Hi guys,
I am curious as to the different types of programs(e.g. summer research programs, competitions, etc) that would greatly improve one’s chances of getting into a top med school such as HMS, or JHU ?
Thanks a lot
Btw, I am currently an undergraduate student on a premed track .
Medical school admission is competitive enough that you should be glad to get into any medical school in the US, especially if it is (relatively) less expensive (i.e. less debt when you finally start practicing medicine).
That is exactly why I asked this question on things I could do to improve my chances of getting in.
Try the pre-med forum section for your questions. But don’t be fixated on “top” medical schools – half of all applicants to MD medical schools in the US are shut out, so it is an honor to get into any MD medical school in the US.
Obviously, if you are concerned about high medical school debt that may limit your options on medical specialties (i.e. with high debt, you may have financial difficulty if you go into a lower paid medical specialty), then it can be even more competitive when you limit your medical school choices by cost.
No, there are no special programs that will help. Just do the research and medical volunteering (in addition to whatever other ECs you care about). That’s what medical schools want to see (in addition to GPA, MCAT and recs) - that you know what you are getting into professionally, have the basic skills to build on, and are a fully functional person with a life. Isn’t that nice?
To "… greatly improve one’s chances of getting into " any USA Med. School, get top college GPA, top MCAT score, participate in medical EC’s and develop social personality, be somebody who is easy to work with in a team setting…I do not think that need much more than that.
To quote my school’s dean of admissions
There’s no one thing that will have a significant impact of improving your chances. In fact I think MIT’s applying sideways blog (http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways) is equally applicable to medical school admissions. Your application is a story, not a checklist. There are many ways to tell the story of “I am the type of person you can imagine in an exam room with a patient,” and there are plenty of people who did some prestigious thing who still fail to do that.
Actually in last reported cycle it was almost 59% (ie 3 out of 5) of those who got to point of actually applying did NOT start anywhere. Getting into ANY US med school is quite a challenge. Lots of qualified people fail to make it in anywhere even much, much less at HMS, JHU.
The problem with your question is that although MSAR is must as to seeing if your GPAs/MCAT scores may be competitive at some particular med school, once adcoms move past the numbers, no one knows what weight, if any, adcoms at any particular school give to any particular EC, or competition, or summer research program, etc., or if an applicant fits within school’s mission statement, or helps school matriculate a diverse class. What you’re being told above is probably the best info you’ll get as it’s painting the broad picture of applicant characteristics/traits that med school’s seem to want. Again how any one school weighs components of app is unknown.
Well, I know that REU summer programs are one of the most prestigious research programs as they’re extremely hard to get into. What types of things would improve my chances of getting into one of them?
Not all REUs are “prestigious.”
The best thing to improve your chances–have specific skills that the PI wants.
Hard to get into is not synonymous with prestigious.
Everybody is doing Medical Research, volunteering, shadowing. Many are doing them as the long term commitments (several years).
Every Medical School in the USA is a very very prestigious place to attend and a very hard to get into, dream of many thousands.
Do not do anything for the purpose of getting in. Do whatever you are personally inspired to do. Take care of developing as a person, take some risks, engage in activities of your personal interests, get yourself into some situations where you are not necessarily feel at the top, learn from others, be a great team member (of something…). Hard work and dedication will bring results! Best wishes!
REUs may or may not be prestigious, but they sure can be a lot of fun. Both of my kids did them. They had the BEST time and made friends that they still keep in contact with.
Oh yeah, I didn’t mean to imply anything bad about REUs. Personally, I think home institution research is better because of the potential for longevity that is absent in a summer program. On the flip side, REUs offer more stuff outside of lab (eg mine there’s a seminar series where MSTP and PhD students come talk about their research as well as how they got to where they are and answer questions about applying etc, the REUs get to meet with the heads of our PhD and MSTP programs, organized social events specifically for them, etc). The universities have these programs largely as recruiting tools to get undergrads familiar/interested in doing grad school there so that they’ll be more likely to choose the REU school come decision time.
“I think home institution research is better because of the potential for longevity that is absent in a summer program.” - I tend to agree. But my opinion is based on the fact that D. did just that, it lasted for 3 years, was great, very easy to get into and resulted in great LOR and nomination to Phi Beta Kappa (along with her friends at the same lab). She could not get into summer program at all, she applied.
D2 did both-- long term home institution research and a summer research program (a prestigious one. Phoenix :P)
She enjoyed them both, but the summer program offer her opportunities not available at her home program.—like the chance to network with students from other institutions (some of whom she’s still in contact), get mentoring from academic and industry researchers, attend a national conference to present her summer project. Plus the program sponsored entertainment events for the participants (like attending a professional sporting events and organized trips to local attractions) as well a free Kaplan prep class.
As a bonus, her site was in a location she’d always wanted to visit.
Summer programs can be worthwhile (and fun), but don’t replace long-term research projects at one’s home institution.
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Personally, I think home institution research is better because of the potential for longevity that is absent in a summer program.
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there is certainly truth in that.
That said, both of my kids’ REU’s exposed them to things that they wouldn’t have done at their own univ.
Older son spent the summer doing modeling of pandemics and other “mathy” things that were different from what he had been doing at his home univ.
Younger son spent the summer working in a BioMedE lab doing research on stem cells. Since his own univ doesn’t have a biomedE major, it was a new experience for him.
The participants came from tippy top privates, flagships, and lesser known publics and privates. I’m sure each group had some pre-conceived notions about those from the other groups, and those notions were soon destroyed as they all learned that they all are very smart kids.
But really, there was much to be gained from simply gathering students from all over the nation, each bringing their own experiences to the table and working on projects together.
All worthwhile experiences have value.
As for the social side, those who run those things really know how to balance fun and work. Work is all day, but they still would schedule evening and weekend activities that my kids still retain fond memories (BBQs, beach-outings, bike rides, picnics, happy hours, etc). Just working in the home-school-lab usually doesn’t afford those opps.
I didn’t want my kids to have an “all work and no play” undergrad experience.