Medical School Interviews – Take Notes

Everyone seems to bring a schnazy leather legal pad on interviews. But have you ever seen someone actually taking notes? Why bring it if you don’t use it? There’s no need to take notes during the actual interview, as that may seem pretentious. But definitely jot down your thoughts after each interview making note of:

Interview date
Interviewer name and title
Topics discussed
School positives
School negatives
Overall gut reaction

Taking 5 minutes to log your thoughts will be helpful in keeping the details of each school straight in your mind and remembering specifics to put in thank you notes. These notes can also be very helpful when you are making your final decision of where to attend medical school.

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Medical School Interviews – Interview Etiquette

I am sure these tips will seem obvious to you, but you’d be surprised what some people try to get away with. During an interview, please avoid:

1. Chewing gum
2. Swearing
3. Racial slurs
4. Slang
5. “Um,” “like,” “ya know,” and other verbal fillers
5. Ticking anybody off

Be as nice to the receptionist as you are to the interviewer. Rude behavior to any of the medical school staff often gets back to the admissions committee and has been known to sink many an exceptional candidate.

Good luck!

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Medical School Interviews – Final Prep

It’s game time. You’ve polished the shoes, reviewed the application, and practiced and practiced and practiced questions. Before you leave, remember these final details:

1. Pack all clothes in a carry-on. Airlines lose baggage – frequently. Always carry on your luggage.
2. Bring copies of all publications in case the interviewer would like to see them. You can keep them safe in the pocket of leather legal pad. The legal pad can be used to take notes.
3. Ensure you have all directions or public transit options mapped out. Being late to a medical school interview is NOT an option.
4. Bring:
Blank thank you notes
A snack
Extra pantyhose/stockings in case of runs (if you are wearing hose)
Dental floss (very handy for post-lunch interviews)
5. Ensure a good night sleep not just the night before the interview, but the “night before the night before.” Studies have shown that sleep two nights before an event most dramatically effects performance.

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Medical School Interviews – Current Events

Many interviews now include questions regarding ethics, policy, and current events. During interview season, be sure to stay up-to-date on all current events, but especially those related to health care. Health care reform has dominated headlines recently – do you know what’s going on? How do you feel about the current health care reform debate. What do you think about a public option or healthcare mandates? You don’t have to be an expert, but you should know the lingo and be able to intelligently express your opinion. Ethics questions on issues such as abortion, euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and stem cell research have also become popular.

How can you prepare? I suggest reading your local paper but also browse national papers such as the New York Times. The Economist politics and business in review sections at the beginning of every magazine provide excellent current event summaries. Subscribing to The Economist is pricey but you can read these two sections at the library in less than ten minutes.

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Medical School Interviews – Practice, Practice, Practice Questions

Whether you are preparing for your first medical school interview or your tenth, practice is the key to a successful interview experience. Practice the most typical questions asked in medical school interviews. There are many lists out there on the internet.

Practice answering questions out loud in front of a mirror. You will be surprised by the habits you will discover, such as playing with a ring, wrying hands, or foot tapping. Practice limiting such distracting movements. Practice by tape recording your answers. Isn’t it amazing how many times your say “like” and “um.” Practice not using those nonprofessional, filler words.

Ideally, you should arrange for a mock interview with an admissions consultant or medical school counselor. This mock interview should be as close to real as possible – do everything you will do on interview day including wearing your suit, using an office setting, and answering each question to the best of your ability.

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Medical School Interviews – Review AMCAS and Secondary Applications

Everything on the AMCAS and secondary applications is fair game in the medical school interview. This includes every course and activity listed. You may have taken some of those classes four years ago (or, for some of you, 10 years ago). Review each class and activity to ensure that you recall enough details to answer any question on the topic. Also be sure to read over the personal statement and secondary essays to remember how you specifically spun yourself to a particular school.

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Medical School Interviews – Why Do You Want to Be a Doctor?

Many premeds worry about the content of the medical school interview. The most important content to conquer is about you. You already know all about yourself but the key is figuring out how to present that to the interviewer.

Start your interview prep by answering this question:

“Why do you want to be a doctor?”

Simple, huh? Go ahead and try to answer it right now.

Harder than it seems, isn’t it?

This question will be asked in some form in every interview. You answered it in the AMCAS primary essay, but interviewers want to hear it again. It is the essential question, right?

Your goal is to answer the question clearly and concisely with no more than three talking points. Tying these three reasons to brief anecdotes will help the interviewer remember your reasons. If you find yourself saying, “I want to be a doctor because I want to work with people and like science,” start again and be much more specific.

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Medical School Interviews – The First Twelve Inches

To help you pull it all together on your interview day, etiquette experts have a simple rule to ensure you are looking your best. It’s the first 12 inches that matter most (head, hands, feet):

Head
• Keep the cowlick under control
• Be clean-shaven
• Check the teeth for errant vegetable matter and lipstick

Hands
• Groom the nails short and clean
• Chipped nail polish is worse than none at all

Feet
• Polish the shoes (yes, I actually mean go out and buy real shoe polish and scrub those puppies ‘til they shine)
• For those color-blind guys out there – be sure your socks match☺
• For the ladies – be sure the panty hose or stockings don’t have runs

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Medical School Interviews – Hair and Accessories

The medical school interview season is not the time to experiment with that mohawk you always wanted. Keep the hair clean and simple. If you are a man with long hair, you do not need to cut it. Just ensure it is clean and out of your face (same rules apply to women).

As for jewelry, earrings in men are always a point of controversy. If your earring is an important part of who you are, leave it in. But if it’s just a piece of jewelry, I would take it out. There are certainly still old school docs out there who don’t want to accept an applicant that seems like a “punk.” Yes, I know this is incredibly out of date – but your interviewer may just be one of those people. Do you really want to throw away your entire application on a piece of jewelry? If you want to make a statement, make sure you get into medical school first.

Body piercings that show (nose ring, tongue ring, eyebrow ring, etc) fall under the same general guidelines as earrings. Wear it if it is a huge part of who you are. Lose it for a day if it isn’t.

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Medical School Interviews – The Suit and Shoes

All interviews start with a first impression. This means you need to be well dressed and well groomed. Once you are a physician, your patients will want you to look put together. And so do the interviewers. It may seem cliché and shallow, but you need to look good.

The suit is the staple of anyone heading out on the medical school interview trail. Despite popular opinion, it does not have to be black and boring! Yes, doctors tend to be on the more conservative side of the style spectrum, but you do not need to give up all style for interviews.

Shoes are probably the most important part of the interview outfit. These shoes need to be incredibly comfortable, work in various climates, and look classy. At some schools, the majority of your interview time will be spent walking. An old business interview secret is that shoes are the window to a potential hire’s work ethic. Shined, well-kept shoes show a person is detail-oriented and dedicated to an overall polished look. Feel free to scoff, but shoes matter.

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Medical School Interviews – Scheduling

Though you still may be swamped with secondary applications, it is time to begin thinking about interview season. It is actually more than a season as interviews generally span from September to February. Rolling admissions schools tend to interview earlier than others (and let you know of acceptance earlier as well). Don’t be surprised if your first interview is scheduled as early as September.

Be sure to plan sufficient time off for interview travel. Does time of interview really affect chance of acceptance? In rolling admissions schools, yes! Rolling admissions schools often offer acceptances only weeks after an interview session. The later in the season you interview, the less acceptances there are to offer. Interview timing is less critical for regular admissions schools. You will see pages and pages on medical school admissions blogs discussing the best strategic time to interview. Here’s the bottom line: interview when you will be well-rested and well-prepared.

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Medical School Secondary Applications: “Other” Information

1. Please share with us something about yourself that is not addressed elsewhere in your application and which may help the Admissions Committee as we review your file.

2. Is there any other information that you would like to share with the admissions committee?

3. While we no longer require an essay, some applicants feel that additional information is necessary in order to provide us with a comprehensive understanding of their strengths as a candidate for a career in medicine. If you wish to use the space below to offer an essay or any other information, up to a total of 3000 characters (approximately 500 words), addressing any issue you feel is of importance, feel free to do so. If you choose to use the space, please do not duplicate information provided elsewhere in this supplemental application or in material you have submitted to AMCAS. Use this optional section only if you believe that the additional information will help us to learn something about you as a person, to get a sense of who you are and what you are about, beyond the basic facts of your academic work and your life history as it is otherwise available to us.

Please be assured that we offer this opportunity only for those applicants who wish to provide additional information and that it is entirely optional. For most applicants, no supplementary essay will be necessary and this space can be left blank.

The “other” information question often causes great stress amongst candidates. Given that it is usually an optional essay, the big issue is whether or not to answer it. The only reason to answer the questions is if you have personal information that is not provided on the AMCAS that will affect your application. Here are a few examples of appropriate topics for this essay:

1. Extenuating circumstances led to a dip in your grades sophomore year and you want to explain
2. Your band cut its first record after the AMCAS submission
3. You have a paper accepted for publication that occurred after AMCAS submission
4. You just received an offer to travel to Africa with a public health project

Do NOT fill the space just to fill the space. Only answer the question if you really have something important to say that will positively affect your application.

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Medical School Secondary Applications: Long-Term Goals

Another favorite secondary question revolves around long-term goals (ie. what you want to be when you grow up).

1. Are there any areas of medicine that are of particular interest to you? If so, please comment.

2. In a brief paragraph, please describe how you would want to be remembered at the end of your life.

3. What do you see as the most likely practice scenario for your future medical career?

a. Choose the single answer that best describes your career goals.

1. Private Practice: Individual patient care in a private solo or group setting. May include opportunities to do voluntary teaching or clinical research.

2. Health Policy: Work for organizations that develop plans for health care services to populations.

3. Academic Medicine: University-based practice combining research, teaching and patient care.

4. Public Health: Implementing programs in health promotion and disease prevention for communities, not individuals.

5. Health Care Administration: Manager of health care facility or system.

b. Why do you feel you are particularly suited for this practice scenario? What knowledge, skills and attitudes have you developed that have prepared you for this career path? Please limit your answer to 1,000 characters including spaces.

Though you are certainly not expected to have picked out your specialty and fellowship before even entering medical school, admissions committees like know where you are leaning. Do you see yourself working as a general surgeon at a large academic center? Or perhaps you’d like to run a small, rural family medicine clinic? Or maybe you want to be a Navy flight doctor. The sky is the limit. But be sure to be honest and ready to back up your dream job.

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Medical School Secondary Applications: After-College Activities

Now that taking time off before medical school is completely accepted (and often encouraged), many secondaries ask about after-college activities:

1. Please indicate your activities for the xxxx-yyyy year. If you are in school, please list your courses. If you are working, please describe the nature of your job.

2. If you have already graduated, briefly summarize your activities since graduation.

3. What have you done since college?

If you are still in college when applying to medical school, you will leave this question blank unless instructed otherwise. If you have just graduated, feel free to discuss your summer activities and upcoming plans before matriculation into medical school. And if you have taken time off, use this section to flesh out what you have done more fully than was allowed on the AMCAS activities list.

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Medical School Secondary Applications: Qualities/Characteristics

Medical schools love to ask you about what qualities you possess that will make you a great physician: 

1. Describe the distinguishable characteristics you possess and tell us how you think these characteristics will enhance your success as a medical student and future physician.
   
   
2. In addition to academic and intellectual achievement, what do you believe are the three most important qualities that a physician or physician/scientist must have to be successful in the current health care environment and why?

3. Describe the top 3 distinguishable characteristics (non-academic) you possess and tell us how you think these characteristics will enhance your success as a medical student and future physician.

Start by brainstorming a list of characteristics that you think great physicians possess.  Here’s a short list from the top of my head in no particular order:

Psychological maturity

Character and integrity

Self-discipline

Judgment

Compassion and empathy

Communication skills

Concern for helping others

Intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm

Analytical and problem-solving ability           

Motivation and persistence

Reliability and dependability

Resilience and adaptability

Accountability

Leadership skills

Teamwork skills

Experience with and knowledge of medicine

Choose the qualities that you possess and that can be backed up with examples from your own life.  For example, if you that you have leadership skills, be sure that you have leadership experiences to prove it.

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Medical School Secondary Applications: Research

  Some secondary questions focus specifically on research or scholarly activities:

1. Although research is not a pre-requisite requirement for the University Program, if you have participated in a scholarly project please tell us about it. Describe your experience, including the question you pursued and how you approached it, your results and interpretation of the results, and most importantly, any thoughts about what this experience meant to you. Remember that research is broad-based and can include such projects as a senior capstone or a thesis and can include both medical and non medically-related investigations.

2. What self-education, research, or independent scholastic work have you undertaken and what do you feel you have accomplished in this work?

Don’t panic if you have not published in Nature or performed amazing bench research.  “Research” is a broad term and can include investigations in public health, health policy, and international health. You can even include non-medically oriented research.

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Medical School Secondary Applications: Most Important Activity

Many secondary applications ask you to highlight one particular experience listed on the AMCAS.  They often want to hear about clinical exposure. Examples of most important activity questions include:

1.     From among the activities and experiences listed in your AMCAS application, please select one activity or experience that has most impacted your decision to undertake a career in health care. Please describe your role in the activity/experience and how this activity helped you make the decision to apply to medical school.

2.     What has been your most important exposure to clinical medicine?

3.     Briefly describe your most rewarding experience or some achievement of which you are particularly proud.

Though it may feel repetitive, you will often be describing activities already listed in the application.  This is a chance to explain these activities more fully and highlight those most important to you.  Focus on experiences that show dedication, leadership, or unique skills.

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Medical School Secondary Applications: Personal Challenge

Medicine is a challenging profession. Admission committees want to ensure you know how to meet challenges and handle ethical dilemmas.  For example:

1. Please describe to the Admissions Committee a challenge you have overcome and what you learned about yourself from that experience.

2. Please describe an experience or situation that you found personally challenging and discuss how it helped to shape you as a person. You may discuss a moral or ethical dilemma, situation of personal adversity, or other life-event you believe to have been important in your personal development.

3. What has been the most humbling experience in your life?

Everyone has overcome a challenge.  It is not acceptable to state that your life has been peachy keen and nothing has ever gone wrong.  In others words, you can’t leave this one blank.  You can provide an answer from any area of your life – personal, professional, extracurricular, etc.  The key is to show how you came to a decision during a challenging situation and what you learned from it.

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Medical School Secondary Applications: Diversity

Diversity is one of the most popular secondary essay topics. The point of these types of questions is to prove how you will make a unique contribution to the medical school class.

Here are some examples from recent secondary applications:

1. At the XXX Medical School, we are committed to building a superb educational community with students of diverse talents, experiences, opinions, and backgrounds. What would you as an individual bring to our medical school community?

2. How will you add a unique dimension to our medical school community? In answering this question, please also describe your greatest strength? What is your most significant vulnerability? Please understand that the "strength/vulnerability" questions will in fact require two distinct/separate responses; they are two different questions.

3. If Applicable, describe a situation where you were not in the majority.

When the word “diversity” is used, many think of racial diversity. But this is a very limited view. Think outside the box. Do you speak a foreign language? Are you a non-traditional applicant with significant “real world” experience? Other possibilities include athletic achievements, musical/art/dance talent, and international experience. Everyone can add diversity to a class.

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Medical School Secondary Applications: General Strategy

Though schools change their secondary essays from year to year, most of the questions fall into eight broad categories:

Diversity

Personal Challenge

Most Important Activity

Research

Qualities/Characteristics

After College Activities

Long Term Goals

“Other” Information

Instead of writing a new answer to each question for every school, I suggest that you compose general answers to each of these eight questions and change them as needed to a particular application. This will save you an incredible amount of time and energy. It also gives you a chance to write exceptional essays that, with minor tweaking, can be used multiple times. Most of the secondary essays range from 250 to 500 words. I suggest writing each essay listed below in 500 words than editing as needed to fit each particular word requirement. Each essay listed has been taken from real secondary applications. Get that literary mind going, you may have hundreds of secondary essays to write in the next few months!

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Medical School Secondary Applications

“Secondaries,” or medical school secondary applications, are sent individually from each medical school once the AMCAS application has been received and reviewed. Many schools use the AMCAS as an initial screening then send secondaries to obtain more information from applicants in order to determine who receives an interview. Sometimes secondaries are sent to applicants who meet certain requirements (often based on GPA and MCAT scores). More and more these days, schools automatically generate a secondary upon receipt of your AMCAS application with no screening performed.

Secondaries vary greatly in substance. Some require nothing more than your name and a check (average secondary charge is $75). Others entail up to 10 essays and are very time consuming. The due date varies by school. It is best to turn in a secondary as soon as possible after receiving it in order to move the admissions process along.

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AMCAS Personal Statement: Get Help

After the sixth draft, it is time to send out the essay for an expert opinion – choose two or three people with experience in writing personal statements and gather their thoughts on three things: content, grammar, and flow (how easily the essay reads).

Afraid you don’t know anyone who can edit the essay for you? Don’t be – you are surrounded by them. Try your parents, spouse, friend who majored in English, cousin in medical school, career counselor, university writing service, writing instructor, family physician, coach, admissions consultant, etc. etc. If you think hard enough, I know you can find two or three people willing to give comments on your essay. Don’t be afraid to ask. Most people will think of it as an honor.

One word of caution – do not send the essay to too many people for opinions. Comments will undoubtedly disagree and it can be very frustrating trying to please everyone. The only two people you have to please are yourself and the admissions officer.

After you have had others look at your personal statement, respond to their comments with another draft. That’s draft seven if you are counting. Again, put aside the essay to gain some distance and return to it a day later for another draft. After eight drafts, you should be awfully close. For the final few drafts, send out the essay again to someone with excellent grammar and ask them to “copy edit” the statement for you. This means just correcting typos and simple grammar. You will have looked at this application so many times, it may be impossible to do a meticulous edit yourself. Ask family, friends, colleagues, an admissions consultant etc.

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AMCAS Personal Statement: Grammar and Word Choice

Now that you have the hook, structure, and conclusion done, it’s time to focus on grammar.

For your fifth draft, return to the essay focusing on grammar. Are you using too much passive voice (i.e. is, as, was, were, be). Active verbs are always better. Is every word needed? Can you discuss that same idea in fewer words? Correct your grammar, ensure correct word choice, and cut any repetitive ideas/words then set aside the essay.

Now it’s time for an overall read. Create a sixth draft after reading the essay out loud. How does it sound? Are there some sentences that sound awkward? If they sound awkward, they read awkward. Do you need to take multiple breaths when reading certain sentences? That usually means the sentence is a “run-on” and should be broken down into two or more separate lines. Does each thought flow smoothly into the next? If not, perhaps you need to restructure the essay or create better transition sentences.

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AMCAS Personal Statement: Draft After Draft After Draft

Once you have completed the brainstorming tasks, it is time to write your first draft. Don’t spend too much time on this – just write; don’t focus on grammar yet.

Put the essay away for a day then come back with a critical eye to your “hook”/thesis statement and write a second draft. Does your opening make you want to read on?

Put the essay away for another day and then write your third draft focusing on essay structure. Does each paragraph flow smoothly into the next? Is the essay easy to read or does it jump abruptly from topic to topic with no warning?

For the fourth draft, work on the conclusion. Does the last paragraph effectively summarize the essay and tie back into the thesis statement?

Whew! I warned you this is a lot of work! But it will pay off. Keep it up!

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AMCAS Personal Statement: The Hook

Every great personal statement starts with an engaging introduction. I call this “the hook.”

How are you going to keep the admissions officer interested and make her want to read past the first paragraph?

Admissions officers read hundreds of personal statements a year. How will your essay stand out?

This all starts with the hook!

You are going to grab the reader’s interest with a compelling anecdote. Be creative, but be very careful with humor or over-the-top stories. Your hook also serves as a thesis and the jumping off point from which you will explain why you want to be a physician.

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AMCAS Personal Statement: Characteristics

Another approach to the personal statement involves thinking of what characteristics the essay will show that you possess. A list of traits we all look for in good doctors includes:

Psychological maturity
Character and integrity
Self-discipline
Judgment
Compassion and empathy
Communication skills
Concern for helping others
Intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm
Motivation and persistence
Reliability and dependability
Resilience and adaptability
Accountability
Leadership skills
Teamwork skills
Experience with and knowledge of medicine

When deciding what experiences to include in the essay, think about what characteristics they support and how you are portraying yourself to the admissions committees.

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AMCAS Personal Statement: Delve Deeper

Volumes and volumes have been written on the art of crafting an excellent personal statement. I will not attempt to recreate such works here. However, I will provide you with the tips I give my students and clients.

Start by making a list of the reasons you want to attend medical school. Likely, some of your top reasons will include “I like science” and “I like helping people.” Hopefully, everyone going to medical school has these two motivations. The trick is holding onto these two reasons while delving deeper into why they are true. When writing your list, ask what life experiences prove the reasons you are giving. After writing the list, determine which reason and experience pairs make the strongest argument for why you want to be a physician. This will serve as the basis of your essay. Remember, the list doesn’t have to be fancy or use perfect grammar. You are just sketching out some ideas before starting to write

Here’s an example:

I want to be a physician because:

1. I want to use a team approach to solve problems
Experience:
- Captain of basketball team that won three league championships
- Showed how efforts of many can achieve great goals

2. I want to use cutting-edge technology to improve lives
Experience:
- Research assistant with Dr. Buck at Maryland State University
- Saw value of PET scanning as it guided diagnosis and treatment of various cancers

3. I want to work in international health and public policy
Experience:
- Realized a great passion for international health after a mission trip with church to San Juan Sacatapequez, Guatemala
- Built clinic and trained local nurses in basic sanitary measures
- Volunteered to raise money for Doctors without Borders
- Joined university’s public policy club

Get the point? Every reason for going to medical school has to be backed up with personal experience. The admissions officer who reads the essay (along with hundreds of other essays) may not remember that you want to be a doctor so that you can work in international health. But he will likely remember that you pursued this interest by organizing an aid trip to Indonesia after the tsunami.

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AMCAS Personal Statement: The Biggest Mistake

The biggest mistake I have seen medical school applicants make is not spending enough time on the personal statement. Creating a memorable personal statement cannot be completed in one sitting. You should set aside at least two weeks and preferably a month to write the statement. Expect to go through at least ten drafts. Be sure to allow time for a premed advisor, writing teacher, editor, or admissions consultant to give comments on the essay.

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AMCAS Personal Statement: Intro

The personal statement is arguably the most important of your application and, at this point, one of the few aspects you can control. In this personal statement you are asked to consider the following questions:

• Why have you selected the field of medicine?
• What motivates you to learn more about the field of medicine?
• What do you want medical schools to know about you that has not been disclosed in another section of the application?

The application also states that you

“May wish to include information such as:
‘Special hardships, challenges, or obstacles that may have influenced your educational pursuits.
Commentary on significant fluctuations in your academic record, which are not explained elsewhere in the application.’”

In other words, you have 5300 characters to say why you want to be a doctor and why an admissions committee should accept you into its medical school class. And you must do this in an interesting, creative, and honest way. Not an easy task.

MD/PhD candidates, please be aware that you have two additional essays to write. The first essay will discuss your reasons for wishing to pursue a MD/PhD (3,000 characters). The second asks for details on your significant research experience (10,000 characters).

Need help creating an outstanding medical school personal statement?

E-mail info@MDadmit.com to put a Harvard/Stanford MD and admissions insider on your side!

AMCAS Work/Activities: More Tips

*In general, medical school admission committees place more weight on activities that show dedication over a period of time and leadership.
*You are allowed a maximum of 15 experiences with 1325 characters to describe each experience.
*Remember hard returns (enter) count as two characters.
*The admissions committees look down on repeats.
*Don’t fill the space just to fill the space. 10 stellar activities are better than 15 less-than-impressive activities.
*The AMCAS automatically lists the activities by date but you can be creative with how you list dates to have some control over activity order.

Need help deciding which activities to include?

Contact info@MDadmit.com for personalized advice.

AMCAS Work/Activites: More Than a Resume

Like I mentioned last week, the AMCAS Work/Activities section is more than just a resume.

Like a resume, the Work/Activities section requires you to include the dates, location, and description of activities. But you will also need specifics on average hours per week you spent on the activity and the name, title, phone number, and e-mail of a contact that can vouch that you did the activity. This contact can be a professor, coach, community service advisor, principal investigator etc. It should not be a member of your family. It can take some time to track down this information so get started early!

Need help deciding which activities to include?
Contact info@MDadmit.com for personalized advice.

AMCAS Work/Activites

Did you know the AMCAS Work/Activities section is more than just a resume?

The Work/Activities section requires you to categorize your experiences by the following categories:

Paid Employment— Not Military
Paid Employment—Military
Community Service/Volunteer—Not Medical/Clinical
Community Service/Volunteer—Medical/Clinical
Research/Lab
Teaching/Tutoring
Honors/Awards/Recognition
Conferences Attended
Presentations/Posters
Extracurricular/Hobbies/Avocations
Leadership—Not Listed Elsewhere
Other

This allows you to include many experiences not listed on a normal resume. Some examples:

Guitarist in a band that created an album
Attended a toxicology conference in Berlin
Won a creative writing contest in college
Completed an Ironman triathlon

Need help deciding which activities to include on your AMCAS?


E-mail info@MDadmit.com for personalized advice.