that is based on experience, as I am taking Biochemistry this coming fall. Whether you take Physics during your sophomore year is up to you, but I think most (70%) do it junior year.</p>
<p>Also, do try to sign up for the HPIC's sequel: the DSAMMP. This involves shadowing a physician in your home area.</p>
<p>Summer after freshman year: Kill yourself at your lab job. This will be your last summer that you can fully dedicate yourself to your lab, and this is also the summer that decides whether you continue with your lab (very, very good) or have to look for another one (bad). Looking for a lab job, as you've probably discovered by the time you get to this point, is a pain; it's also good to have continuity because it means you're more likely to get publications in your name, which is a huge step (though not by any means necessary).</p>
<p>DSAMMP is probably less important to excel at, and it's just shadowing a physician anyway, but by all means, do as well as you can.</p>
<p>Sophomore year: This is when you should start deciding when to take the MCAT. It is offered twice a year: August and April. You may either decide to take it the August before your junior year or the April of your junior year. To take it the August before your senior year is technically possible, but it is a very bad option and should only be reserved for emergencies (if you get into a car crash on your way to take the April MCAT, for example).</p>
<p>It is to your advantage to take it the August after your sophomore year if you can; you don't have to worry about it during the school year, you can target what kind of schools you want to aim for better, it allows you to focus more, etc. Kaplan is very, very good: I had not taken physics when I took the MCAT and ended up with a __ on that section. Before the MCAT, however, you must have taken Bio 118 and Chem 151 & 152. There is no way to do it otherwise. I would also STRONGLY recommend taking Bio 151 immediately before you take the MCAT. Professors ______ and ______ are very good, if you can get them; I actually turned to ______ to get a letter of recommendation later on.</p>
<p>January: Have a lab job lined up. Paid would be best, since some med schools distinguish between paid and unpaid work. If nothing you do over the summers is paid, it would probably be best to do something during the school year; the Math and Economics departments, at least, use undergraduate TA's.</p>
<p>March: Declare a major. I believe I've already talked about this a little bit.</p>
<p>Summer: This is probably a pretty rough summer, as you'll be balancing a job (hopefully in a lab, but otherwise in a hospital) and probably studying for the MCAT. I actually managed to work in a medical service trip to Mexico this summer for a couple weeks as well, and that was a very good experience for me (they let me do all kinds of things in Mexico that they wouldn't let people do in the states; I scrubbed in for surgery, etc.)</p>
<p>Junior Year:</p>
<p>September: [Premedical advisor] will have walk-in hours for juniors. For me, it was Wednesday, 8 AM until 12 noon. The first time she offers one, step into her office - if you have any questions, feel free to ask, I suppose, but the purpose is really to introduce yourself to her office and to her and to the premedical process.</p>
<p>October/November: Dr. ______ will hold a meeting for all premedical students outlining the process. This is important; go to it.</p>
<p>November: You have to fill out a pre-application for Dr. _______; this closely resembles the medical school application you will later fill out, minus the essay.</p>
<p>Christmas break: Write the essay. Dean _______ will want a copy by late January; you should treat that as your final draft, even though it isn't. It needs to be treated that way, however, to get the most out of it. When you submit it, you will have a mock interview time scheduled, likely mid-March. Turn things in early, if you possibly can.</p>
<p>Interview preparation: Brush up on your research, be ready to talk a little bit about your hobbies, and - importantly - pick a list of schools that you are interested in, probably in the 20-25 range. I didn't realize I was supposed to do this and it cost me the chance to get Dr. ______'s advice on the subject.</p>
<p>March: Pick a list of letter-of-recommendation-writers. In fact, it's best if you choose classes from the beginning with this in mind. You will need three letters from professors and one from somebody else (your lab boss, hopefully) is strongly recommended. At least two of the professor letters must be science professors. [This varies strongly from undergraduate school to school.]</p>
<p>April: Take the MCAT if you have not already.</p>
<p>June: Fill out the AMCAS Primary Application, using your preapplication as a guide and plugging in your personal statement, now with Dr. ______'s corrections. I will say, however, that when you are putting things into your transcript, be conservative, and copy your transcript exactly, even on semester-hours. AMCAS will make whatever adjustments they need. (Code your courses by department, not by subject matter; I got burned by this.)</p>
<p>July: Secondaries! These are annoying. This is the second stage in the process and involves a great deal of form-filling and essay writing and check signing. It's quite a bother, and it's important you deal with it quickly. If you can get a list of questions from somebody one year older than you, that would be best.</p>
<p>September-January: Interviews. Having not yet gone through this process [the original e-mail I pasted this from is now a year old], I'm afraid I can't be very helpful here.</p>
<p>October-March: Admissions notices. Many med schools work on rolling admissions, meaning that they admit people whenever they feel ready to admit people - i.e. as soon as they receive an application they feel comfortable admitting. This is part of the reason it's so important to submit things early.</p>